Margaret F. Pickett

In 1739, Major George Lucas moved from Antigua to Charleston, South Carolina, with his wife and two daughters. Soon after their arrival, England declared war on Spain and he was recalled to Antigua to join his regiment. His wife in poor health, he left his daughter Eliza, 17, in charge of his three plantations. Following his instructions, she began experimenting with plants at the family estate on Wappoo Creek. She succeeded in growing indigo and producing a rich, blue dye from the leaves, thus bringing a profitable new cash crop to Carolina planters. While her accomplishments were rare for a young lady of the 18th century, they were not outside the scope of what was expected of a woman at that time. This biography, drawn from her surviving letters and other sources, chronicles Eliza Pinckney's life and explores the 18th century world she inhabited.

This history of early European colonial efforts in North America (specifically, the portion north of Mexico and the Caribbean) examines why three colonies-St. Augustine, Jamestown and Quebec-succeeded where many before them had failed. Chapters cover Columbus' exploration and the Treaty of Tordesillas; other Spanish explorers and settlements in the New World; French attempts at settlement prior to Quebec; early English settlements, including Roanoke; failed settlements dating to the Norse enclaves on Greenland; and in-depth studies of the three colonies that survived.