Academic literature on the topic 'Slave trade Africa'

This thesis deals with the Afro-European trade on the Western Slave Coast from about 1600 to the 1880s, mainly the slave trade but also the trade in ivory and agricultural produce. The Western Slave Coast comprises the coastal areas of modem Togo and parts of the coastal areas of Ghana and Benin. For much of the period under discussion, this region was dominated by two kingdoms, the kingdom of the Hula (or Pla), known to European traders as Great or Grand Popo, after its coastal port (in modern Benin), and the kingdom of the Ge (Gen/Guin/Genyi), known to European traders as Little Popo, after its main coastal port (in modern Togo). In the nineteenth century, two more ports of trade appeared in the region, Agoud (in modem Benin) and Porto Seguro (in modern Togo). In terms of the Afro-European trade, this was an intermediate area between regions of greater importance to slave traders, the Gold Coast to the west and the eastern Slave Coast (mainly the kingdom of Dahomey) to the east. This thesis gives a detailed reconstruction of the political and commercial developments in the region, especially for the period from the 1780s and the 1860s. The discussion is based mainly on archival material from British, French and African archives, but also makes use of a wide range of published accounts, mainly in English, French and German, and information from oral traditions. Beyond its immediate local interest, the thesis contributes to our understanding of the operation of the Afro-European trade and its impact on African middleman societies. The intermittent commercial success of 'the Popos' illustrates the dynamics of the trade especially clearly. The Western Slave Coast is placed into the wider transatlantic trade network and its role in the trade re-evaluated. The link between the local and overseas economy is illustrated by the centrality of the lagoon, which is discussed in detail. Other important issues that are addressed include the role of the canoemen in the trade, the transition from the slave trade to the palm oil trade and the Afro-Brazilian settlement at Agoue.

Rejecting the customary scholarly distinction between legal and illegal slave trades, this research explores the relationship between the Seychelles islands and the south- western Indian Ocean's slave trade to the Mascarenes from the time of the Seychelles' colonisation in 1770 to the demise of the slave trade in c. 1830. The work begins by locating the French colonisation of the Seychelles within the context of the changing dynamics of the trade, specifically the shift from Madagascar to Mozambique as the primary supplier of slaves for the Mascarenes and the growing slave-exporting role of the Swahili coast at the end of the eighteenth century. When set against this backdrop, the colonisation of the Seychelles appears in a novel light, and the thesis advances the argument that - contrary to what has commonly been assumed - slave trading ambitions and activity were central to the settlement project. Since growing numbers of slaving voyages between East Africa and Mauritius and Réunion made use of the Seychelles in subsequent decades, the dissertation next turns its attention to discussing the socio-economic life of early Seychellois and, specifically, the various services which they provided to slavers. It is here demonstrated that the Seychelles were used as a provisioning station and, most important of all, as a sanatorium for passing slaves. The Seychelles could perform this latter function - and thus impact on slave mortality rates during sea crossings - thanks to the presence of small islands which were employed as quarantine stations, the availability of clean water and the abundance of wild food sources, especially tortoise and turtle meat. The intermediary role of the Seychelles is shown to have increased in the aftermath of the British takeover and the subsequent criminalisation of the slave trade in 1810. Following repressive measures in the 1820s, the Seychelles became the centre of a wide-ranging smuggling network that drew on the outer islands of the archipelago to move East African and Malagasy slaves predominantly to Réunion. The inner islands, for their part, were more central to the large-scale abuse of the so-called ̳transfer system', which resulted in thousands of newly purchased slaves being imported into Mauritius following a period of acclimatisation in the Seychelles. The thesis' overarching argument is that the Seychelles were much more significant to the slave trade of the Mascarenes than has been previously assumed and that, were it not for the Seychelles, such trade might not have expanded as rapidly as it did in both geographical and demographic terms.

Charles Tyng has been heralded as an American hero after the posthumous publication of his memoir, Before the Wind: The Memoir of an American Sea Captain, 1808-1833, in 1999. Recent research involving British Treasury report books from the nineteenth century suggest otherwise – that Tyng actively promoted and was engaged in the illicit trade of African captives. A Boston Brahmin, Tyng applied the lessons of his time at sea with Perkins & Company, the opium trading firm, to his occupation as an agent of notorious slave trading firms in Havana. This paper uses as evidence records of the captures of several vessels that implicate Tyng directly in equipping ships for the slave trade to correct the historical record and exposing a supposed hero as a predatory capitalist ignoring ethics for financial gain.

