This is an edited collection of manuscripts, with extensive introduction and commentary, amounting to 500,000 words (100,000 words of commentary equivalent to a research monograph), and 400,000 words of transcription and edition of manuscript sources drawn from over 60 national and regional archives and libraries across three continents and field work in 15 different Caribbean locations. Every document has been collected and transcribed by the author/editor, and in the vast majority of cases this publication will mark the first time these have been made accessible and usable. The manuscript has been in scholarly circulation for four years and forms the textbook of documents used by students on a Lancaster University Special Subject module (2014 to the present and ongoing).