From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean

Williams, Eric, From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean, 1492-1969, London: André Deutsch, 1970.

From Chapter 7:

Gold, sugar, slaves, this Caribbean trinity represented an enormous accession of wealth and power. Not surprisingly, Spain's imperialist rivals insisted on their share. The Caribbean islands began their association with modern society as the pawn of European power politics, the cockpit of Europe, the arena of Europe's wars hot and cold.