Examines the qualitative nature of capitalism’s processes through the lens of social networks
A Confluence of Transatlantic Network demonstrates how portions of interconnected trust-based kinship, business, and ideational transatlantic networks evolved over roughly a century and a half and eventually converged to engender, promote, and facilitate the migration of southern elites to Brazil in the post–Civil War era. Placing that migration in the context of the Atlantic world sharpens our understanding of the transborder dynamic of such mainstream nineteenth-century historical currents as international commerce, liberalism, Protestantism, and Freemasonry. The manifestation of these transatlantic forces as found in Brazil at midcentury provided disaffected Confederates with a propitious environment in which to try to re-create a cherished lifestyle.
PrefaceIntroductionCONTEXTSSystems, Capitalism, Networking, and MigrationAn Overview of Confederate Migration to BrazilA TRANSATLANTIC FAMILYThe Avelar Broteros and the DabneysJohn Bass Dabney, Monsieur ProjetThe Evolution of a Mercantile DynastyCultural and Commercial SynergiesTRANSATLANTIC MERCANTILE NETWORKSTransatlantic Commission HousesCoffee Merchants and Confederate Migration to BrazilReverberations of a Protestant DiasporaIntersecting and Expanding NetworksMIGRATION PROCESSESSoutherners Making ChoicesA Confluence of Transatlantic NetworksConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex
Laura Jarnagin is associate professor and director, Division of Liberal Arts and International Studies, Colorado School of Mines.
“In this thoroughly researched and erudite study, Laura Jarnagin suggests a new paradigm for understanding the oft-studied migration of thousands of former Confederates from the American South to Brazil in the years immediately following the end of the Civil War.” —American Historical Review
“The rich detail extracted from the archives is the book’s great strength. . . .The transatlantic connections unearthed in these sources convince the reader that the study of such networks greatly enriches our understanding of the history of all the colonies/countries in the Atlantic world. Jarnagin provides intriguing evidence, for example, that Anglo-Portuguese trading networks with strong political connections generated much of the early market momentum for coffee production in Brazil.” —Hispanic American Historical Review
