Jesse Cromwell, "The Smugglers’ World: Illicit Trade and Atlantic Communities in Eighteenth-Century Venezuela" (UNC Press, 2018)

UNC Press Presents Podcast · Aug 28, 2019 · 49m

Chocolate – nothing is more irresistible for a decadent treat or a rich drink to warm you on a cold winter’s evening. In eighteenth-century Venezuela, cacao became a life source for the colony. Neglected by the Spanish fleet system, Venezuelan colonists struggled to obtain European foods and goods. But, they found a solution in trading the highly coveted luxury good, cacao, for the necessities of life with contrabandists from the Dutch, English, and French Caribbean. Establishing an intricate contraband network, an intricate contraband network, Venezuelans normalized their subversions to…