Bibliograph

Crossroads of empire, the middle colonies in British North America, Ned C. Landsman

Type

Label

Crossroads of empire, the middle colonies in British North America, Ned C. Landsman

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Crossroads of empire

Medium

electronic resource

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Responsibility statement

Ned C. Landsman

Series statement

Regional perspectives on early America

Sub title

the middle colonies in British North America

Summary

This work examines colonial New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania as central to both warfare and the emerging British-Atlantic world of culture and trade. In this probing history, Ned C. Landsman demonstrates how the Middle Colonies came to function as a distinct region. He argues that while each territory possessed varying social, religious, and political cultures, the collective lands of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania were unified in their particular history and place in the imperial and Atlantic worlds. Landsman shows that the societal cohesiveness of the three colonies originated in the commercial and military rivalries among Native nations and developed further with the competing involvement of the European powers. They eventually emerged as the focal point in the contest for dominion over North America. In relating this progression, Landsman discusses various factors in the region's development, including the Enlightenment, evangelical religion, factional politics, religious and ethnic diversity, and distinct systems of Protestant pluralism. Ultimately, he argues, it was within the Middle Colonies that the question was first posed, What is the American?

Target audience

adult

Classification