Dark laboratory : on Columbus, the Caribbean, and the origins of the climate crisis

Goffe, Tao Leigh2026

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Summary

In 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived on the Caribbean Island of Guanahaní to find an Edenic beauty that was soon mythologized. But behind the myth of paradise, the Caribbean and its people would come to pay the price of relentless Western exploitation and abuse. In this book, Tao Leigh Goffe embarks on a historical journey to chart the forces that have shaped these islands: the legacy of slavery, indentured servitude, and the forced labour of Chinese and enslaved Black people excavating the islands' bounty. Along with sugarcane, guano, at the time, was more valuable than gold. Through the lens of memoir - and shot through with cultural and social history - Goffe transforms how we conceive of Blackness, natural history, colonialism, and the climate crisis, dismantling the many layers of entrenched imperialist thinking to reveal the cause and effect of a global human catastrophe.