The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440-1870

by Hugh Thomas

After many years of research, award-winning historian Hugh Thomas portrays, in a balanced account, the complete history of the slave trade. Beginning with the first Portuguese slaving expeditions, he describes and analyzes the rise of one of the largest and most elaborate maritime and commercial ventures in all of history. Between 1492 and 1870, approximately eleven million black slaves were carried from Africa to the Americas to work on plantations, in mines, or as servants in houses.

"The Slave Trade" is alive with villains and heroes and illuminated by eyewitness accounts. Hugh Thomas's achievement is not only to present a compelling history of the time but to answer as well such controversial questions as who the traders were, the extent of the profits, and why so many African rulers and peoples willingly collaborated. Thomas also movingly describes such accounts as are available from the slaves themselves.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Africa, Race, World History, African American, American History

912 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Hugh Swynnerton Thomas, Baron Thomas of Swynnerton, was a British historian and Hispanist.

Thomas was educated at Sherborne School in Dorset before taking a BA in 1953 at Queens' College, Cambridge. He also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. His 1961 book The Spanish Civil War won the Somerset Maugham Award for 1962. A significantly revised and enlarged third edition was published in 1977. Cuba, or the Pursuit of Freedom (1971) is a book of over 1,500 pages tracing the history of Cuba from Spanish colonial rule until the Cuban Revolution. Thomas spent 10 years researching the contents of this book.

Thomas was married to the former Vanessa Jebb, daughter of the first Acting United Nations Secretary-General Gladwyn Jebb.

From 1966 to 1975 Thomas was Professor of History at the University of Reading. He was Director of the Centre for Policy Studies in London from 1979 to 1991, as an ally of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He became a life peer as Baron Thomas of Swynnerton, of Notting Hill in Greater London in letters patent dated 16 June 1981. He has written pro-European political works, as well as histories. He is also the author of three novels.

Thomas's The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440-1870 "begins with the first Portuguese slaving expeditions, before Columbus's voyage to the New World, and ends with the last gasp of the slave trade, long since made illegal elsewhere, in Cuba and Brazil, twenty-five years after the American Emancipation Proclamation," according to the summary on the book jacket.

Thomas should not be confused with two other historical writers: W. Hugh Thomas writes about Nazi Germany and Hugh M. Thomas is an American who writes on English history.

Reviews

[Sunrise Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this title because I wanted to understand more specifics about the trans-atlantic slave trade: which countries did what and when, how often, and how much.

I find many things troubling about this book.

1) Most glaring is his constant praise and use of words such as "great" and "intellect" to describe men whose livelihoods were dependent upon the enslavement and exploitation of human beings. :-/

2) His handling of history becomes inconsistent when he compares European traders to African traders. He wants the reader to believe that both parties are equally culpable, but while he has in depth chapters or large sections of chapters devoted to monarchies and merchants from Portugal, Spain, England/Great Britain, France, the Dutch and even Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, he offers very little in the way of documenting any African kingdoms whether they are Moorish or "sub-saharan". That in itself is fine, as that would require a lifetime of research. However, I find it problematic that he frames a specific viewpoint on African involvement on the trade when it would appear that he has done minimal research in this area.

3) In my opinion, the author goes out of his way to lessen any sense of blame that could be applied to European governments. I believe he downplays the role of European governments in exploiting and at times creating divisions between different ethnic groups in Africa, or how selling firepower to one side of a conflict allowed for the dominant party to continue supplying slaves to European traders.


THAT SAID...
If the reader seeks only to learn about the European origins and roles in the slave trade, I find it pretty informative and an easy read. At times I feel he is overly specific about individuals, but if I ever want to learn more detailed information, it's nice to have a list of names to research. I appreciate the author's attempt to contextualize what we know as "slavery", but as a reader, it's definitely necessary to tune out the author's glaringly obvious ethnocentric bias.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were few innocents except the children:
“’Man-stealing’ accounted for the majority of slaves taken to the New World, and it was usually the responsibility of Africans. Voltaire’s sharp comment that, while it was difficult to defend the conduct of Europeans in the slave trade, that of Africans in bartering each other was even more reprehensible, deserves to be better remembered./But then there was no sense of Africa: a Dahomeyan did not feel that he had anything in common even with an Oyo.” 792-3
There is no doubt that, as with the drug trade, demand creates supply. But that does not decrease the guilt of those African leaders whose greed helped perpetuate the servitude sometimes even of their own people.
What amazed me most was how few people seemed to have doubts at the beginning of the European slave trade. Thomas feels that it was because many were fixated on “classical” ideals and the Greeks and Romans, of course, had slaves. I was shocked to learn how active the Quaker community had been in the trade before their “conversion” to abolitionism.
If Thomas is right, then the history of abolition is a call to individual responsibility and power:

