Domestic slave trading in St. Croix, 1764–1848

This article deals with domestic slave trading in the Danish (-Norwegian) West Indian colony of St. Croix, focusing on enslaved labourers sold as chattel. It examines the volume and price developments, building upon data on thousands of sales. Crucian slaveholders were willing participants in the domestic slave market, especially during the market’s peak period, c. 1767–1823. Some of them did make a profit from speculation, although evidence of large-scale, professional entrepreneurs is absent. The closing of the transatlantic slave trade did not lead to rising slave prices in the short term, but in the long run it was an important factor in the decline of the market. Finally, the article discusses the impact of the market on enslaved Crucians and their masters, as well as their respective strategies for dealing with it.     

‘The Blade Was in My Own Breast’: Slave Infanticide in 1850s Fiction

This article examines antislavery authors’ attempts in the 1850s to fictionalize the Margaret Garner story of slave infanticide as a means of converting northern white readers to the antislavery cause. In their attempts to gain sympathy for an enslaved female protagonist who had murdered her own child, these authors confronted strong cultural beliefs about femininity, motherhood, and blackness. Almost uniformly, their strategy involved lightening the skin of the main character and presenting the killing of her child as a form of suicide. Nevertheless, the intense emotions surrounding the slavery issue by the mid‐1850s also led these authors to endow their fictional slave women with an aggressiveness that challenged contemporary social boundaries for women.     

Many Chains to Break: The Multi‐dimensional Concept of Slave Labour in Brazil

This article examines the concept of slave labour through two case studies from Brazil. One involves internal migrant workers and the other cross‐border migrant workers. There have been accusations of slave labour in both cases. I argue that slave labour is a multi‐dimensional concept and that cognate notions (eg forced and unfree labour) could also be reconceived as multi‐dimensional. Recent works have proposed that a continuum viewing labour relations as more or less free should replace dichotomies such as free vs unfree. I argue for taking this further to recognise, first, that workers may be more or less free in different ways, and second, that the resulting conditions of employment can be characterised as more or less degrading, also in different ways. This multi‐dimensional approach allows for a better understanding of the heterogeneity of apparently unfree labour relations and for greater recognition of the agency of workers labelled as slaves.     

‘Various Means of Providing for Their Own Tables’: Comparing Slave Family Economies in the Antebellum South

Recent scholarship has changed our understanding of African‐American slaves’ experiences by shifting our focus from the external factors of slavery (what slavery did to men and women in bondage) to slave agency (slaves’ determination in creating their own autonomous culture). While this has been a positive development, there is a danger in forgetting the framework within which slave culture was created. This article seeks a middle ground by examining the ways in which certain external factors of slavery determined the extent to which slave families could develop internal economies and engage in independent production. Comparing slave families’ experiences in three distinct cash crop regions of the antebellum South, this study’s findings indicate that the varied nature of work patterns and crop‐specific labor incentives in different regions served to either encourage or thwart the development of slave family economies.     

The business of human trafficking: slaves and money between Western Italy and the House of Islam before the crusades (c.900–c.1100)

ABSTRACT

Before the First Crusade, the maritime cities of Italy imported precious objects from Islamic regions. The question of what they exported in return has long occupied historians. Due to the large economic disparity between Latin Italy and the wealthier House of Islam, human trafficking offered a strong profit opportunity to merchants from Amalfi, Pisa and other ports. This was because the price of a slave in Egypt or North Africa, at around 20 gold dinars, represented a large sum in the silver currency zones of Latin Europe, especially compared to low prices in Italy. Even moderate numbers of trafficked humans may therefore have provided the capital for further maritime economic expansion. Moreover, slaves offered a commodity with low infrastructure and transportation requirements, unlike bulk agricultural products, as well as unique advantages in market access, which suggests that slave trading preceded investment in other branches of commerce.     

Slavery and plantation capitalism in Louisiana's sugar country

Sugar planters in the antebellum South managed their estates progressively, efficiently, and with a political economy that reflected the emerging capitalist values of nineteenth‐century America. By fusing economic progress and slave labor, sugar planters revolutionized the means of production and transformed the institution of slavery. Slaveholders and bondspeople redefined the parameters of paternalism and recast the master‐slave relationship along a novel path. Louisiana slaves accommodated the machine, holding no torch for Luddism while concurrently shaping the agro‐industrial revolution to achieve modest economic independence and relative autonomy within the plantation quarters.     