By tracing the history of Badagry, from its reconstruction after 1784 until its annexation in 1863, it is possible to trace a number of themes which have implications for the history of the whole 'Slave Coast' and beyond. The enormous impact of the environment in shaping this community and indeed its relations with other communities, plays a vital part in any understanding of the Badagry story. As a place of refuge, Badagry's foundation and subsequent history was shaped by a series of immigrant groups and individuals from Africa and Europe. Its position as an Atlantic and lagoonside port enabled this community to emerge as an important commercial and political force in coastal affairs. However, its very attractions also made it a desirable prize for African and European groups. Badagry's internal situation was equally paradoxical. The fragmented, competitive nature of its population resulted in a weakness of political authority, but also a remarkable flexibility which enabled the town to function politically and commercially in the face of intense internal and external pressures. It was ultimately the erosion of this tenuous balance which caused Badagry to fall into civil war. Conversely, a study of Badagry is vital for any understanding of these influential groups and states. The town's role as host to political refugees such as Adele, an exiled King of Lagos, and commercial refugees, such as the Dutch trader Hendrik Hertogh, had enormous repercussions for the whole area. Badagry's role as an initial point of contact for both the Sierra Leone community and Christianity in Nigeria has, until now, been almost wholly neglected. Furthermore, the port's relations with its latterly more famous neighbours, Lagos, Porto-Novo, Oyo, Dahomey and Abeokuta, sheds further light on the nature of these powers, notably the interdependence of these communities both politically and economically. Badagry's long-standing relationship with Europe and ultimate annexation by Britain is also an area which has been submerged within the Lagos story. But it is evident that the, annexation of Badagry in 1863 was a separate development, which provides further evidence on the nature of nineteenth century British imperialism on the West Coast of Africa.

In the century and a half since the days of the ‘scramble for Africa’ a vast body of literature has emerged attempting to disentangle the complexities of the ‘New Imperialism’. One of the most prominent and enduring theories was proposed by Ronald Robinson and John Gallagher in Africa and the Victorians, which linked the partition of East Africa with geo-strategic concerns connected to Egypt and India. Building upon John Darwin’s initial critique, this thesis will re-examine the partition of East Africa in an attempt at offering a comprehensive refutation of the Egypto-centric interpretation. The explanatory model will be exposed as a post-hoc fallacy, neither grounded in documentary evidence nor consistent with the sequence of events and policy-decisions. An alternative understanding will be proposed in which the partition of East Africa in successive stages from 1884 to 1895 formed part of a British policy continuum in the region, wherein protection of commercial interests and suppression of the slave trade were the principal determinants. By tracing the chronology of the partition it will be contended that its ultimate geographical scope was substantially determined at the very beginning of the colonisation process; whilst imperial agency were decisive in expanding the British sphere of influence to comprise Uganda in 1890 and similarly, public opinion was crucial for retaining it in 1892. In particular it will be argued that partition largely represented the cost-effective transplantation of British anti-slave trade policy from the maritime to the continental sphere, a shift enabled by the use of railway technology.

This thesis is about the social, political, and economic interactions that took place in and around the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) in two very different regions: north-eastern Tanzania and Zanzibar. The mission was for much of the period a space in which people could – often inventively – make a living through education, employment, and patronage. Indeed, particularly in the period preceding British colonial rule, most Christians were mission employees (usually teachers) and their families. Being Christian was, in one sense, a livelihood. In this era before the British altered the political economy, education had only limited appeal, while the teaching profession was not highly esteemed by Africans, although it offered some teachers the security and status of a regular income. From the 1860s to the 1910s, the UMCA did not offer clear trajectories for most of the Africans interacting with it in search of a better life. Markers of coastal sophistication, such as clothing or Swahili fluency, had greater social currency, while the coast remained a prime source of paid employment, often preferable to conditions offered by the mission. By the end of the period, Christians were at a social and economic advantage by virtue of their access to formal institutional education. This was a major shift and schooling became an obvious trajectory for future employment and economic mobility. Converts, many of whom came from marginal social backgrounds, sought to overcome a heritage of exploitative social relations and to redraw the field for the negotiation of dependency to their advantage. However, as this thesis shows, the mission also contributed to new sets of exploitative social relations in a hierarchy of work and education.