“Experience…suggests that the end of the slave trade came not because, as the French historian Claude Meillassoux put it, ‘slavery as a means of production hindered agrarian and industrial growth,’ but because of the work of individuals, with writers such as Montesquieu playing an essential part.” 797

[John Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is important to understand what this book is and is not about.

First, it is a history of the slave trade, not of slavery per se.

Second, it is a history of the Atlantic slave trade. Slavery was nearly universal in settled societies, existing to varying extents on all continents and in all eras from ancient times until the abolitionist movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (and continuing to exist in a few scattered and benighted parts of the world even today). This book, however, focuses on the transportation of slaves, not all of them black Africans, to southern Europe, islands in the Atlantic such as Madeira, and especially the New World between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries. Other slave trades, such as the Arab slave trade which took slaves across the Sahara or from East Africa (and also from the coastal regions of Christendom and ships captured by pirates) to slave markets in North Africa and the Middle East, are mentioned only in passing and by way of comparison to the Atlantic trade. It shows that the Atlantic slave trade began along the fault lines between Christian, Muslim, and Animist cultures, where wars generated captives who could be sold as slaves, and later continued more along racial lines, with African potentates selling their neighbors, and sometimes their own subjects, into slavery, and European merchants taking them to the Americas.

Third, within the Atlantic slave trade, the book focuses on the activities of white slave traders from Europe and the Americas. The fact that black Africans were full partners without whom the trade could not have existed comes winking through. Almost all slaves were taken by African despots who sold them to traders along the coast. Through the last half of the eighteenth century the Kings of Dahomey (in modern Nigeria and Togo) earned an income from selling slaves dwarfing the revenues of any English duke or merchant. When abolition gained traction in the early nineteenth century and the English navy began patrolling against slave traders, most African rulers along the Atlantic seaboard protested, and several even sent ambassadors to London to make their protest more forcefully. The author's attention, however, remains firmly focused on the activities of the white middlemen, thus reflecting the concern of the modern university-educated West with the role of their own ancestors, not the ancestors of others.

The book concludes with the rapid (in a historical sense) rise of the abolitionist movement in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and suppression of the slave trade by the English and American navies that resulted. North African slave traders - the famous Barbary Pirates - continued to take white slaves until Thomas Jefferson sent the American navy to their home ports to suppress this activity. These pirate slavers ranged as far afield as Iceland, and took well over a million sailors and coastal residents as slaves before their raids ended, yet the abolitionists appear not to have been overly concerned about these unfortunate persons. Rather, they focused exclusively on the slave trade carried by their own merchants. From this fact I draw the conclusion that they were more concerned with ending their own sins than ending the sins of others against them, though that could be the subject for another book.

Within its limits, The Slave Trade is a detailed and thoroughly documented account of the subject, and well worth the reader's time and attention.

[Finley Neal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must openly admit, this book was way beyond my level. Hugh Thomas at times uses references in different languages which I do not speak & uses some words never heard in my vocabulary. However I greatly enjoyed this read & the knowledge gained is invaluable. The writer has gone to great lengths to research & compile information accurately. I was able to learn interesting facts on the slave trade concerning many different nations. Facts that are seldom mentioned here in the U.S.A. It puts the slave trade into an entirely different perspective for me. Very enlightening. This book was a hard read for me. The book seems like a text book at times & it's been many years since serious schoolwork for me. I recommend this book to those factfinding on the slave era & feel the book reports those facts unbiased. I'm glad to have purchased it & studied it's contents.

[Andrewh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like his mammoth Spanish Civil War, and History of Cuba, Hugh Thomas’ history of the Atlantic slave trade (not of slavery as such) leaves nothing out – it is a forest of details and historical anecdotes, which often makes it difficult to read and risks losing the reader’s interest at times. It is a narrative history, with little room for moral indignation and a strong emphasis on facts over analysis. The voice of the slaves themselves is, as he notes, missing.