Emissions Trading,New Enclosures and Eco‐Social Contestation

Abstract: The central operating strategy within the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and most of the advanced capitalist world's environmental policy is to address climate change through the market mechanism known as emissions trading. Based upon government issuance and private trading of emissions reductions credits and offsets, this approach quickly rose to $135 billion in annual trading. But in the wake of the collapse of climate negotiations in Copenhagen and a world financial crisis which undermined market faith in derivative investments, carbon trading has an uncertain future. Linkages between deep‐rooted financial market and emissions market problems are revealing in spatio‐temporal terms, especially in the context of a deeper overaccumulation crisis and investors’ desperate need for new speculative outlets. It is in the nexus of the spatial and temporal aspects of carbon financing amidst resistance to “new enclosures” by adversely affected peoples, that broader‐based lessons for global/local environmental politics and climate policy can be learned.     

Further aspects of fur trade life depicted in the skeleton

Osteobiographies were reconstructed from the skeletal remains of four adults from Fort Edmonton, a 19th century trading post of the Canadian fur trade. Three males were Caucasoid and probably ethnic Scots, given the usual origin of fur traders in this region. The lone adult female in the sample was Mongoloid, either Indian or Métis, and likely the ‘country wife’ of a fur trader, since she was buried in the European tradition in the fort cemetery. The cause of death is not discernible from any of the skeletal remains and none of these individuals exhibit any evidence of chronic infectious disease, malnutrition or neoplasia. Trauma, arthritis and other indicators of physical stress do appear, however, and present an opportunity to expand our understanding of the effects of fur trade life on the skeleton. Viewed in the context of historical accounts of life at the fort in the early 19th century, stress markers on the skeletons of three males have led to the conclusion that they were voyageurs who engaged in trading trips by canoe or boat. Lesions of the capsule attachment area at the proximal tibio‐fibular articulation appear unilaterally in two males and may be associated with ‘mushing’ or driving a dog sled in winter. The musculoskeletal lesions on the one preserved female skeleton are consistent with the arduous domestic activities documented at the fort, which include milking cows, churning butter, stirring lye soap, and harvesting grain and root vegetables by hand. Since specific occupations or behaviours cannot be precisely determined from muscular attachment and other stress markers, these interpretations are made cautiously and only in the culture‐historical context of the skeletal sample. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Boundaries and opportunities: comparing slave family formation in the antebellum South

Our understanding of the marriage strategies and family formation of enslaved people remains clouded by disagreement among contemporary scholars. A perusal of the historical literature suggests that two issues lay at the root of this disagreement: First, scholars disagree over the extent to which slave family life was shaped by the external factors of slavery, or rather slave agency; and second, scholars appear reluctant to abandon their singular views of the slave family. This article addresses both of these gaps by formulating a middle ground in the slave agency debate and by redefining the slave family in plural form. An analysis of the boundaries and opportunities for family formation in northern Virginia and lowcountry South Carolina, this study shows that while the establishment of co-residential two-parent households was the ideal for slaves, not all were able to realize that ideal, and those that could not adapted their marriage strategies and family lives accordingly.     

PERILOUS WATERS: EARLY MARITIME TRADE ALONG THE WESTERN COAST OF THE BLACK SEA (FIFTH MILLENNIUM BC)

A heavy accumulation of exotica and valuables, such as gold, copper, carnelian and Mediterranean shells, distinguishes the Black Sea littoral from other parts of the east Balkans in the fifth millennium BC. 1 Recent discoveries shed new light on the trading connections of the coastal communities and indicate that maritime activity was germane to the origin of their extraordinary wealth. This article investigates the involvement of the coastal inhabitants with the sea. It addresses the ecological conditions and the technical parameters of prehistoric seafaring on the west coast of the Black Sea, considers the remains of marine species in the faunal record as an indication of maritime experience, and examines the artefactual record for signs of movement of goods and people between the coastal communities. The combination of these separate lines of evidence points to a maritime trading route joining the resource‐poor north with the resource‐rich south of the littoral in the Chalcolithic period. Moreover, it implies that sea‐borne trade not only enabled the accumulation of material wealth, but also was pivotal for social change.     

Preliminary Investigations of Two Shipwreck Sites in Cahuita National Park,Costa Rica

Recent underwater archaeological investigations in Costa Rica focused on two sites as potential candidates for Danish West Indies slave ships wrecked in 1710. Historical research suggests a landmark wrecking event associated with a large infusion of Africans, many who remained in Central America. This paper is the first interim report of two fieldwork seasons combining field methods, research, and preliminary interpretation of the findings with voyage history. Context within the broader theme of slave‐ship archaeology and Costa Rica Caribbean landscape is addressed. An integral part of the initiative is community memory, stewardship, and education.     

