A Philosophical and Political History of the Settlements and Trade of the Europeans in the East and West Indies

Abbe Raynal's work is one of the great eighteenth century histories and a key source for information on a variety of issues and debates during this eventful period. The ideas contained within the work, and its savage indictment of slavery and European colonization, led to its being banned by the French Parliament. Despite the ban, the work proved enormously popular and it is of great significance as a key piece of democratic writing in the period leading up to the French Revolution. Raynal undertook a complete survey of trade and settlement in the East and West Indies and the New World. Included are his accounts of trade in the Persian Gulf, Arabia and India; the conquests for the Portuguese and Dutch in the East Indies and Asia; the Spanish conquests in North and South America, the West Indies; the Portuguese conquests of Brazil; and the English and French colonies in North America. The work also contains an account of the American Revolution just six years after its occurrence. This important collection provides both a valuable historical record of European settlement and trade and one of the eighteenth century's most searing critiques of European colonization.