It starts off by noting that the Renaissance revival of Antiquity led to a resurgence of slavery in Europe (where it had been prohibited before hand for several centuries), especially after the 15C ‘discovery’ of the Americas by Portugal and Spain, initially – this resort to antiquity was highly convenient, as was the judgement that it was better to be enslaved by Christians than to be under godless rulers in Africa. These countries began to explore the interior of Africa and buying slaves for use as labour in their new colonies – partly because the local indigenous Indians were regarded as unfit for hard labour and because the Church thought them viable candidates for conversion to Christianity (and therefore ineligible for slavery).
As Thomas notes, the Protestant countries were to take the Atlantic slave trade to a new level in the coming century. The coming to the throne of the Stuarts in England in 1660 marked a turning point. There then began the business of seeking slaves out in West Africa and taking them to the colonies – the start of the vast horror of the Middle Crossing. The English set up Royal companies, such as the Royal African Company [RAC, 1672] which floated for more investors – it had a charter of ‘a thousand years’, and was one of the largest early joint stock companies. By the 1730s England had exceeded Portugal as the largest exporter of slaves to the Americas (most to the Caribbean, about 25% to the American colonies), with Liverpool emerging as the key port in England for the trade (specialising in trade direct to Spanish empire colonies).

It was a triangular trade – ships picked up slaves in W Africa in return for manufactured goods (e.g. woollen cloth) and then took them to Americas, then came back with tropical goods to sell (which slaves would have harvested in turn). The ships' crews themselves were also treated atrociously and the death rate was up to 20% for them (against 12% for slaves, who were on board for much less time). By end of 18C, 80,000 slaves were going from Africa across the Atlantic annually – most were, it is noted, from captures in wars but not all; some also had to be sold for debt, or for breaking laws, and others were kidnapped (sometimes by local groups to sell on). The book asks whether the ‘wars’ were fomented by the Europeans to keep the trade going – definitely the trade encouraged wars in the region, as did the sale of western arms to local leaders. Though it was a hazardous business, with loss of ships common, slave trading was very profitable – mostly these profits were made by independent traders, while the national privileged companies often made less, owing to the high overheads of their officials at home and in Africa. Main profits were made by ‘interlopers’, who would sell slaves in Caribbean or the Americas for twice the cost paid on the Congo coast. As a result of African traders realising this, profits fell over 18C as the prices got closer on either side of the Atlantic, so the margin went down for the trade, and especially the national companies. Thomas notes that the decline of profitability in late 18C was a factor in the abolitionist movement after the 1780s peak of the ‘African meteor’, if not the deciding one.

The Abolitionist Section is the most interesting of all. In Europe, the movement was driven by French Enlightenment thought in the 18C and the English tradition of free speech/liberty, Thomas says. The English loss of the American colonies, industrialisation and the San Tome scandal (when 133 slaves were thrown alive overboard from a ship, whose owners then claimed insurance for their 'losses') increased anti-slavery feeling in England after 1783, led by the Quakers and Friends Societies (though the Quakers had previously been investors in the RAC and other such companies, it is worth recalling). This led to the creation of a parliamentary committee and a national movement to end the slave trade, which was symbolised by a Wedgwood designed figure of a black man on bended knee. The movement became led by William Wilberforce, a young MP and friend of PM William Pitt, who was also opposed, and a ‘leader in evangelical thought’. It was based on ‘moral conviction’ for the author but the movement also made economic arguments, e.g. it would save lives of seamen, encourage markets for raw materials needed by industry, new opportunities for our goods, etc. The arguments against abolition were mainly economic but also, strikingly, that working people in England, such as child chimney sweeps, were also working in atrocious conditions, so why not ban that as well (as they later would). After many attempts, usually blocked by the Lords, Willberforce’s Bill was passed in May 1807 making the slave trade illegal in the Empire – it did not abolish slavery per se, which continued to flourish in the Empire and beyond, but trading slaves was abolished.

