Bermuda at the Crossroad

In 2026, the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, one of the defining documents of the American Revolution. While the conflict is often portrayed as a struggle between Britain’s North American colonies and the Crown, the revolution’s effects extended far beyond the thirteen colonies. Across the Atlantic World, communities grappled with divided loyalties, shifting economies, and new political possibilities.

From the perspective of Bermuda and other Atlantic island colonies, the American Revolution was not simply a revolution, but a civil war within the British Empire. Families found themselves divided, trading networks were disrupted, and enslaved people navigated new pathways to freedom amid conflict and uncertainty.

As one of Britain’s earliest Atlantic colonies, Bermuda occupied a unique position during the revolutionary era. The island maintained extensive commercial and familial ties with the North American colonies and played an influential role in the development of other British Atlantic settlements, including Virginia, South Carolina, The Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos. These connections made Bermudians active participants in the political, economic, and social transformations of the late eighteenth-century Atlantic World.

Why Bermuda?

Few places are better positioned than Bermuda to host a discussion about the American Revolution’s wider Atlantic dimensions. A longstanding British colony with deep maritime connections, Bermuda’s experience highlights how the revolutionary crisis extended far beyond the battlefields of North America.

By centering Bermudian and Caribbean perspectives, Beyond the Thirteen seeks to broaden public understanding of the American Revolution and encourage new conversations about the nature of revolution, loyalty, freedom, and empire.