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PART III - REVOLUTIONARY MOSQUITOES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

J. R. McNeill
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
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Summary

In the 1770s, the geopolitical significance of differential immunity in the Atlantic American world shifted. Formerly, it had helped stabilize the distribution of territory among the various imperial powers, especially protecting Spain's empire in the Americas. It continued to do so, as the example of Fort San Juan in Nicaragua showed. But now, by the 1770s, it also helped insurgents in their quests to change the imperial order. Political dynamics evolved in such a way that many people born and raised in the Americas sought to upset the status quo. Rebel slaves in Surinam, for example, benefited from differential immunity. In British North America, growing numbers, wealth, self-confidence, and sense of frustration with their treatment by King and Parliament helped turn many Americans onto the path of revolution in the 1770s. A generation later, slaves in St. Domingue and Creole elites in South America also chose revolution. So did Cubans at the end of the nineteenth century. Historians for generations have brilliantly illuminated this age of revolution. One thing that has escaped their spotlight is the role of mosquitoes in making the revolutionaries victorious.

Type
Chapter
Information
Mosquito Empires
Ecology and War in the Greater Caribbean, 1620–1914
, pp. 193 - 194
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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  • REVOLUTIONARY MOSQUITOES
  • J. R. McNeill, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: Mosquito Empires
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511811623.009
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  • REVOLUTIONARY MOSQUITOES
  • J. R. McNeill, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: Mosquito Empires
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511811623.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • REVOLUTIONARY MOSQUITOES
  • J. R. McNeill, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: Mosquito Empires
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511811623.009
Available formats
×