The trade continued to be widespread in the African continent and was routinely practised by other states. There then followed a campaign by England, as the world’s leading naval power, to prevent slave trading by other countries, using the West Africa Squadron, which was principally aimed at Spain and Portugal, who eventually abolished the trade in the 1830s, though it persisted in their colonies. Palmerston used gunboat diplomacy to enforce the abolition and was accused of hypocrisy by other powers (especially given his explicit racialist views of other peoples), and using the campaign to extend British power at sea. Eventually, Brazil banished slavery in 1851 and, finally, Cuba in 1867, though it continued until 1870.

In the Epilogue, Thomas reiterates that the Atlantic slave trade, 1440-1870 was ‘a disgraceful business’ but says it would have been impossible without the direct cooperation of the local rulers in West Africa (mainly that region). Most slaves were ‘procured as a result of Africans selling their neighbours’ – he even notes that the conduct of Europeans was indefensible but that of the Africans ‘was even more reprehensible’ in ‘bartering each other’ (though he notes that there was no sense of ‘Africa’ at that point in history). These seems an over-generous view of the conduct of Western states, who had a variety of other trading options and were supposedly ‘Christian’ countries. Thomas also notes that all the great enterprises of the first 400 years of colonisation of the Americas were based on slave labour – sugar, tobacco, cotton, silver, gold, rice, which seems to make clear the economic imperative of the practice, which resulted in great wealth for some. He does mainly attribute the abolition of the slave trade down to England’s ‘moral crusade’, though the fact that reparations were still being paid to former slave traders up until 2015 (two centuries later!) does beg the question of how much of a moral question it was in reality. This book provides a good overview of the basic facts of the Atlantic trade (too many facts, in fact), but is quite short on analysis of the broader issues, and I suspect many historians would take great issue with the idea that England, as the world's leading naval and colonial power at the time, abolished slavery for principled reasons.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long! I was looking for something that provided a fuller history of the slave trade, not a focus on the US only. This provides that to a surprising degree.
I notice a reviewer or two commenting on the lack of personal perspective. There is a little but for the most part the content is true to the 'trade' part of the title. There is some history of the slave trade in Africa prior to the European discovery and settlement of the Americas.
It is an easy read in the sense that the tone and language is not academic.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a solid historical analysis of the transAtlantic slave trade and its multiple economic, ethnic, political and religious levels. Highly recommended.

[Maru Kun · Rating 4 out of 5]

For reference when reading: The Gail and Stephen Rudin Collection on Slavery in America

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

While clearly thoroughly researched and repeated with rich detail, this book might have been more accurately titled "The Slave Trader," as it's really about the technicalities of the process of the slave trade and those who oversaw this process. Very little space in the 800 pages are given to anything that might be considered as being written from the slaves' point of view, though to be fair the author does acknowledge this is due to the lack of sources available on this perspective. It often reads as a very long list of actions taken by slave traders, and more information on the culture of the slave trade would have been welcome. A valuable resource for those seeking to understand the ins and outs of the European side of the trade, but lacking in other dimensions.

[JZ Temple · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very detailed history of the slave trade from Africa to the Americas, focusing on the trade aspects rather than what happened to the slaves when they reached their final destinations. If you can work your way through the book, and it's not an easy read, you may be surprised by how many slaves were brought over to countries other than the United States; Brazil actually imported the most slaves. The book also covers the efforts to eradicate the trade. An area of history not as well covered in most standard works on slavery and worth the effort to get through it if you wish to be come more knowledgeble regarding the subject.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in the mid-90's for a highschopl project and was in way over my head as far as the length and time limit for our project. I ended up not finishing the book till after my project was due. However I believe the knowledge I gained as a Jr. in High School far exceeded what the other students learned as a result of reading this book.

[Pemmwa Thee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thus book is a must to keep you centered, to keep you grounded. A must read if your a history buff, I pick it up from time to time, just to make sure Im still grounded.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: between 1492 and 1870, about 11M blacks were kidnapped in Africa and taken to the Americas to be slaves. An abomination.

[Gijs Grob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uitputtende beschrijving van 430 jaar Atlantische slavenhandel, van zijn directe voorgangers tot het allerlaatste slavenschip naar Cuba in 1870.

