The chapter examines the distinctiveness of this composite freedom suit; the unorthodox Afro descendant community that took it to the highest imperial tribunal in Madrid; and the larger historical context that triggered the legal action in the early 1780s. It lays out the significance of the notions of “collective freedom” and “natives of a pueblo” deriving from colonial customary practices and from political, social, and juridical discourses rooted in the Spanish Atlantic world here reworked into novel proposals that challenged the approaching tsunami of slavery expansion in Cuba and the Atlantic world amid the Age of Revolutions, and it even presented a colonial alternative to slave-based plantation and extractive regimes. Linkages are made between the local, colonial, and imperial levels in which legal and political mobilizations unfolded. The chapter also surveys the various historiographies of slavery, race, Afro descendants, Indians, and law, politics and society that intersect in this study and discusses the sources and archives on which the study is based.

Chapter 1 explains the theoretical framework deployed throughout the book, largely drawn from the companion volume, Unearthly Powers. Above all, this means explaining the two forms of religiosity – immanentism and transcendentalism – and how they related to each other. While immanentism is a default or universal strand of human life, transcendentalism defines what is distinctive about the religions of salvation that emerged from the Axial Age of the first millennium BCE. These world religions also contained an immanentist element, however, even as they produced reform movements that insisted on the transcendentalist dimension. These modes also gave rise to two different means by which rulers could be sacralised: divinised kingship (immanentism) and righteous kingship (transcendentalism). The chapter then fleshes out a tripartite model for ruler conversion: (1) religious diplomacy often first induced rulers to favour foreign missionaries; (2) immanent power, or supernatural assistance in this life, tended to be crucial in convincing them to make a change of allegiance, and (3) the Christianisation of their realms was linked to its capacity to enhance their authority. Lastly, the themes of cultural glamour and intellectual appeal are introduced.

Chapter 6 elucidates the forces that lay behind the coup of 1688, which brought Phetracha to the throne through a popular rejection of Christian and French influence. As Narai fell ill, Phaulkon schemed to keep the game of religious diplomacy going, even as French intentions took on a more colonial guise. But, in order to arrive at the throne, Phetracha played a more skilful game still, side-lining Phaulkon, Narai, his favoured successor and the French troops now based in Bangkok. He did this, in good part, by using the sangha as the means by which to arouse popular opposition to the prospect of a Christian king: Crowds carried the Sangkharat of Lopburi to the palace door. The chapter considers the role of anti-French feeling among officials but argues that the role of Buddhism was fundamental, uncovering an intellectual mobilisation against Christianity underway from the 1660s and centred on the anti-Buddhist figure of Devadatta, showing how ‘the people’ acquired a political voice, perhaps for the first time in Thai history, and analysing the meaning of the brief persecution of Christian groups. Features typical of transcendentalism had played a role in ejecting Christianity and entrenching the hegemonic role of Buddhism in Ayutthaya.

Chapter 1 sets up the founding of the 11th New York and the heightened expectations put upon them from the start. It introduces their famed colonel, Elmer E. Ellsworth, who had dreams of reinventing the citizen soldiery with his Zouave drill. But he found that converting boisterous firemen into disciplined soldiers was not quite as easy as he had anticipated. Ellsworth struggled with challenges to his authority and harsh public scrutiny. The chapter ends just as the Fire Zouaves receive orders to embark for Alexandria, confident that success on the battlefield beckoned.

Chapter 3 assesses the effects of the defeat at Bull Run and how the Fire Zouaves became scapegoats for the Union loss. Despite efforts to defend themselves, the regiment imploded, formally disbanded in June 1862. Their demise demonstrated that brave men did not (and do not) always make effective and good soldiers.

The ability to create, manage and transport fire transformed dark into light, cold into warmth, formed a focus for the camps of hunter-gatherer groups and allowed management of landscapes to encourage browsing animals, while cooking expanded available foodstuffs and provided more energy for the brain. The taming of fire brought dramatic and long-lasting changes to human society, with immense impacts on personal, social and economic life.

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is widely regarded as a global center of excellence for livestock-related development research. This chapter questions the notion of excellence by tracing the history of ILRI back to its conception as two separate centers: the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases (ILRAD) and the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA). It examines why ILRAD and ILCA were established as two distinct research centers and explores the impact this had on the conceptualization of human–livestock relationships, livestock diseases, and research excellence by CGIAR in sub-Saharan Africa. The chapter also presents two contemporary case studies – one examining the development of transgenic, trypanosome-resistant cattle, and the other exploring the establishment of CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) and their impact on agricultural research for development – to show the ways in which ILRI’s unique history continues to shape and affect its current projects. The chapter emphasizes the importance of recognizing the ways in which excellence is conceptualized and reflecting on the implications this has for research and development.

By purpose and design The Cambridge History of International Law is situated at the forefront of the drive towards more global perspectives on the history of international law. This chapter accounts for the foundational choices and general architecture of the series. It does so by, first, surveying the broad outline of the evolution of the historiography of international law as an academic discipline since its first emergence in the latter half of the nineteenth century in terms of gradually overcoming the many self-imposed epistemological and mental constraints of the traditional state-centric and Eurocentric historiography. Second, the chapter assesses current methodological debates among historians of international law hailing from different disciplines – primarily law and history – within the broader contexts of general legal-history debates. The third section of the chapter indicates how the architecture of the series is purported to advance the agenda of the globalisation of the field, through a focus on the diverse histories of international law in various regions of the world.