Political culture in St. Barthélemy 1800–1820

Abstract

The Swedish colony of St. Barthélemy was a meeting place in the early nineteenth century for merchants and mariners from across the Atlantic World, seeking to take advantage of Swedish neutrality. Yet not just goods, capital and people transited through the free port of Gustavia, but also information, culture and political discourse. This flow influenced the political culture of the island and its inhabitants’ relation to the Swedish colonial power and their new Swedish citizenship.