The Atlantic Slave Trade

264 Pages·2010·1.82 MB·English

by  Herbert S. Klein

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The Atlantic Slave Trade
second edition
Thissurveyisasynthesisoftheeconomic,social,cultural,andpoliticalhistory
of the Atlantic slave trade, providing the general reader with a basic under-
standingofthecurrentstateofscholarlyknowledgeofforcedAfricanmigration
andcomparesthisknowledgetopopularbeliefs.TheAtlanticSlaveTradeexam-
ines the four hundred years of Atlantic slave trade, covering the West and
East African experiences, as well as all the American colonies and republics
thatobtainedslavesfromAfrica.Itoutlinesboththecommonfeaturesofthis
tradeandthelocaldifferencesthatdeveloped.Itdiscussestheslavetrade’seco-
nomics,politics,demographicimpact,andculturalimplicationsinrelationship
to Africa as well as America. Finally, it places the slave trade in the context
of world trade and examines the role it played in the growing relationship
betweenAsia,Africa,Europe,andAmerica.Thisneweditionincorporatesthe
latestfindingsofthelastdecadeinslavetradestudiescarriedoutinEuropeand
America. It also includes new data on the slave trade voyages that have just
recentlybeenmadeavailabletothepublic.
HerbertS.Kleinistheauthorof22booksand155articlesinseverallanguages
on Latin America and comparative themes in social and economic history.
AmongthesebooksareTheMiddlePassage:ComparativeStudiesintheAtlantic
Slave Trade (1978) and four studies of slavery, the most recent of which are
Slavery and the Economy of Sa˜o Paulo, 1750–1850 (co-author, 2003); African
Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean (co-author, 2008), and Slavery in
Brazil (co-author, 2009), as well as four books on Bolivian history, including
AConciseHistoryofBolivia(2003).Hehasalsopublishedbooksonsuchdiverse
themesasTheAmericanFinancesoftheSpanishEmpire,1680–1809(1998)and
APopulationHistoryoftheUnitedStates(2004).

NewApproachestotheAmericas
EditedbyStuartSchwartz,YaleUniversity
Alsopublishedintheseries
ArnoldJ.Bauer,Goods,Power,History:LatinAmerica’sMaterialCulture
LairdBergad,TheComparativeHistoriesofSlaveryinBrazil,Cuba,andthe
UnitedStates
NobleDavidCook,BorntoDie:DiseaseandNewWorldConquest,
1492–1650
Ju´niaFerreiraFurtado,ChicadaSilva:ABrazilianSlaveoftheEighteenth
Century
SandraLauderdaleGraham,CaetanaSaysNo:Women’sStoriesfroma
BrazilianSlaveSociety
RobertM.Levine,FatherofthePoor?VargasandHisEra
J.R.McNeill,MosquitoEmpires:EcologyandWarintheGreaterCaribbean,
1620–1914
ShawnWilliamMiller,AnEnvironmentalHistoryofLatinAmerica
SusanSocolow,TheWomenofColonialLatinAmerica

The Atlantic
Slave Trade
second edition
Herbert S. Klein
StanfordUniversity
CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS
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Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521766302
© Herbert S. Klein 2010
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the
provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part
may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2010
ISBN-13 978-0-511-90186-7 eBook (NetLibrary)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-76630-2 Hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-18250-8 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Contents
ListofMaps,Figures,andTables pageviii
Introduction xv
1 SlaveryinWesternDevelopment 1
2 AmericanLaborDemand 17
3 AfricaattheTimeoftheAtlanticSlaveTrade 49
4 TheEuropeanOrganizationoftheSlaveTrade 75
5 TheAfricanOrganizationoftheSlaveTrade 105
6 TheMiddlePassage 132
7 SocialandCulturalImpactoftheSlaveTrade
onAmerica 162
8 TheEndoftheSlaveTrade 188
Appendix 213
BibliographicEssay 219
Index 233
vii
List of Maps, Figures, and Tables
Maps
1 Majorslave-tradingzonesofwesternAfrica pagexi
2 Majorslave-tradingportsofSenegambiaandSierra
Leone xii
3 MajorslavingportsoftheGoldCoastandtheBights
ofBeninandBiafra xiii
4 Majorslavingportsofsouthwesternandsoutheastern
Africa xiv
Figures
2.1 ComparativemovementofAfricanslavestoSpanish
andPortugueseAmericanports,bydecade,1501–1650 20
2.2 ComparativemovementofAfricanslavestoSpanish,
Portuguese,andnorthernEuropeancolonialAmerican
ports,bydecade,1651–1750 23
2.3 ComparativemovementofAfricanslavestoSpanish,
Portuguese,andnorthernEuropeancolonialAmerican
ports,bydecade,1751–1830 26
6.1 SlavemortalityintheMiddlePassage,1550–1865 140
6.2 OutboardprofileoftheFrenchslaveshipL’Aurore 147
6.3 Sleepingarrangementforslavesonthelowerdeckand
theplatform 148
6.4 Inboardprofileshowingstorageareasanddecks 149
7.1 AgepyramidofCreoleslavesinJamaicain1817 173
7.2 AgepyramidofAfrican-bornslavesinJamaicain1817 173
viii