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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
How does a large island get so lost?, March 29, 2004
This review is from: The Loss of El Dorado: A Colonial History (Paperback)
The Spanish were sure that there was a "Third Marquisate" out there somewhere. The first two Marquisates were Mexico and Peru, two fabulously wealthy ancient Native American civilizations looted and conquered by Spain. Spain was sure that another one- El Dorado- was out there begging to be plundered, just beyond what is now Columbia and Venezuela. Not wanting to miss out on yet another one, England gets into the act. The island of Trinidad is the perfect place from which to launch expeditions into the South American interior looking for El Dorado. Thousands of men march into the Amazon jungle, never to be heard from again. Yet rumors persist... Eventually everyone tires of looking for El Dorado, and Trinidad is forgotten. Spanish colonists on Trinidad might as well be shipwrecked, as decades go by without a visit from a Spanish ship. Three Spanish nobles are given the Governorship, but none want it. Spanish people are encouraged to migrate to Trinidad, but few go. Spain invites French landowners from elsewhere in the Caribbean (displaced by the French Revolution) to settle in Trinidad, and some come to set up plantations on the island. In 1797 the British send eighteen ships to take Trinidad from Spain. Outnumbered, the Spanish capitulate with barely a fight. The Spanish on the island aren't that unhappy about the British takeover anyway. Spain has ignored Trinidad, and at least the British aren't the revolutionary French. Now there are settlers from three European countries trying to live together in Trinidad- the Spanish, the French planters, and the English. Which countries laws to follow? Some traditions are kept by French and Spanish planters in Trinidad, notably cruelty to slaves. These practices offend some British. Three revolutions make folks nervous in Trinidad- The American Revolution, the French Revolution, and finally the Negro slave revolt in Haiti. The British try to turn all the revolutionary fervor to their own advantage, hoping for a Fourth Revolution in which South America throws off Spain. They scheme with a Venezuelan named Miranda. All this makes for a fascinating, well told story by a Nobel-prize winning novelist. I've always found Caribbean history fascinating, as Europe squabbles over these beautiful islands. You don't have to know Caribbean history to enjoy the sun on a lovely beach, but knowing some makes your island time even more enjoyable.
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8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Naipaul's history of "nowhere", July 26, 2001
THis is a great book, a history of the founding of a place - where Naipaul was born - that virtually no one cares about. As such, there is nihilism at the very core of the book, which Naipaul emphasizes by beginning with a tribe (just a name) whose only existing reference was that it was annihilated during the colonization. And yet, this book is brilliantly written, full of drama of torture and interminable trials, great and bitter ironies that lead to what Trinidad became (or didn't), all of it adding up to a sense of the passage of human life and striving. I loved this book: it is a fascinating rumination by a highly talented writer, a dark essay on futility and non-history. It may seem obscure, but then, so is much of the Third WOrld's history. That is one of Naipaul's points. He is a true master.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Bloody, Tragic, Fascinating Slice of Colonial History, June 23, 2009
This review is from: The Loss of El Dorado: A Colonial History (Paperback)
I think it's fair to say V.S. Naipaul is one of the finer writers of our time. Here his compressed, simple sentence structure, matched with fascinating details and copious research, works nearly as well for history as it does for his works of fiction.
Turning his attention to his homeland, Trinidad, Naipaul reveals a lost history of Spanish, French and English colonialism, all fueled by the frantic, bloody search for El Dorado.
Naipaul's three-part structure makes sense and is filled with remarkable anecdotes of greed, folly, slavery, barbarity, and one or two glimpses of decency and humanity.
I had trouble putting this one down.
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