A Cultural History of Slavery and Human Trafficking in the Age of Empire

The Age of Empire was also the age of enslavement. During the 1700-1900 period, the slave trade created a global system of commerce, where merchants, commodities, and work force circulates between Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania, and the Americas. No continent was spared or excluded from engaging on the human trafficking and coerced labor. Goods and crops produced in different territories moved around the world, fuelling consumers demand and connecting merchant communities. African enslaved labor produced sugar, tobacco, and coffee, among other crops, that supplied the cafes, taverns, and shops in Paris, Lisbon, Luanda, Philadelphia, Cape Town, or Cairo. Chinese tea was consumed in Zanzibar, London, and Timbuktu, in a clear indication that crops, consumption patterns, and people were connected during the Age of Empires.

Authors in this volume examine the 1700-1900 period, including the expansion of human trafficking. Slavery, capitalism, and imperialism were compatible and interrelated, despite earlier interpretations that portrayed slavery as incompatible or less capable of producing labor output. Agricultural output, labor input, and consumer interests dominated much of the political and economic interests of the elites during the Age of Empire. In this context of change and transformations, slavery and freedom were defined and redefined throughout the 1700-1900 period. These redefinitions took place in Europe as well as in the colonial political economies in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.