Entrepôts in a Changing Empire

Chapter 4 explores the regional situations of Atlantic and Indian Ocean courts, respectively. Within these lively and increasingly interconnected oceanic systems, the Antilles initially gained prominence for their sugar production, and the Mascarenes formed what one traveler called “the arsenal of our forces and the entrepôt of our commerce.” These transformations, however, prompted the migration of court users, from sailors to traders, to legal entrepôts. A unique convergence of colonial expertise, especially regarding cash-crop production and trade, and military skills, regarding colonial defense and imperial objectives, enabled the courts to remain, and grow, as entrepôts at the center of a global ancien régime empire.