Den samiska handeln och dess roll som social differentieringsfaktor‐lule lappmark 1760–1860

English summary

During the beginning of the 17th Century, reindeer‐husbandry developed as the dominating economic form of the Sami in Swedish Lappland. Sami society was transformed from a hunting to a pastoralist society, with profound alterations in social and economic structures. In this paper the role of trade as an agent of change in reindeer‐pastoralist economies is studied with an emphasis on conditions in Lule lappmark during the period 1760–1860.

In the middle of the 18th Century, the Sami held a dominating position in the trade of Lule lappmark. Sami traded with the Swedish trading system on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, and with the Norwegian trading system on the Atlantic coast. Through this trade, the Sami both disposed of their own reindeer products and conducted important middle‐man trade between the two national trading systems. In addition they carried out a large local trade in Lapland with their own products and with purchased goods.

By the middle of the 19th Centuy. the picture is completely different. The dominating Sami position had been lost and trade with Norway all but disappeared. The initiative in the local trade had gone over to the settlers. All this had occured without any changes in the assortment of goods, trading‐patterns, the volume of trade or prices. The reasons where manifold. The most important ones, however, are to be found in the population development of Lapland and the increase in population and production on the coast of Bothnia.

In Lapland a strong population movement occured with the change from a traditional Sami way of life towards a more settled one based on agriculture. At the same time, the number of settlers with a Swedish ethnic background vigourosly increased. On the coast of Bothnia the population tripled between 1750 and 1850. During this period an important proto‐industrial development also took place based on wood and iron, wind‐ and water‐power. All this meant that the relative importance of traditional Sami goods received from reindeer‐husbandry diminished, even if actual supply and demand remained stable.

The great volume of trade with reindeer‐products and the many important goods received in return demonstrates the importance of trade for the reindeer‐pastoralist economy. The trading‐goods were to a large extent technically superior to the products produced within the frames of the reindeer‐pastoralist economy. The most important factor was, however, the fact that the surplus production left in exchange for these goods, only demanded a small increase in labor input.

Within the reindeer‐pastoralist society, trade has a role as promotor of property‐differentiation and social stratification. Through hoarding of silver the rich reindeer‐owner could withdraw a substantial part of his property from the eternal plague of reindeer‐pastoralism ‐ the ever occuring bad years with heavy losses of reindeer. After such a year, he could use the silver to buy food, saving his diminished herd from slaughter and quickly building it up again. The owner of a small herd, without any silver, had to slaughter the few reindeer that survived in order to live; hence social differences could be conserved over generations.     

The Non‐Adult Cohort from Le Morne Cemetery,Mauritius: A Snap Shot of Early Life and Death after Abolition

The cemetery of Le Morne in Mauritius dates from the 1830s and is thought to contain the remains of slaves, freed slaves or potentially free Madagascans, which in itself has economic and social implications and makes the cemetery all the more intriguing. During 2010, excavations recovered the remains of 11 individuals, of which six were children. Although a small sample, the burials of the non‐adults show several interesting features. Two neonates were buried contemporaneously and may have been twins, while a late term foetus in a grave with a young woman may represent an incident of coffin birth. This sample has the potential to cast light on the burial practices of the slave/ex‐slave community in Mauritius, about which little is currently known. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigating Human Migration and Horse‐Trading in Yelang (夜郎) Through Strontium Isotope Analysis of Skeletons from Zhougshui Sites,South‐West China (1300 bc – ad 25)

Yelang (夜郎), a mysterious state located in the south‐western area of early China and dating from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age (1300 bc – ad 25), is a cultural interactive junction between the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau and the Yangtze River Basin. The Zhongshui Basin in Weining County, Guizhou Province, was one of the important distribution areas of the Yelang civilization. This area, which includes sites at Jigongshan (鸡公山; 1300 – 800 bc ), Hongyingpan (红营盘; 700 – 400 bc ) and Yinzitan (银子坛; 400 bc – ad 25), has provided a very integrated chronology, spanning from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age in the eastern Yunnan – western Guizhou area. To investigate human migration and horse‐trading at these Yelang sites, we conducted a strontium isotopic analysis on the teeth enamel of humans and horses unearthed from these three sites. The results indicated the following: (1) people at the earlier sites (Jigongshan and Hongyingpan) were all indigenous, whereas in the Yinzitan cemetery, there was a more immigrant population, and all the people who were buried in an upper limb flexed supine position were non‐local; and (2) most of the horses found at the Jigongshan and Yinzitan sites show different provenances, probably related to the famous Dian (滇) and Zuo (筰) horses recorded in historical documents, providing more clues for further study on horse‐trading in South‐West China during the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age.     

