Wild Majesty: Encounters with Caribs from Columbus to the Present Day, An Anthology

by Peter Hulme (Editor), Neil L. Whitehead (Editor)

Wild Majesty presents an anthology of writings about the Amerindian inhabitants of the Caribbean, from such diverse sources as the first reports of Columbus, French missionary tracts, the diaries of English colonial administrators, and modern ethnographers, travel writers, and film makers.
This written and visual material has been carefully selected to illustrate the development of non-Amerindian knowledge of and attitudes to the society and culture of the so-called "Island Caribs," who once dominated the whole of the Lesser Antilles and continue to act today as a potent symbol of
resistance to, and independence from, the modern nation-state. The volume breaks new ground in the anthropological use of literary and historical sources, as well as providing new translations of better-known texts, and original translations of rare printed works and previously unpublished
documents from the European archives. This fascinating collection is essential for students of history, cultural studies, and anthropology, and all general readers interested in Columbus, the Caribbean, or exploration.

Paperback

First published August 27, 1992

About the author

Peter Hulme is Professor of Literature at the University of Essex. He is the author of Colonial Encounters: Europe and the Native Caribbean, 1492-1797 and Remnants of Conquest: The Caribs and Their Visitors, 1877-1998. He is co-editor, with William H. Sherman, of The Tempest and Its Travels and, with Tim Young, of the Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing.