Seventeenth century Bermuda was a vital centre of the New World and yet was often underestimated by London, and even today is often forgotten by historians.

An American archaeologist and historian, Michael Jarvis, hopes to change all that with a new book, 'In the Eye of All Trade: Bermuda, Bermudians, and the Maritime Atlantic World, 1680-1783'.

The book, published by The University of North Carolina Press, is on shelves now.

It covers Bermuda at the end of the Somers Island Company period to the War of 1812. Dr. Jarvis hopes it will be one of two books about 17th and 18th century Bermuda.

"Bermuda was this really central place in British America that was not appreciated by London at the time," said Dr. Jarvis. "Bermuda was barely on any radar screen in the 18th century because it didn't produce anything that could be taxed.

"London valued places like Barbados and Virginia for sugar and tobacco, but Bermuda just provided services. It was great in keeping Bermudians sustained but the Crown couldn't benefit from it. So it might well have not existed to them."

But Dr. Jarvis argued in his book that outside of London, people had a different view of Bermuda.

"Bermuda was important, because the Island shuttled news, and cargoes and connected everywhere else. It was the only colony that connected Boston, Massachusetts, Barbados and Charleston, South Carolina together.

"It is the only colony that was connected to every other British colony, as well as all the French and Dutch colonies too," he said.

But he said as important as it was, modern historians tend to focus on the 13 British colonies which eventually became American states, or islands in the Caribbean.

"I wanted to put Bermuda on the radar of historians," said Dr. Jarvis.

Now he plans to take a year off to write the second in the duo. The second book will be more about The Somers Island Company. Its working title is 'At the Crossroads of the Atlantic'.

Both books are based on his dissertation at William & Mary University.

Dr. Jarvis was recently in Bermuda to conduct research for the book.

Part of his research included a small test archaeological dig on Smith's Island in St. George's.

He chose this spot, because some of Bermuda's earliest settlements were on Smith's Island.

When Sea Venture passengers built new vessels and sailed off to the New World, they left behind three of their company, Christopher Carter, Edward Waters and Edward Chard. The three men made a camp on Smith's Island.

"There are two Holy Grails of archaeology in Bermuda," said Dr. Jarvis. "One would be finding the Sea Venture camp. The other would be finding this camp on Smith's Island."

The three men were alone in Bermuda for a year and a half. During that time they cleared an acre of land, grew Bermuda's first crop of tobacco and also grew beans and pumpkins.

"When the Plough arrived in 1612 they had already set up shop," said Dr. Jarvis. "The fact that these three guys spent a year and a half figuring out Bermuda's climates and settlement benefited the first settlers who arrived in 1612.

"These guys could teach them how to clear land and when to plant, and so forth."

During a preliminary visual survey of the eastern side of Smith's Island, which is heavily overgrown, Dr. Jarvis found many sites that may hold historical significance.

"It will be a little while before we get down to exact specific sites," he said. "We are in an early phase just discovering what is there.

"We have been walking around the eastern part of the island which is government-owned."

He thought the three men left behind may have chosen a campsite on the island that would have allowed them to monitor who was approaching on the ocean.

If the Spanish turned up instead of the English, the three men could quickly row to the mainland and hide.

The mission of the men was to explore the island and figure out what resources and riches might be there.

"They found a giant lump of ambergris that would today be worth the equivalent of millions of dollars," said Dr. Jarvis.

The three men were in the process of building a vessel to sail back to civilisation with their newly found treasure when the Plough arrived.

During Dr. Jarvis' very small scale test dig, involving his 11-year-old daughter Charlotte and one graduate student from the University of Rochester, Alexandra Mairs, he found several sites that weren't on any maps.

"We found some very old quarries," said Dr. Jarvis. "In one area there is a kind of a fireplace and round oven cut into the side of the rock. It is almost like a little cellar house."

He said it was very unusual compared to other dwellings he had looked at in his St. George's research.

"I have not seen this sort of configuration," he said. "The only place I have read about it is King's Castle Fort on King's Island.

"At King's Castle there is apparently a deep oven in the back of the fireplace. That suggests that one of the areas we found scattered around might be a 17th century site."

But he said it was still too early to tell. He said the island has played host to some interesting characters.

In the mid-1770s Francis Forbes, a prominent St. Georgian, acquired the whole island and built a country house on its western side. That house still stands.

Dr. Forbes used the island to treat smallpox patients.

"It was very controversial," said Dr. Jarvis. "He was deliberately infecting people with live and contagious smallpox.

"The idea was that when you nursed them back to health they would have life-time immunity"

His patients were quarantined to Smith's Island to stop them spreading the disease in town.

Dr. Jarvis thought that through the 1960s, Smith's Island was pretty much untouched.

But he got a shock when he saw a 1973 photo that showed the eastern part of the island carpeted with greenhouses.

"Apparently, in the late 1960s and early 1970s a lot of commercial farming was done on the island," said Dr. Jarvis. "They have bulldozed parts of the island.

"Historian Jack Arnell once speculated that there might have been a very early fort on the eastern tip of Smith's Island but now that has been bulldozed."

Bits of metal piping and large metal tanks are still scattered about the island, left over from its commercial farming days.

"So we have been trying to assess how much would have been destroyed by 1970s farming and how much is still there," said Dr. Jarvis.

Another site Dr. Jarvis is interested in locating is the beginnings of a town built on Smith's Island.

"In 1612, when the Plough arrived, the settlers on it began building a town on Smith's Island.

"They must have built the start of maybe six dwellings, but after a few weeks decided to move to what is now St. George's because there was more space there," said Dr. Jarvis.

"If you are going to find 17th century bits of Bermuda that are well preserved Smith's Island provides great promise for that."

During his preliminary look at the island, he was helped by Rick Spurling, director of the Carter House Museum.

"We are kind of a shoestring operation," said Dr. Jarvis. "Hopefully, we will find enough to warrant coming back with more students, and more professionals."