The Atlantic Slave Trade

A volume in the Problems in World History series, this book features a variety of secondary-source essays that are carefully edited for both content and length, making this single volume a convenient alternative to course packets or multiple monographs. Most often used as a supplementary text for upper-level courses, The Atlantic Slave Trade includes chapter introductions, essay introductions, and annotated bibliographies.

Professor of History at Boston College, David Northrup earned his Ph.D. in African and European History from the University of California at Los Angeles. He earlier taught in Nigeria with the Peace Corps and at Tuskegee Institute. Research supported by the Fulbright-Hays Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Social Science Research Council led to publications concerning pre-colonial Nigeria, the Congo (1870-1940), the Atlantic slave trade, and Asian, African, and Pacific islander indentured labor in the nineteenth century. A contributor to the OXFORD HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE and BLACKS IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE, his latest book is AFRICA'S DISCOVERY OF EUROPE, 1450-1850. In 2004 and 2005 he served as president of the World History Association.

I. Why Were Africans Enslaved? Eric Williams, Economics, Not Racism, as the Root of Slavery Winthrop D. Jordan, The Simultaneous Invention of Slavery and Racism David Brion Davis, Sugar and Slavery from the Old to the New World David Eltis, The Cultural Roots of African Slavery II. The Slave Trade Within Africa Mungo Park, West Africa in the 1790s P.E.H. Hair, African Narratives of Enslavement Joseph C. Miller, West Central Africa Joseph E. Inikori, Guns for Slaves John Thornton, Warfare and Slavery III. The Middle Passage Olaudah Equiano, An African's Ordeal Thomas Fowell Buxton, An Abolitionist's Evidence Philip D. Curtin, A Historian's Recount Herbert S. Klein, Profits and Losses David Eltis and David Richardson, The Achievements of the "Numbers Game" IV. Effects in Africa John Hawkins, An Alliance to Raid for Slaves Walter Rodney, The Unequal Partnership Between Africans and Europeans Patrick Manning, Social and Demographic Transformations John Thornton, Africa's Effects on the Slave Trade V. Effects in Europe and the Americas Eric Williams, Slavery, Industrialization, and Abolition Seymour Drescher, The Williams Thesis after Fifty Years Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, An African Nation in Colonial Louisiana Philip D. Morgan, African Cultural Dynamics in the Americas VI. Abolition Adrian Hastings, Abolitionists Black and White Osei Bonsu and Eyo Honesty II, African Opponents of Abolition Howard Temperley, The Idea of Progress Michael Craton, Slave Revolts and the End of Slavery Suggestions for Further Reading