Neal Polhemus

The rise of the Kingdom of Dahomey in the first quarter of the eighteenth century was a watershed event in the political history of precolonial West Africa. This article draws on a newly rediscovered copy of William Snelgrave’s diary who visited King Agaja of Dahomey in April 1727. The diary provides the fullest account to date of Agaja’s motives for invading Whydah in March 1727. In addition, the Diary provides the earliest evidence confirming the bona fides of Bulfinch Lambe’s 1731 mission to England to establish commercial relations with King George II.

This article examines how hurricanes shaped the English settlement in South Carolina. Similar to other settlements in the Anglo-Atlantic, colonists encountered many risks and dangers. However, settlers residing in colonies where hurricanes routinely happened faced even greater risks and volatility because the storms occurred with little warning and were capable of causing widespread economic destruction, social chaos, and loss of life. This article argues that in the wake of the hurricanes that struck South Carolina in 1752, colonial authorities were afforded an opportunity to recast Charleston’s urban landscape. The destruction the storms caused to the colony was dramatic and horrifying. The most troubling issue for colonial officials was the damage hurricanes caused to Charleston’s fortifications. The defensive works throughout the town and colony were a fundamental component that shaped the colony’s development and English imperialism in the circum-Caribbean. It further argues that as colonial authorities began to rebuild the defensive walls and fortifications in Charleston, the unexpected arrival of a thousand Acadian refugees provided a valuable labor resource that both taxed charitable coffers and aided in the transformation of the urban landscape. The rebuilding of Charleston’s fortifications illustrates how colonists responded to the destructive forces of hurricanes while further demonstrating the uncertainty of living in the Anglo- Atlantic, where hundreds of war-torn refugees could arrive as suddenly as hurricanes.

Drawing on an endangered manuscript and other archival sources, this digital exhibit, “The James Poyas Daybook: The Account of a Charles Town Merchant 1760-1765,” describes, interprets, and analyzes the business transactions of a colonial merchant to provide insights into his developing commercial networks in Charleston, the expanding South Carolina backcountry and the British Atlantic World.