Richard Ligon
Encyclopedia
Richard Ligon a British author, lost his fortune in the troubles of 1647, and during this turbulent time in England
he found himself, as he notes in his narrative, a "stranger in my own country." On June 14, 1647, he left for Barbadoes
to gain his fortune in the New World, like many of his fellow countrymen. After two years residence on the island he was attacked by a fever, and returned to England in 1650. He was soon afterward cast into prison by his creditors. There are conflicting reports as to whether his narrative was conceived of in prison as a way to pay off his creditors and gain his freedom, or before his imprisonment at the urging of Abraham Duppa, bishop of Salisbury
. His work, a folio with maps and illustrations, is entitled A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbadoes and was published in London in 1657 and again in 1673.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
he found himself, as he notes in his narrative, a "stranger in my own country." On June 14, 1647, he left for Barbadoes
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
to gain his fortune in the New World, like many of his fellow countrymen. After two years residence on the island he was attacked by a fever, and returned to England in 1650. He was soon afterward cast into prison by his creditors. There are conflicting reports as to whether his narrative was conceived of in prison as a way to pay off his creditors and gain his freedom, or before his imprisonment at the urging of Abraham Duppa, bishop of Salisbury
Bishop of Salisbury
The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset...
. His work, a folio with maps and illustrations, is entitled A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbadoes and was published in London in 1657 and again in 1673.
Importance in Literary Analysis
Ligon's portrait of life in Barbadoes has made it into a number of literary journals and historical texts in an attempt by many scholars to derive exactly what life in the islands was like and exactly how Europeans, particularly the English, perceived slaves and their role in the sugar trade. One review in the journal Early American Literature (see citation below) offers a more linguistic approach to Ligon's texts. Author Thomas Krise reviews Keith Sandiford's analysis of words like "sweet" and "negotiation" in Ligon and says that such an analysis calls attention to various systems of contradiction present in our current understanding of Old World Caribbean culture.Sources
- The Literatures of Colonial America: An Anthology Eds. Susan Castillo and Ivy Schweitzer. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2001. p. 205.
Further reading
- Jehlen, Myra. "History Beside the Fact: What we learn from a True and Exact History of Barbadoes," The Politics of Research, eds. Ann E. Kaplan and George Levine (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1997).
- Krise, Thomas. Early American Literature. Fall 2002, v37 i3 p554(5). North Carolina Press. 2002.
- Sandiford, Keith. The Cultural Politics of Sugar: Caribbean Slavery and Narratives of Colonialism. Cambridge University Press, 2000. pp. 24-40.
External links
- Emancipation Day Address Damien E Greaves quoting Ligon in his address on Emancipation Day in 2001
- A full text edition of Richard Ligon's History of Barbados can be found here