WITH plans well in hand for the observance next year of Bermuda's Quincentennial and with our long anticipated Sovereign Independence, like it or lump it, just around the proverbial corner, there could hardly have been a more timely, and I daresay worthy, presage of those inevitable events than the publication a week ago of the book by Rosemary Jones titled Bermuda: Five Centuries.

As far as this book goes, it is just what we as a people with all our diversity need among other things, to foment a spirit of true nationalism, an element that is so lacking among our people.

We need something that will enable us to say with pride 'We are Bermudians' because through this easy-to-read, beautifully illustrated, well-researched edition we should have clearer insights into who we are, what we and our forebears did to make this country ours; that it could not be what it is and what it will be without US.

Bermuda: Five Centuries is a major achievement, unquestionably rich, packed with well-documented historical facts. It is blunt. It is commendable in that no apparent attempt was made by the author to gloss over the evils of the devils that were among our early settlers; or to overdramatise the exploits of our heroes and heroines.

The facts virtually bleed from the pages of how many of Bermuda's 17th-century settlers brought conservative, middle-class English values to their new home, making Bermuda in many ways a miniature replica of the motherland. And in later centuries how black slaves with their free, forced labour and skills, provided the underpinning for Bermuda's economy.

We see highlighted in red ink, how on occasion "250 white men and some women, many of them of the lowest sort, prisoners accused of vagabondage were shipped to reside in Bermuda".

Next came the "evil events", to quote how the author highlights the way black slaves or negroes were shipped to Bermuda by the boatload to service the white settlers. Then followed the shipment to the island of American, Mexican and Caribbean Indians who were sold as slaves during the 17th century.

The early colonists kept a tight rein on their white underlings, keeping their men and women in severe servitude. We glean from Bermuda Company court records of October 1618, how gentleman William Pollard was sentenced for irreverent behaviour in church.

Judith Bailey, wife of Roger Bailey, was punished for disturbing the congregation in Pembroke Church. The churchwardens at Smith's were punished for not providing communion wine. Thomas Pye and Ellen, his wife, were punished for keeping a common tippling house on the Sabbath and other days.

John Edmunds of Devonshire was punished for being an idle and drunk man. And poor Peter Lunn and Margery, his wife, were punished for refusing to live together as man and wife.

IF the early settlers or Governors were tough on their white kith and kin, it was many times worse for the black chattel slaves. They faced execution, whipping and disfigurement for so-called insolent or mutinous behaviour. And at the same time, magistrates and inferior officers who failed to execute proper punishment for slaves were themselves fined.

Rosemary Jones is careful not to say that she has produced a history book. Rather, it is an up-to-date "overview", as she calls it, of the 500 years since the Spaniard Juan de Bermudez in 1505 accidentally discovered Bermuda and gave it his name.

His voyage was historic for one other significant reason. His ship La Garza was on the return leg of the first expedition that carried African slaves through the Middle Passage to the West Indies, to Hispaniola, the name of the island that combines Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Though Juan de Bermudez was a seasoned navigator, it is thought that like many mariners of that age, he did not know how to read or write. Yet years later, in 1609, another mariner, Sir George Somers, though obviously more erudite than Bermudez, got lost in a storm and, by accident also, found himself on our shores in his storm-wrecked ship Sea Venture.

Somers also gave the islands his name, or should we say nicknamed us "Somers Isles", and thus began the first permanent settlement of our country.

The chapter on Sea, Salt and Slavery covering the 150-year period from 1684 to 1834, when the Emancipation of Slavery took place, is edifying to say the least, giving insights into how the free labour of skilled black men and women provided the underpinning for Bermuda's earliest prosperity.

I must stress that 'insights' is the operative word, as I think Rosemary's overview should motivate readers to scurry for more extensive history on black participation in Bermuda's economy, especially in regard to shipbuilding, boat building and the construction of various homes and edifices throughout the island, as contained in Cyril Packwood's Chained on the Rock and Dr. Kenneth E. Robinson's Heritage as well as in the post-Emancipation years by Dr. Eva Hodgson's Second Class Citizens and First Class Men, among other publications.

ROSEMARY Jones, who was born in Bermuda, is a writer and editor with two decades of journalistic experience. A former editor of The Bermudian magazine, she is married to Paul Shapiro, a former Fleet Street journalist, who is credited with the design of both the book and its cover. They met in Toronto, Canada where both were working.

The author is very generous in her acknowledgements. She mentions that much appreciation is due to numerous Bermudian families, private individuals and public institutions willing to share their newsworthy stories, artefacts, artwork and photographs.

They range from the Maritime Museum, Bermuda National Trust, Historical Society, and particularly the Bermuda Industrial Union and its education officer, Collin Simmons, for opening their archives and providing a pictorial wealth.

Naturally, I was honoured to note that Rosemary included the name of Ira Philip among others who shared resources. Others include parliamentarian and author Dale Butler, Maritime Museum director Dr. Edward Harris, and Charlotte Andrews of the Bermuda Maritime Museum; editors Tony McWilliam of the Bermuda Sun and Bill Zuill of The Royal Gazette; Dr. Wolfgang Sterrer and Penny Hill of the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo; David Fox of the Bermuda Insurance Institute; film-maker Errol Williams and authors Duncan McDowell and Sandra Rouja; historian Keggie Hallett; Portuguese-Bermudian community activists Trevor Moniz and Robert Pires among others.

Singular credit is given to historian Dr. Clarence Maxwell of the Bermuda Maritime Museum, who was chairman of the book's editorial board.

First and foremost, Rosemary acknowledges that Bermuda: Five Centuries would never have left the drawing board without the inspiration of Wendi Fiedler of Panatel VDS Limited, that was established in 1982, and is a leading producer of television documentaries such as Treasures, interpreting themes of cultural and social value to Bermudians. Wendi conceived the original six-part film series that her firm produced for the Government's Millennium Committee in 1999.

The Bank of Bermuda Foundation, through a generous grant to the Bermuda Millennium Committee, helped make the publication a reality. In fact, the Foundation is donating a book free of charge to 7,000 Bermuda school children. Bermuda: Five Centuries was published by Panatel VDS Ltd., Bermuda and printed in China.

Our pictures show the main personalities featured at the launch last week of Rosemary Jones' book, Bermuda: Five Centuries. Above, from the left, the head of the Bank of Bermuda Foundation, Joe Johnson, Jay Bluck, chairman of the Bermuda Millennium Committee; Terry Lister, Minister of Education, in his previous capacity as Minister of Cultural Affairs gave Government's solid backing to the book as a project to mark the island's Quincentennial in 2005; Rosemary Jones, the author, and Wendi Fiedler, whose firm is publisher of the book.

Below: Rosemary Jones is seen at Hamilton City Hall where the first of some 7,000 school children were given free copies of the massive 248-page book.