The transatlantic Muslim diaspora to Latin America in the nineteenth century

Since the 16th century, African Muslims figured prominently among the slave population of the Americas. While the number of Muslims pulled into the trade has always been a matter of speculation, lists of Africans rescued from slave ships provide us with some clues about the size and direction of the Muslim diaspora to Latin America in the 19th century. Based on an analysis of tens of thousands of names recorded in these lists, this essay argues that the majority of Muslim captives leaving Africa departed from Upper Guinea and suggests that Cuba was the center of the forced Muslim diaspora in the Americas. It traces the transatlantic links that connected particular regions of embarkation in Africa to their counterparts in Latin America and considers the implications of those connections for religious and cultural change within 19th-century slave populations. The essay challenges in important ways the colonial/postcolonial divide in Latin American history and uses Islam to pose important questions about the dynamics of social change across slave societies.     

‘Wearing three or four handkerchiefs around his collar,and elsewhere about him’: Slaves' Constructions of Masculinity and Ethnicity in French Colonial New Orleans

Drawing on slave testimony from criminal trials, this article suggests that slaves in French Colonial Louisiana articulated a nuanced relationship to material goods premised less on a static vision of West African culture, than on variable notions of gender and ethnicity. Here, articles of dress could be used by slaves to distinguish among themselves, as revealed in the 1766 investigation against one runaway marginalised in spite of his self‐conscious sartorial identification as a slave and as an ‘African’. This paper thus offers an example of slaves engineering social control within black spaces by manipulating the legal apparatus of the white hegemony. Sartorial performances of ethnicity and masculinity were key to this process.     

Can Affirmative Motivations Improve Compliance in Emissions Trading Programs?

Early emissions trading programs have obtained a very high rate of compliance, in part by using continuous emissions monitors (CEMs) that automatically record emissions data on a 24‐hour basis. As they expand into a wider range of pollutants and sources, however, such policies will have to rely on less automated forms of self‐reporting. This article asks if improved “affirmative motivations” for compliance based on perceptions of a policy's fairness could reduce the likelihood of underreporting, thereby lowering verification costs without unduly jeopardizing environmental integrity. Using a computerized laboratory emissions trading market, we find that many subjects reported emissions honestly in situations where dishonest reporting would have been more profitable, as well as a statistically significant association of affirmative motivations based on perceptions of a policy's fairness with honest reporting. These results suggest that designing an emissions trading program to increase its perceived fairness among users has the potential to increase honest emissions reporting and reduce monitoring costs.     

MtDNA origins of an enslaved labor force from the 18th century Schuyler Flatts Burial Ground in colonial Albany,NY: Africans,Native Americans,and Malagasy?

A burial ground located in the Town of Colonie, NY along the Hudson River revealed fourteen individuals dated from the 17th through the early 19th centuries. Bioarchaeological analysis suggested some of these individuals were of African ancestry who had worked and died on the property owned by the prominent Schuyler family. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis was carried out on skeletal remains of seven adults using restriction fragment length polymorphism typing and direct sequencing of the control region to infer their origins and relatedness. Results show that none of the individuals were maternally related, with four individuals identified as African haplogroup L, one identified as Native American haplogroup X, and two identified as haplogroup M and M7. Individuals of African ancestry correlate with published mtDNA data on African Americans and their geographical origins corroborate with the various exit points during the African slave trade to New York State. Individuals identified as haplogroup M7 and M resemble lineages found in Madagascar. Historical documents suggest several hundred people were imported from Madagascar through illegal trading to New York by the end of the 17th century. This study highlights the diverse origins of the enslaved labor force in colonial New York and contributes to our understanding of African American history in the northeast.     

Power and Historical Figuring: Rachael Pringle Polgreen's Troubled Archive

Rachael Pringle Polgreen, a freed‘mulatto’ woman who owned an infamous brothel/hotel in Bridgetown, Barbados during the 1770s and 1780s became known to her contemporaries through her role in the (sexual) entertainment of transient naval officers and the visits of Prince William of England. Piecing together ‘evidence’ from her will, estate inventory, a nineteenth‐century novel, a lithograph and an interview with a British officer, I engage Polgreen's complicated and fragmented archive, revealing how Polgreen represents an example of the problems with sources depicting women of African descent who lived in a slave society and the silences that inundate their archive. The first part of this article critically re‐examines pieces of her archive, through which an image of Polgreen emerges incommensurable with narratives of her triumphs. Next, through an analysis of the processes by which Polgreen is historically confined by powerful archival and subsequent historical representations, I challenge previous assumptions about her life. Finally, introducing material from the British parliamentary debates in which an incident involving Polgreen is described and new material from Barbados deeds left by Polgreen's former slave, I expose the nuances of Polgreen's ‘agency’ in a slave society – that which depended upon her sexual subjugation of other women of African descent.