Thomas bespreekt het allemaal met extreem detail, met veel cijfers, heel erg veel praktijkvoorbeelden en soms spannende passages, vooral over de moeizame strijd tot afschaffing van de slavenhandel, die gek genoeg ruim voorafging aan het idee van afschaffing van de slavernij zelf. Hierbij ligt de focus sterk op de handel en de handelaren. De slaven zelf komen er erg bekaaid vanaf, mede omdat er zo weinig over hun bekend is.

Helaas is Thomas soms zó gedetailleerd dat het overzicht zoek dreigt te geraken: de slavernij zelf ligt grotendeels buiten beeld (wanneer Nederland deze afschafte blijft bijvoorbeeld onbekend) en veel historische kaderkennis beschouwt de auteur als bekend. Dus wie niet weet wie Philips II was, wat de Napoleontische oorlogen waren en waarom de Amerikaanse burgeroorlog werd gevochten, snapt soms weinig van de context.

Daarbij is Thomas binnen zijn onderwerp soms wel èrg uitputtend: honderden namen komen voorbij en veel te veel voorbeelden, waardoor het lezen soms een moeizame exercitie wordt. Bovendien is Thomas geen flamboyant auteur. Decors scheppen, de lezer het verhaal in trekken, ho maar, al kan hij (dus) spannnend vertellen over bijv. parlementaire debatten over slavernij.

Uiteindelijk is het lezen van dit boek net zo uitputtend als het beschrevene zelf dat is.

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this book was long and involved . It sure made me think that slavery was insidious . I think the chapter on how they caught them was most gruesome thing I have read in non fiction a long long book glad I read this now how can we get over this in our country

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly thorough and well documented data.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Analizes the Atlantic slave trade ovcer four centuries exploring the reasons and methods.

[J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you want to know our story ? Here it is. In depth and written with fun

[Lashonda Slaughter Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very detailed and thorough account of the slave trade and its influence on modern society, a must read when looking at the subject.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was lots to like about this book. But unfortunately the historian decided to put in basically every single fact he researched and it simply becomes overwhelming. It just an avalanche of facts and there wasn’t enough editing.

A fine history book, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

[David Alandete · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took several weeks to finish this very long book but it was worth it to learn how involved Spain was in the slave trade and slavery, something that they never taught us in school back home. Along with Brazil Spain took longer than any other Western nation to abolish the slave trade because of their interests in Cuba and Puerto Rico. It was really humbling to learn so much.

[Jeff Aldrich · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for the faint of heart! The author has done a lot of research to write this book. There are fascinating bits of history about the slave trade that wouldn't otherwise be found in a college textbook. Though you have to get through a lot of information that is not very historically insteresting. For instance, littered throughout this book are mini paragraphs of biographical information about the slave Captains and aristocrats that became rich from the trade. While some biographical information is interesting, a lot of it involves those who were not that historically significant. It's clear that EVERYTHING that the author researched is in the book. No information was tossed out or edited in a way that made this book reader friendly.