This thesis aims at showcasing the movement of African cultural meaning from Africa to Europe by Europeans in their involvement in the African slave trade as well as the colonization of Africa, which was the imprisonment of the African cultural expression as well as a limitation of its development and further production. The thesis also addresses one of the reason for the global circulation of the European culture, which is the search and achievement of absolute power and control over the minds of its conquests in order to become a dominant culture. Note, however that the act of becoming a dominant culture stem from the European cultural persuasion of the dominance of its culture by its self and not a reflection of epistemological and ontological superiority. Note also that in claiming to be a dominant culture, the European culture is in reality only in control of its conquests, which are cultures whose nature is to its full knowledge, and whose meaning it distributes upon will and purpose. Therefore, the movement of African cultural values, norms and beliefs to Europe and the Euro‐Atlantic world, implies that the ideas from which the European fashion system´s inspiration is founded, are in essence not only European derived. This conclusion is based on a critical analysis of the nature of the European culture and its authentic self, a self that produces European culture.<br>Program: Textilt management, fashion management

Cette thèse, sur la traite des esclaves noirs en Libye, dans les temps modernes, en particulier aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles, a nécessité une recherche à partir de questions telles que : quelles sont les origines et les catégories des esclaves noirs qui arrivèrent en Libye ? Les divers prix pratiqués ? Les stations commerçantes les plus importantes du Sahara ? Les routes caravanières empruntées pour le transport des esclaves vers l’Afrique du Nord et plus particulièrement la Libye ? La thèse porte sur les principaux marchés libyens, les méthodes d’achat et de vente, les prix des esclaves, les impôts, les douanes. La Libye a servi, en premier lieu, de plaque tournante pour l’exportation des esclaves vers d’autres destinations et notre étude s’est attachée à ses ports d’où partaient les esclaves en direction de l’Egypte, de l’Empire ottoman, du Levant et des pays du Maghreb. La thèse met aussi l’accent sur la vie sociale des esclaves, leurs rituels religieux, leurs traditions et coutumes, leur habitat, leurs relations avec leurs maîtres, leur intégration dans la communauté libyenne et musulmane jusqu’à en faire partie, le point de vue de la société libyenne sur ce phénomène de l’esclavage. La dernière partie de la thèse aborde la diminution du phénomène de l’esclavage en Libye, puis l’interdiction et l’abolition du commerce à partir de la pression internationale exercée sur l’Empire ottoman. Une évaluation est faite sur la qualité des mesures gouvernementales à cet égard, à travers un récit historique des évènements jusqu’à la fin du commerce à partir de l’occupation italienne, en 1911<br>This thesis is about the black slaves’ trade in Libya in the modern era especially in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It illustrates a range of research issues such as, the sources of black slaves which came to Libya, its types and prices, the important commercial stations in the desert, the routes of the caravans which carried the slaves to North Africa and to Libya in particular. The research study comes across the most important markets on the Libyan soil, the methods of purchasing and buying, the slaves’ prices, the taxes and the customs. Hence, Libya was the area of re-exporting the slaves in the first place, the theses will mention the important exporting harbours and the important destinations such as Egypt, the Ottoman State (Turkey), and the Levant and the Maghreb countries. The thesis extends its scope to cover the social life of the slaves, their religious rituals, their customs and traditions, their houses, their relationships with their masters, the perception of the Libyan society to the slave phenomenon until they become an important component of the Libyan society and the Islamic societies in general. The last part of the thesis deals with the history of abolition of the slave trade and the disappearance of the slave phenomenon totally in Libya. This will be done by following the sequence of events starting with the international pressure on the Ottoman Empire for the abolition of slavery, the assessment of the seriousness of the governmental measures (procedures) and recalling the historical events until the end of the slave trade by the Italian occupation to Libya in 1911

My dissertation examines the work of George C. Wolfe, August Wilson, Lorna Simpson and Glenn Ligon, theater and visual artists working in the 1980s and 1990s who feature representations of the Middle Passage in their work. Despite their different mediums--Wolfe and Wilson created plays for the proscenium stage and Simpson and Ligon crafted art installations--all four critiqued the racialized social retrenchment of their historical moment by linking it to the slave trade, and each did so through an engagement with black performance traditions.<br>African and African American Studies