The Rise of African Slavery in the Americas

by David Eltis

• ISBN13: 9780521655484
• ISBN10: 052165548X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-10-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Why were the countries with the most developed institutions of individual freedom also the leaders in establishing the most exploitative system of slavery that the world has ever seen? In seeking to provide new answers to this question, The Rise of African Slavery in the Americas examines the development of the English Atlantic slave system between 1650 and 1800. The book outlines a major African role in the evolution of the Atlantic societies before the nineteenth century and argues that the transatlantic slave trade was a result of African strength rather than African weakness. It also addresses changing patterns of group identity to account for the racial basis of slavery in the early modern Atlantic World. Exploring the paradox of the concurrent development of slavery and freedom in the European domains, David Eltis provides a fresh interpretation of this difficult historical problem.

Author Biography

David Eltis is Professor of History at Queens University.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	ix
List of Maps	xii
Preface	xiii
Abbreviations	xvii
Slavery and Freedom in the Early Modern World	1	(28)
The English, the Dutch, and Transoceanic Migration	29	(28)
Europeans and African Slavery in the Americas	57	(28)
Gender and Slavery in the Early Modern Atlantic World	85	(29)
Productivity in the Slave Trade	114	(23)
Africa and Europe in the Early Modern Era	137	(27)
The African Impact on the Transatlantic Slave Trade	164	(29)
The English Plantation Americas in Comparative Perspective	193	(31)
Ethnicity in the Early Modern Atlantic World	224	(34)
Europe and the Atlantic Slave Systems	258	(49)
Epilogue on Abolition	281	(4)
Appendices
A. The Age and Sex of Africans in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, 1663--1713	285	(8)
B. Slave-Price Appendix	293	(6)
C. Merchandise Imported to West Africa, 1662--1713	299	(4)
D. Valuations of Produce Exports from the Leeward Islands in 1700	303	(4)
Maps	307	(8)
Sources and Bibliography	315	(24)
Index	339