[Paul Kearney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Encyclopaedic in scope, Ancient wars with 'The face that launched a thousand ships' romanticism. Look like little more than mere slave hunts. So numerous these ancient hunts. We have record of exchange twenty slaves per horse. Half of laws recorded in Roman.(six hundred odd) are in reference to slaves. Churches rejected slaves right of sanctuary uphold-ed for criminals, The Bible also curiously translated the word slave into servant.
1511AD -The first colonial debates on slavery were restricted to South American indian's. African slaves with their Superior agricultural knowledge. Conveniently left out on debates such as if slaves were real men. Black Africans throughout history were given the curse. Of being seen as the best workers with Superior strength and stamina . Ensuring centuries of beliefs of convenience, An African enslaved by a christian. More fortunate than a free African without knowledge of Christianity. Just as absurd 'Humanitarian' European kings saving thousands of south american lives. by transporting Africans to do the back breaking work of empire.
1568AD- The first of what became a regular occurrence. The king of the congo propped up by a colonial power. When the Portuguese empire put down A rebellion. Ensuring a continuation of slave friendly African leadership. So desirable it was noted
"Here one finds all the slaves one might want, and they cost practically nothing"
1569AD- A friar published 'Indulgence in the slave trade' Prophesying deadly sin to those who engaged in the trade
1573AD- A Spanish lawyer doubted if prisoners of war could ever be legally enslaved, Doubted the legality of the Christianity justification, The king of Spain ordered priests to travel on slave ships. For humanitarian purposes, Muslims started to free slaves that converted to Islam, Decency was growing only to be squashed by entry of new northern European slave masters.
The English and the French looked with scorn on the Spanish and Portuguese slave trade. It was thought English and French peasants. Would do the work of the new North American colony. In exchange for land. But quickly the pull of higher profits. pulled in the slave ships. As quick was the old idea now propagated by the English and French. Of kindness to native Indians. By exporting African slaves for work of Empire. Selling permits for legal slave trading ships. Became the biggest regular income for European kings.
1700s- Guns started to be exchanged to African rulers. In exchange for the availability of slaves, African ruler's started sending their children to be educated in England.
The signing of petitions became a force in politics. An official enquiry on how slaves were procured was produced.It found the vast majority were from spoils of African tribal war's. The bigger question being would these wars stop. If the demand for slaves did?
Concerns starting to be raised that the sheer number of transportation's would soon lead to a total depopulation of west Africa. How would the money keep rolling in then? Hence if you were poor. Being sold into slavery became the punishment of any crime imaginable.
1800s- In Britain (by now the far the biggest slave trading nation). Quaker communities outspokenly forbade partaking in the slave trade, Popular plays and poems started highlighting the trades ills, Worries that the sheer size of the industry might lead to 'whites' being outnumbered, Taking jobs that 'whites' could do, The ever threat of a full scale slave rebellion. Gave many pause to if the trade should go on. Losing the American war of independence. Meant it could regain the moral high ground. By denouncing the trade now profited by Americans. And commented on the moral inconsistency of 'Liberty' while condoning slavery. Names like Wilberforce and Pitt fought tirelessly. Against the still slave supporting royal family in parliament. Slavery was finally outlawed in Britain 30th of April 1807. Britain then fought hard for the role of the seas world's policemen. In the early world of global trade. A good deal with Britain was contingent on abolishment of slavery.
In America for reasons of national unity. The unbalanced electoral college was formed. Giving southern slave states 'The whip hand' in all future elections persisting to present day.

[Pablo74 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesante obra que narra con todo lujo de detalles la historia de la Trata de esclavos entre África y, fundamentalmente, América.

Comienza el viaje en el siglo XV, con los portugueses comenzando este vil comercio (seguidos de cerca por los ingleses) y transitamos por todos los siglos y por todos los vericuetos de la trata, desde cómo los ingleses pasaron de ser los mayores tratantes a la "policía mundial" en persecución de la trata; hasta cómo los españoles, liderados por ese rey que fue Carlos V, comenzaron y ampliaron un enorme tráfico de seres humanos que transformaría la demografía de América impulsado por la necesidad europea de consumir azúcar.

Obra bastante interesante, la verdad, y si algo le falla es que es excesivamente larga y que es excesivamente lineal (es casi una crónica de la Trata, y se echa en falta algo más de explicación). Además, pasa por alto la Esclavitud en sí, lo cual deja algo coja la interpretación.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE MOST DETAILED RECENT HISTORY OF THE SLAVE TRADE

English historian Hugh Swynnerton Thomas (1931- 2017) wrote in the Introduction to this 1997 book, “As a result of [my] interest, stretching back half a lifetime, I decided… to write my own history of the slave trade… Further, it was the slave merchants themselves… men who often never saw slaves for profited from their sale, who interested me… The slave trade was, of course, an iniquity. All the same, its study can offer something for almost everyone. If one is interested in international morality, one can ask how it is that, in the seventeenth century, several Northern European countries hesitated wo little before abetting a revival on a large scale of an institution which had nearly been abandoned in the region by the year 1100.” (Pg. 11)

He notes, “If one is interested in Jewish history, one can also explore Mr. Farrakhan’s accusations that Jews dominated the traffic in African slaves. But one would be hard put to find more than one or two Jewish slave traders in the Anglo-Saxon traffic… It is true that much of the slave trade in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Lisbon was financed by converted Jews, New Christians, or ‘conversos’; though whether such a person is to be seen as a Jew is not something on which I should wish to pronounce… If one is as critical of Islam as Mr. Farrakhan is of Jewry, one can explore how far the medieval trans-Sahara trade in black Africans, from the coast of Guinea, was managed by Arab mullah-merchants, in the centuries after the Muslim penetration of Africa… If one is looking for villains in this matter… one should certainly indeed look at royal families more severely than at Jewish ones: I am partly thinking of the rulers of Benin; the kings of Ashanti, Congo, and Dahomey; and the Villi rulers of Loango, who sold great numbers of slaves over many generations, but also monarchs of Europe.” (Pg. 12-13)

