To help understand the cultural history (and implicitly, the context of current events) of the former European colonial Caribbean nations such as Cuba and Haiti (nee the French colony of Saint Domingue), and that of the "Plantation America" Caribbean-oriented states of Louisiana and Florida, Gaspar (Duke U.), Geggus (U. of Florida), and six other contributors analyze the institution of slavery in this tropical zone and its late 18th-early 19th century vanquishing. Indigenous military and legislative self-liberation and striving toward racial equality, fomented by the liberating attitudes of the French Revolution, in turn, further impacted regional integration. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR