Book Description
The grim history of the slave trade from Africa is one that has had an impact on generations of people all over the world. While much of the initial voyage and inhumane treatment of slavery has been historically analyzed, there has been little written on the several forts and castles along the coast of Ghana that were used as slave holding facilities. This book focuses primarily on Cape Coast Castle, the African headquarters of the British slave trade from 1664 to 1807, through which countless men, women, and children were sold as slaves and carried away on slave ships, often to North America. It tells the story of the people who lived, worked, or were imprisoned within its walls, as well as the construction and upkeep of the building, the arrivals and departures of ships, the negotiations with local African leaders, and the deadly diseases inside.
Customer Reviews:
The Business of Slavery .......2007-08-19
Written with the Gold Coast of Africa as its center, this remarkable book is an amazing piece of work. The author uses records recovered from Britain's slave forts to recreate the business life of the trade. We learn how and why people were bartered for manufactured goods and the process of assembly and shipping of human cargo. The recovered douments also provide the personal side never meant to be viewed by others. I found this book to be excellent and recommend it thoroughly.
The Door of No Return is a welcome addition to public and college library history shelves........2007-06-10
Written by William St Claire (former Senior Research Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge University), The Door of No Return: The History of Cape Coast Castle and the Atlantic Slave Trade is an in-depth history of the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, Africa, and its role it served as headquarters for the horrific British slave trade, until the slave trade's abolishment in 1807. Drawing heavily from years of personal research into the Castle's vast archive of public records and ledges - from letters and correspondence to scribbled notes and even the recipes of trafficked slaves - The Door of No Return offers a unique, in-depth scrutiny of this dark place and phase of human history. Written in plain terms and illustrated with a handful of black-and-white photographs, The Door of No Return is a welcome addition to public and college library history shelves.
Book Description
Hawthorne reevaluates long-held notions about the Atlantic slave trade's impact on a number of "stateless" - or decentralized - societies in Africa's Guinea-Bissau region. He shows that decentralized societies were by no means passive victims of the slave trade, as commonly depicted in the literature, but vigorously defended themselves from the incursions of the raiders. The imperatives of defense and their participation in the trade led to a fundamental reordering of decentralized societies, especially in the realm of agriculture and agricultural labor, as rice became the staple crop in the region. Contrary to standard interpretations, Hawthorne shows that rice production and capacities for self-defense actually led to population increases among the region's decentralized societies.
Customer Reviews:
A new look at the slave trade.......2004-04-28
Employing evidence from African oral traditions and European archival sources, this book looks at the slave trade in and from Africa in a new and unique way. Casting an eye toward the continent's decentralized societies, and most especially at the Balanta of the Upper Guinea Coast, Hawthorne demonstrates that those living outside states were not mere victims of enslavement and often found ways to produce slaves themselves. The book also challenges our view of precolonial women's history by arguing that in some places African men's work increased as a result of women being exported into the Atlantic. In the Balanta case, as the society turned to paddy rice production in the eighteenth century, young men assumed a much more central role in agricultural production. The book is mandatory reading from anyone interested in environmental, agricultural, gender, African or slave studies. It is well written and argued and might be considered alongside of the works of Walter Rodney, John Thornton, Joseph Miller, Martin Klein, Richard Roberts, and Paul Lovejoy.
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Coast of Slaves
Thorkild Hansen
Manufacturer: Sub-Saharan Publishers
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ASIN: 9988550316 |
Book Description
This is a study that digs deeply into this "other" slavery, the bondage of Europeans by north-African Muslims that flourished during the same centuries as the heyday of the trans-Atlantic trade from sub-Saharan Africa to the Americas. Here are explored--perhaps for the first time--the actual extent of Barbary Coast slavery, the dynamic relationship between master and slave, and the effects of this slaving on Italy, one of the slave takers' primary targets and victims.
Customer Reviews:
Hmmm. Important but misleading........2007-08-02
1. It is an important book in chronicaling slavery throughout the world in the last 500 years.
2. However, it misleads the reader to think that slavery was the same throughout the world. Though evil is evil, it is important to recognize that different cultures had different rules, rules that could make or break a person. For example, Muslim slavery rarely involved the enslavement of a person for life, especially not that person's offspring. In most cases slaves could not even be sold from person to person and had several rights concerning family.
This marks a vital difference between their practice with slavery and the European practice of chattel slavery: where a person was a slave for life, had NO rights concerning family, and their offspring were immediately and forever the property of their enslaver.
3. The other problem with this book is that it suggests that the primary way that Muslims got European slaves was through raids. On the contrary, just like in Africa, raiding was a minor way of obtaining slaves. The truth is that the Europeans, like Africans, sold each other into slavery. There were various massive ports in Europe, such as Venice in Italy, that grew wealthy from the selling of other Europeans into slavery.
The Triumph Of Greed.......2007-04-27
This book illuminates an important dynamic of history. Africans were enslaving Europeans. Europeans were enslaving Africans. Africans were selling the members of competing African tribes to Europeans for enslavement. The constant in all this is greed.
Slavery in the East.......2007-01-11
While the book was interesting from an historical perspective, it is one not meant for leisure reading. I commend the writer for diligence in research and recommend this as a supplimental text for the person interested in reading additional materials relating to the current conflict between Christians and Muslims.
A wonderful read to reflect on the history and today.......2006-12-01
Reading this wonderful book, one cannot help to reflect on the history since then when such slave trade took place, as well as what Europe is facing today. It is important to remember the history and learn the necessary lesson from it, otherwise, we have no way to prevent the history from repeating itself. I also cannot help to wonder: why such history is not told in our schools and in our media? What is the reason that this history has become so sensitive even after 200 years since its end that our governments and our media would never want us to know?
Have our governments and our media sold their soles so that they can justify what they did to promote foreign interests that are damaging our own culture, our free society and the Western civilization in every way?
How could we allow those people who want to kill anyone who do not obey their god to come to our society? How could we allow those threathening our fundamental rights of free expression and liberty everyday living in our society with the best social welfare and benefits? How could we allow those people to build the mosques that are mushrooming our landscape where every moment the hatred to the Western culture and Christianity is taught and the worst brainwash is conducted, and all financed by our taxpayers' money? (in Germany there are more than 3,000 mosques already, more in France, all financed by the governments)How could we allow those talk to give both Islam and Christianity a equal status in the West while our own politicians are trying so hard to destroy our own religion to please those who tried for several centuries but never succeeded?
Of course, there are many immigrants who want to integrate into our society and be good citizens, but there are also people who oppose our civilization in every way, who want to kill us and destroy our society for their religion. We used to fight enemies who invade us from the outside, now thanks to our governments, we have to fight them from within. It is almost an impossible task. With the birth rate of Muslims 5 times of the Christians in the last 50 years, we are becoming minorities in our own countries faster than we have realized.
After reading the world-famous journalist, writer Oriana Fallaci's book THE FORCE OF REASON, I know the West is heading for a total self-destruction. Now with this book on an important part of Western history which has almost lost, everyone living in the West should reflect on the urgency of today and to use our rights to fight for our freedom, now or never. It is our responsibility to prevent the history from repeating itself.
Little known history.......2006-01-06
Mass slavery in the popular imagination had always been associated with the capture and subsequent enslavement of Africans. With good reason. The sheer scale of the African slave trade stretched the limits of imagination. Enslaved Africans were ubiquitous from Brazil to the Carribbean to the plantations in the Southern United States. Slavery undergirded economies, dehumanized victims and victimizers alike and generated profits for those who benefited from this egregious institution. In the Western world, especially the United States, the history of slavery bares a black face. There is no denying the suffering of Africans in bondage. Robert C. Davis, author of Chritian Slaves, Muslim Masters,however, presents us with another picture of bondage, one no less brutal, repressive and disheartening. This bondage was experienced by Europeans at the hands of North African Muslims. Between 1500 and 1800, dates in the subtitle, corsairs sanctioned by the North African govenments of Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers and Morrocco attacked European ships in the Medditeranean and raided European shores. These plundering expeditions netted hundreds of thousands of captives. As many as a million and a quarter Europeans, according to the author, were enslaved by North Africans. A small figure compared to the estimated twelve million Africans carried off to the new world over a span of centuries, but not an inconsiderable one by itself. The author channels a prodigious research effort into a detailed anaylsis of slave life, how they were captured, their national origins, the types of labor they were consigned to and their physical and mental states. Muslims raids reached as far afield as Iceland, but the proximity of Italy to the North African coast made it a convenient and frequent target for Muslim slaving activities. For that reson, the author devotes a considerable amount of space to how Italians coped with constant raids along their shores. The parallels the reader can draw between European and African slavery during this period are undeniable. Captured human beings in both cases came from all walks of life. Their traumatic experience of capture was compounded by the humiliation of being displayed to prospective buyers like merchandise. As there was no plantation system in North Africa, Europeans did not toil in the midst of sugar canes or cotton fields. Many, however, were put to work in galleys, others hauling rocks at construction sites, working in mines or cutting timber. Whatever their labor, Davis decribes horrendous conditions to which European slaves were subjected; disease, unabated hunger, all manner of cruelty inflicted upon them by their masters and the general despair of captivity. Of course, a European slave had a higher chance of seeing his homeland again than an African slave. North Africans were more keen on ransoming their captives than Europeans and Americans in possession of African slaves. Still, lifelong captivity was the sad fate of a myriad of Europeans caught by Barbary corsairs. The tone of this book is purely scholastic. Facts and figures are prominant, but anecdotal accounts from primary sources add a human element to this work. The author does more than reveal this little known history of slavery in all its sordid detail. He delves into some historiograhpy, offering his theory on why European slavery has been downplayed in the annals. His take on this matter is a fitting conclusion to a well researched, remarkably informative book.
Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
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Liberty and Equality in Caribbean Colombia, 1770-1835
Aline Helg
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
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Similar Items:
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The Tribute of Blood: Army, Honor, Race, and Nation in Brazil, 1864-1945 (Latin America Otherwise)
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From Subjects to Citizens: Honor, Gender, and Politics in Arequipa, Peru, 1780-1854
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The Plebeian Republic: The Huanta Rebellion and the Making of the Peruvian State, 1820-1850
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Muddied Waters: Race, Region, and Local History in Colombia, 1846-1948 (Latin America Otherwise)
ASIN: 0807855405
Release Date: 2003-12-09 |
Book Description
After Brazil and the United States, Colombia has the third-largest population of African-descended peoples in the Western hemisphere. Yet the country is commonly viewed as a nation of Andeans, whites, and mestizos (peoples of mixed Spanish and indigenous Indian ancestry). Aline Helg examines the historical roots of Colombia's treatment and neglect of its Afro-Caribbean identity within the comparative perspective of the Americas. Concentrating on the Caribbean region, she explores the role of free and enslaved peoples of full and mixed African ancestry, elite whites, and Indians in the late colonial period and in the processes of independence and early nation building.
Why did race not become an organizational category in Caribbean Colombia as it did in several other societies with significant African-descended populations? Helg argues that divisions within the lower and upper classes, silence on the issue of race, and Afro-Colombians' preference for individual, local, and transient forms of resistance resulted in particular spheres of popular autonomy but prevented the development of an Afro-Caribbean identity in the region and a cohesive challenge to Andean Colombia.
Considering cities such as Cartagena and Santa Marta, the rural communities along the Magdalena River, and the vast uncontrolled frontiers, Helg illuminates an understudied Latin American region and reintegrates Colombia into the history of the Caribbean.
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Maum Guinea
Metta Victoria Fuller Victor
Manufacturer: Applewood Books
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ASIN: 1557095507 |
Book Description
This tale of slave life on a Louisiana estate at Christmastime is a spirited and pathetic story written by Metta Victoria Fuller Victor, one of the most famous women writers of the day. Originally published in 1861, it was translated into many languages and President Lincoln is said to have called it, .,." as absorbing as Uncle Tom's Cabin." It also helped galvanize British sympathy for the Northern cause.
Book Description
In the wake of The Guardship comes the second in the Brethren of the Coast trilogy and the swash-buckling adventures of former pirate Thomas Marlowe.
In a blind rage, King James, ex-slave and now Marlowe's comrade in arms, slaughters the crew of a slave ship and makes himself the most wanted man in Virginia. The governor gives Marlowe a choice: Hunt James down and bring him back to hang or lose everything Marlowe has built for himself and his wife, Elizabeth.
Marlowe sets out in pursuit of the ex-slave turned pirate, struggling to maintain control over his crew -- rough privateers who care only for plunder -- and following James's trail of destruction. But Marlowe is not James's only threat, as factions aboard James's own ship vie for control and betrayal stalks him to the shores of Africa.
And it is in Africa, in the slave port of Whydah, that James and Marlowe must face a common threat and their own final showdown.
Customer Reviews:
A Fine Addition to The Bretheren of the Coast .......2004-10-29
James L. Nelson has a penchant for putting his characters in a pickle. This is the second book of the Brethren of the Coast Trilogy. We have advanced in time to June of 1702 and Thomas Marlowe and Elizabeth are married. Marlowe is about to observe the final fitting out of his new private man-of-war, the Elizabeth Galley and he is also about to receive a private letter of marque from the governor. War with Spain has erupted and a letter of marque gives the holder the right to sieze and take the ships of the enemy. It is legalized priacy and fits Thomas Marlowe, former pirate in another life to a tee.
In the previous book, Marlowe purchased the estate of James Tinling and after doing so, freed the slaves thereon, not so much out of ideology, but out of a realization that they would be more productive as paid laborers in harvesting his tobacco crop and less trouble. It was a decision which did not sit well with his neighbors. It particularly did not sit well with a new arrival to the area, one Fredrick Dunmore who has been agitating for laws to make the lives of freed slaves as miserable as possible.
Dunmore seems to be more of a nuisance than a threat until King James, one of Marlowe's freed slaves and commander of this sloop Northumberland, is sailing down the James River to Point Comfort with a load of building materials for the house he is about to have built for himself and his new wife. In doing so they encounter a ship in distress and on boarding it they discover that it is a slaveship, a "Blackbirder" which was attacked by pirates and left in woeful condition. King James recalls his time as a slave on such a ship and when he is met with hostility and aggression by the captain of the ship a fight breaks out and the captain and several of the crew are killed. James realizes that he cannot return and takes command of the ship, sending one of his crew back to tell Marlowe what has happened. When the door is opened and Sam is seen standing there, torn clothes, shirt smeared with blood and vomit and his eyes wild, Marlowe knows that his life has just changed, even before a word is uttered.
In a meeting with the governor, Marlowe is denied his letter of marque until he takes his ship and kills or captures King James. The governor takes the position that Marlowe has set the example of freeing the slaves and it puts them all in danger of their slaves rising up against them. The guns on Marlowe's ship were salvaged from the former Guardship commanded by Marlowe and the governor considers them the proprty of the colony and reasons that they need to be used to protect them from the dangers that Marlowe has exposed them to. Angry and resentful, Marlowe accepts the task as the only way to keep his ship and eventually be allowed to sail it as a privateer.
As Marlowe goes in search of James, Dunmore takes his absence as an opportunity to attempt to capture and imprison his freed slaves. Elizabeth takes up that challange with help from an old friend which leads them to Boston to discover the reasons for Dunmore's obsession with Negroes.
Meanwhile King James is dealing with a myriad of problems in the running of the former slave ship and there is treachery afoot there as well.
Marlowe continues his quest to kill or capture James and as I said at the beginning, Nelson does a wonderful job of putting his characters in a real pickle and how these issues are resolved makes for entertaining and sometimes agonizing reading as the story unfolds.
Nelson writes with gripping realisim, keeps his characters true to themselves and once again delivers a tale that will hold one's interest to the end. The third book awaits and I am looking forward to it.
only 3stars not 5.......2004-04-03
the main story is good except HE HAS TO INSERT the fifthy languaqe in the book.
On Par With Hornblower.......2004-03-30
(...). I have been reading the Horatio Hornblower Series and other books from this era. This book was different in that it dealt with other topics (i.e. slave trade, racism, sexism, etc.) in the context of the Napoleonic era. I thought that the characters were interesting, but I could not help thinking I would have enjoyed Blackbirder more had I read the first book in the series beforehand. Marlowe is a great character, but I think that the author did not spend enough time letting us get to know him in Blackbirder. The plot of this book was really interesting...I consider myself a "plot sniffer", but I did not have this one figured out until Nelson revealed it. Nice touch...now I wish I could find the first and third book of the series in the bargain area (doubtful).
I am very excited to find a good author in the genre. I would recommend to anyone reading O'Brien or Hornblower to check him out.
Even better than 'The Guardship'.......2002-05-23
A premonition - and suddenly the comfortable world of Marlowe is turned on its head.
King James, the freed slave, slaughters the crew of a slave ship in a fit of passion, and to save face and reputation, Marlowe has to run him down and bring him to justice. Meanwhile, his sworn enemy is intent on destroying all that Marlowe holds dear ...
This sets the scene for another gripping tale in the same vein as 'The Guardship' - the same flowing prose and command of language endows this book with the mark of a master storyteller coming into his stride. Many threads, at sea and at home, combine to make this a thrilling, un-put-downable period story.
As the tale unfolds, we are taken into the minds of the protagonists, taking a glimpse behind the facade that each one has created, seeing the tale from several different perspectives, each with its own ideals and agenda, making us more and more involved in this wonderful complex story.
Even better than 'The Guardship' - and that's saying something. *****
Look out for 'The Pirate Round', book 3 in the series.
The Blackbirder.......2002-03-28
Nelson is developing his talents as an author of historical fiction. It's good to see a writer who actually improves as he goes along.
Indicative of this improvement is the amount of historical detail given in this book, the second in the Brethren of the Coast series. Largely about the slave trade, The Blackbirder reveals the depth of the author's research into African cultures of the period.
Ex-pirate Marlowe should by rights be a fascinating character, but he lacks depth -- not merely because he's a rather shallow person, which he is, but because Nelson hasn't developed him sufficiently. He has a certain blank quality. James, the other main character here, is better drawn, but still not quite exemplary. Secondary characters, such as Marlowe's wife and her rakish ally Billy, aren't bad, but aren't fantastic either -- I'd say overall that characterization is a bit of a weakness here, though not disastrously so.
The plot, as one expects with Nelson, is an exciting one -- I don't find the themes here as interesting as his battles-at-sea books, but other readers may well prefer them. I did find my suspension of disbelief faltering at one point, when a psychotic racist tries to imprison Marlowe's freed workers: either they're free, and he would have to have a warrant, or they're slaves, and he's stealing property, and either way, that element didn't quite work for me. Overall, though, the story is fast-paced, enjoyable and holds the reader's attention well.
Books:
- The History of Cartography, Volume 2, Book 3: Cartography in the Traditional African, American, Arctic, Australian, and Pacific Societies (The History of Cartography)
- The Killer Angels
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- The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co.
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- The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need, New Edition
- The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2)
- The Smithsonian Guides to Natural America: The Northern Rockies: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming (Smithsonian Guides to Natural America)
- The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America
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