He notes that by the mid-15th century, “The Portuguese soon began to buy rather than kidnap slaves… These events on the West African coast introduced the Portuguese to … the Muslim merchant… Although they were described as Moorish by the Portuguese, many of them were black… The slaves whom these merchants had to offer the Portuguese were no doubt usually… captives of war, or in raids… The attitude of Africans to transactions of this kind with the Europeans can only be guessed… when African kings or others sold prisoners of war, they looked on the persons concerned as aliens, about whose identity they did not care, and whom they might hate. For there was no sense of kinship between different African peoples.” (Pg. 58-59)

He recounts, “In 1496, Columbus himself returned to Spain with thirty Indians whom he hoped go dispose of as slaves… but the queen ordered … her chief adviser on matters relating to the Indies, to delay the sale once more, till the legal implications could be settled… In the late 1490s, Columbus was thinking of sending back to Spain four thousand slaves a year…” (Pg. 89)

He explains “The ideal sugar plantation seemed to be about 750 acres… The enterprise was carried out with, say, 120 slaves… On such properties … black African slavery appeared to be the best kind of labor… White laborers was less amenable than Africans, less strong, and were considered less suitable for tropical conditions… These were widely held views, but they were myths: many white men have worked hard in heat… in the South of the United States and Queensland, as well as in Puerto Rico, Barbados, and elsewhere in the Caribbean.” (Pg.
136)

He observes, “Africa was not… just a silent participant in the supply of slaves to two distant European empires. The overthrow… of the great Songhai empire by a Moorish army… had immeasurable consequences for the international market in slaves… The consequence was that, quite independent of the growing European demand, every day there were more slaves available in the interior of Africa… slaves abounded, and not just for the benefit of Europeans… many slaves were obtained through kidnapping or trickery, even if the kidnappers or tricksters were usually Africans… The high prices offered for slaves by Europeans… also encouraged the African monarchs to raid each other’s land.” (Pg. 144-146)

He acknowledges, “For a time [16th-17th centuries], in both Spain and Portugal, the slave trade was dominated by Jewish conversos… Yet these men had formally become Christians. The Inquisition may have argues, and even believed, that many of them secretly practiced Judaism… but it would be imprudent to accept the evidence of the Holy Office as to their ‘guilt.’” (Pg. 299)

He recounts, “At the end of the eighteenth century, this coast was dominated by the powerful King Kpengla of Dahomey [present-day Benin]… The story of the family’s capture of authority is intimately linked with that of the slave trade, which was in the 1780s by far the biggest economic activity of the kingdom… Kpengla’s father, Tegbesu, who sold over nine thousand slaves a year, chiefly to the French and Portuguese, was estimated as having an annual income … which far exceeded that of the richest merchants of Liverpool and Nantes.” (Pg. 353-354) Later, he adds, “the kings of Dahomey more than once appealed to their European trading partners for arms to enable them to carry out the raids on their northern neighbors which alone could provide the slaves needed to fill the European boats.” (Pg. 373)

He notes, “Fairs where slaves would be bought and sold, and which were available to the coastal peoples, thrived long before the coming of the Europeans to the coast of Africa… Slaves in the Muslim world had some undoubted advantages. They alone were socially mobile in the society concerned… Slaves could even own slaves, and some slaves participated in slaving expeditions… None of this affected the Atlantic slave trade directly, but the presence in the African interior of a vast slave society encouraged coastal monarchies, whether or not they were Muslims, in their own slaving activities… Slaves were, of course, harshly treated in African before they were bought by Europeans.” (Pg. 381-382)

He states, “the discussion leading to the Declaration of Independence included critical talk of the slave trade, and Jefferson’s first draft of that document contained… a condemnation of King George III… The Articles of Confederation were in the end silent on the question of the slave trade.” (Pg. 481)

