Myths & Legends of Our New Possessions & Protectorate

Published in 1898, the very year America suddenly acquired its first colonial empire, this collection gathers the myths and legends of the new territories: Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, and Cuba. Charles M. Skinner presents a curious artifact of expansion, cataloguing the romantic folklore of islands that had long captured European imagination. Here are tales of Ponce de León's doomed quest for eternal youth, enchanted islands that devour ambitious sailors, and supernatural retribution visited upon conquistadors who plundered sacred places. But Skinner also preserves fragments of indigenous storytelling traditions - Taíno creation myths, Filipino legends, Polynesian tales of gods and heroes - that might otherwise have vanished entirely. The book operates on two registers: as a period piece revealing Victorian fantasies about colonial adventure, and as a genuine compilation of Pacific and Caribbean cultural heritage. It captures that strange moment when America became an empire and simultaneously discovered it had inherited a wealth of ancient stories. The writing carries both the exoticizing gaze of its era and genuine wonder at these narratives of magic, conquest, and the terrible beauty of islands that defeated the mighty.