The Irish Abroad in the 17th Century
I. Origins of
the First British Empire
motivations for establishing an empire
> Hakluyt, Discourse on Western Planting
A. Virginia/ Chesapeake
Jamestown (1607)
crown takeover (1625)
B. New England
Plymouth (1620) / Massachusetts Bay (1629/30)
migration stream of the 1630s: 15,000-20,000
C. Bermuda (1612)
D. Caribbean
the Irish model
St. Kitts (1623/24) / Barbados (1627) / Nevis (1628) / Montserrat and Antigua (1632)
export staples / indentured servants [William Buckland's Indenture]the sugar revolution
the Irish in the early 17th-c empire
Irish adventurers: Amazonia and West Indies
200/year
primary destinations: Barbados and Leeward Islands
II. Cromwellian foreign/colonial policy
A. the Western Design (1654-55)
B. the Laws of Trade and Navigation (Navigation Acts) (1651)
provisions trade
C. Cromwell's three-part Irish policy
10,000 rebels to the WI
"barbadosed"
III. An Irish Empire?
Irish migration
Montserrat ("the Irish Island")
> Beckles, "A Riotous and Unruly Lot"
IV. Characteristics of the 17th-c empire