He comments, “Western European philanthropists talked much of persuading Africans to exchange the slave trade for other commerce… How could the peoples of West Africa who had been used to selling slaves to Anglo-Saxons build a new life? Dealing in salt was one possibility… But it could not be a real rival to the trade in slaves.” (Pg. 564)

He summarizes, “The reason why the Atlantic slave trade lasted so long is that, in the Americas, the Africans proved to be admirable workers, strong enough to survive the heat and hard work on sugar, coffee, or cotton plantations on in mines, in building fortresses or merely acting as servants… Many black slaves had experience of agriculture and cattle. Both indigenous Indians and Europeans seemed feeble compared with them. That was why European slaves… were never tried out in the America.” (Pg. 792)

This book will be “must reading” for all those seriously studying the slave trade.

[Mark Wardlaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a fascinating cacophony of human tragedy and triumph. Hugh Thomas presents an erudite history of the Atlantic Slave Trade; from its origins in the 15th to its demise in the 19th century. He answers the pertinent questions – How and why did it happen? Why did it take so long to come to an end?

Based on greed and profit, many in Western Europe including Kings, Queens, Popes, Ministers, etc. as well as ordinary people became involved in the lucrative trade of slaves from Africa to the New World. African Rulers would sell fellow Africans as slaves captured in perpetual wars, kidnappings and punishment. Transport in slave ships was barbaric and many died in atrocious conditions.

In the New World slaves worked the mines and plantations generating massive wealth for their masters. These masters were often respectable members of government. Such vested interest would make Abolition of slavery a monumental task.

The complexities faced by the Abolitionists in the struggle to eradicate the slave trade are well documented by Hugh Thomas, such as in the role of the British Navy. There are also quotes to highlight persuasive opinions, for example Wilberforce in 1792 ‘Africa, Africa, your sufferings have been the theme that has arrested and engaged my heart. Your sufferings no tongue can express, no language impart’

Though the voice of the slave is quiet in this book his achievements in developing the New World shout loud and clear.

[Peter C Lyon · Rating 3 out of 5]

While a noble effort, this book collapses under its own weight. It lacks a coherent narrative, and is, in some parts, a struggle to follow. It's as if an unedited collection of manuscripts were hastily sent to press -- a real shame, as Thomas has done a staggering amount of research.

This would work much better as several volumes focused on, for example: the early years, British involvement, Wilberforce etc., the U.S. until the Civil War, British Naval Patrols, Cuba, and Brazil.

Thomas also has the annoying habit as coming across as rather patronizing to his reader, repeating, for example, "It is interesting...," or reminding us multiple times about the heritage and ethnicity of slave trader Aaron Lopez.

Unfortunately, this tome is less than meets the eye. Readers wanting a long, satisfying read should take this with a 970-page grain of salt. It was a slog to get through.

That said, it does flow well in parts, and I'm willing to give Mr. Thomas another chance.

[Justin Andrusk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provided some excellent data around the Atlantic Slave Trade. Only problem I had with it was it became redundant after about half-way through. Some interesting take aways:

* African slaves were chosen based on their physical attributes such as strength & endurance, not because of the color of their skin over the South American Indian slaves.

* A good number of slaves were sold to the Europeans by their own tribal leaders that acquired them through invasions of rival tribes or war.

* Obviously there were abuses especially on the transport ships, but overall they were kept safe and secure.

* There were rogue groups that were involved that seems to be the leaders in the abuses.

* All nations were involved in some degree.

[J.M. Briggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very informative book that looks at many of the economic and political aspects of the slave trade. It goes into how many different cultures, tribes and European nations were involved rather than just focusing on the United States. It isn't an easy read, but does a pretty good job of not taking sides. There isn't a lot from the point of view of the imprisoned slaves here so it isn't the best book if you are looking for that, but if you want to begin understanding how and why the slave trade became such a huge part of the period then this book can help you with that.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's one major lack in this otherwise worthy study: the experience of those enslaved, which is implied by descriptions of the terrible conditions under which they were wrenched from Africa, but tends to be muted by Thomas's focus on the economics of the trade. Still, chilling, humbling, and often suprising -- who knew Quakers were among the many Americans who had no difficulty being godfearin' flesh merchants?