From New Babylon to Eden traces the persecution of Huguenots in France and the eventual emigration of a small bloc of the French Calvinist population to proprietary
South Carolina. Through intermarriage and adaptation to the new economic, religious, and political environment, Huguenots soon numbered among the most influential and successful colonists, leaving a persevering legacy throughout Charleston and the lowcountry. In a volume devoted to the first generation of Carolina Huguenots, Bertrand
Van Ruymbeke describes in detail their gradual transformation from French refugees to
South Carolina planters.
Van Ruymbeke recounts the escalating abuse that led to the Huguenot exodus from
France and tells how approximately five hundred émigrés settled in South Carolina. He credits their decision to relocate to the vigorous marketing efforts of the Lords
Proprietors, the owners and rulers of the province, who promised the French Calvinists a veritable Eden. The Huguenots quickly discovered the colony was not paradise, but they adapted to the new environment by abandoning the silk, olive oil, and wine trades for the more lucrative pursuits of Indian trade, cattle ranching, and rice planting.
Placing the Carolina migration in the context of the larger Huguenot diaspora, Van
Ruymbeke proffers an account that challenges accepted history. Describing their settlement as a process of acculturation and creolization rather than simply assimilation, he contends that the majority of these French Calvinists were adamant about creating their own churches but were thwarted by an Anglicized elite. He also reveals that most members of the initial generation were moderately—not exceptionally—prosperous and, rather, that it was their descendants who acquired the wealth often associated with lowcountry Huguenots.
The Carolina Lowcountry and the Atlantic World
David Gleeson, Simon Lewis, and W. Scott Poole, series editors
Bertrand Van Ruymbeke is a professor of
American civilization at the Université de
Vincennes-Saint-Denis (Paris VIII) and a former visiting professor at the College of
Charleston. He is the coeditor of Memory and Identity: The Huguenots in France and the Atlantic Diaspora.
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