The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century

by Gerald Horne

Overview

Acclaimed historian Gerald Horne troubles America's settler colonialism's "creation myth"

August 2019 saw numerous commemorations of the year 1619, when what was said to be the first arrival of enslaved Africans occurred in North America. Yet in the 1520s, the Spanish, from their imperial perch in Santo Domingo, had already brought enslaved Africans to what was to become South Carolina. The enslaved people here quickly defected to local Indigenous populations, and compelled their captors to flee. Deploying such illuminating research, The Dawning of the Apocalypse is a riveting revision of the “creation myth” of settler colonialism and how the United States was formed. Here, Gerald Horne argues forcefully that, in order to understand the arrival of colonists from the British Isles in the early seventeenth century, one must first understand the “long sixteenth century”– from 1492 until the arrival of settlers in Virginia in 1607.

During this prolonged century, Horne contends, “whiteness” morphed into “white supremacy,” and allowed England to co-opt not only religious minorities but also various nationalities throughout Europe, thus forging a muscular bloc that was needed to confront rambunctious Indigenes and Africans. In retelling the bloodthirsty story of the invasion of the Americas, Horne recounts how the fierce resistance by Africans and their Indigenous allies weakened Spain and enabled London to dispatch settlers to Virginia in 1607. These settlers laid the groundwork for the British Empire and its revolting spawn that became the United States of America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781583678725
Publisher:	Monthly Review Press
Publication date:	06/30/2020
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	396,838
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Gerald Horne is John J. and Rebecca Moores Professor of African American History at the University of Houston. He has published more than three dozen books, including The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism and Jazz and Justice, both by Monthly Review Press.

Table of Contents

Introduction 7

Chapter 1 Approaching 1492 | Approaching Apocalypse 34

Chapter 2 Apocalypse Nearer 54

Chapter 3 Liquidation of Indigenes | Reliance on Africans | Tensions in London 76

Chapter 4 Florida Invaded 98

Chapter 5 Turning Point 121

Chapter 6 1588: Origins of the U.S.A.? 145

Chapter 7 Origins of the U.S.A.: Indigenous Floridians Liquidated | Ditto for New Mexico 170

Chapter 8 Apocalypse Dawning 194

Notes 215

Index 286

Editorial Reviews

"Just ordered for summer reading."

author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disa Naomi Klein

"Gerald Horne is one of the great historians of our time. His scholarly erudition is impeccable and his revolutionary fervor is undeniable."

Cornel West