<div><div><p>This collection offers the only single-volume treatment in English of the Lesser Antilles from the time of Columbus to the abolition of slavery.&nbsp; The essays show how the Lesser Antilles emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries as among the most densely populated and advanced economic zones in the world and how they served as stepping-stones for the expansion of the slave-based plantation system in the Americas.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><br>&nbsp;</p></div></div>