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Final Passages: The Intercolonial Slave Trade of British America, 1619-1807
This work explores a neglected aspect of the forced migration of African laborers to the Americas. Hundreds of thousands of captive Africans continued their journeys after the Middle Passage across the Atlantic. Colonial merchants purchased and then transshipped many of these captives to other colonies for resale. Not only did this trade increase death rates and the social and cultural isolation of Africans; it also fed the expansion of British slavery and trafficking of captives to foreign empires, contributing to Britain's preeminence in the transatlantic slave trade by the mid-eighteenth century. The pursuit of profits from exploiting enslaved people as commodities facilitated exchanges across borders, loosening mercantile restrictions and expanding capitalist networks.
Drawing on a database of over seven thousand intercolonial slave trading voyages compiled from port records, newspapers, and merchant accounts, O'Malley identifies and quantifies the major routes of this intercolonial slave trade. He argues that such voyages were a crucial component in the development of slavery in the Caribbean and North America and that trade in the unfree led to experimentation with free trade between empires.
Drawing on a database of over seven thousand intercolonial slave trading voyages compiled from port records, newspapers, and merchant accounts, O'Malley identifies and quantifies the major routes of this intercolonial slave trade. He argues that such voyages were a crucial component in the development of slavery in the Caribbean and North America and that trade in the unfree led to experimentation with free trade between empires.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
394 pages, Hardcover
First published June 24, 2014
7 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
About the author
Gregory E. O'Malley
2 books12 followersGregory E O'Malley is professor of history at UC Santa Cruz. His first book, Final Passages: The Intercolonial Slave Trade of British America, 1619-1807, won the Forkosch, Rawley, Owsley, and Elsa Goveia awards. He is a key contributor to the SlaveVoyages.org, consulted on The 1619 Project, and lectures widely on the slave trade and related subjects.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 3, 2021
A thoroughly researched and well-presented argument about the many African slaves who were transshipped once they arrived in the New World.
November 13, 2024
Intercolonial trafficking is the book subject; the scale, reasons, trader strategies, importance to imperial rivalries, connections to broader commerce and final passages for African slaves. O'Malley says he's concerned with "the regular and visible exchange of enslaved people as property in the markets of early America offered one important site where colonists learned to see African men and women as economic units with their humanity obscured." I enjoyed this book a lot. It's a macro-view book, which normally is not my favorite but the topic was fascinating. There were footnotes throughout which is always a historians favorite thing!
O'Malley has a five prong argument: (1) the intercolonial slave trade was robust in scale, (2) the extensive scale of intercolonial slave trading powerfully shaped enslaved people's experiences, (3) the intercolonial trade was not incidental but vital to the growth British Atlantic slave trade and the growth of American slavery, (4) the economic significance of this commerce extended beyond the profits of selling persons for a higher price, and (5) intercolonial slave influenced imperial policy, pushing the big empires away from mercantilism and towards freer trade.
Even though O'Malley takes a macro-view of the British intercolonial slave trade, he manages to fit poignant stories into each of his chapters that bring his arguments to life. He concludes with what separates the slave trade from other trades.
O'Malley has a five prong argument: (1) the intercolonial slave trade was robust in scale, (2) the extensive scale of intercolonial slave trading powerfully shaped enslaved people's experiences, (3) the intercolonial trade was not incidental but vital to the growth British Atlantic slave trade and the growth of American slavery, (4) the economic significance of this commerce extended beyond the profits of selling persons for a higher price, and (5) intercolonial slave influenced imperial policy, pushing the big empires away from mercantilism and towards freer trade.
Even though O'Malley takes a macro-view of the British intercolonial slave trade, he manages to fit poignant stories into each of his chapters that bring his arguments to life. He concludes with what separates the slave trade from other trades.
October 23, 2014
For many slaves the "Middle Passage" marked the beginning, not the end of their forced migration from Africa and their voyage into slavery. Gregory O'Malley provides the first, detailed exploration of the intercolonial slave trade, the trade that continued the process of enslavement and forced migration beyond the Middle Passage.
For many slaves, the Middle Passage ended with the arrival of their ship at a Caribbean entrepôt such as Jamaica or Barbados. Local plantation owners and merchant slave traders purchased slaves either at auction or from the transatlantic ship captain. Plantation owners tended to purchase healthy, male slaves in the prime of their lives. Slave traders often purchased the slaves the plantation owners didn’t want for transshipment to other North and South American ports, where the infrequency of slave ship arrivals made buyers less picky about the health, sex, and age of slaves. O’Malley focuses on this transshipment trade.
O’Malley sets out to prove five important points about the intercolonial slave trade:
1. The intercolonial slave trade was “robust” in scale.
2. The extensive scale of the intercolonial slave trade powerfully shaped enslaved people's experiences.
3. The intercolonial slave trade was not just incidental to the British transatlantic slave trade, but VITAL to its growth and to the growth of American slavery in general.
4. The intercolonial slave trade facilitated other branches of commerce, which entangled the profits of many traditional trades with the buying and selling of people.
5. The intercolonial slave trade influenced imperial policy. It pushed Great Britain, France, and Spain away from mercantilism and toward policies of free trade.
O'Malley takes on an ambitious project, but he argues all five points convincingly because he has the facts and figures to illustrate his points.
O’Malley relies on shipping records, the business papers of merchants, and state papers to prove his points. These matter-of-fact records reveal that the intercolonial slave trade was hemispheric in nature; it often began in the Caribbean and stretched to mainland North and South America. These documents also show that many British intercolonial slave traders used the slaves as a gateway commodity.
British manufacturers and merchants wanted to trade British goods in Spanish and French North American ports. As neither the French nor the Spanish could satiate their colonists’ demands for slaves, French and Spanish governors and customs officials often turned a blind eye when British ships entered their ports with slaves. Ports once closed to the British opened for slaves.
Rather quickly, British merchants learned that the more slaves they shipped to foreign ports, the more opportunities they had to trade British produce and manufactured goods. They filled ship holds with a minimum number of slaves needed to enter a foreign port and packed the rest of the holds with British manufactured goods and produce. Once ship captains disembarked their human cargo, they unloaded the rest of these goods.
O’Malley points out that the British desire to open ports to its goods resulted in the greatest horror of the intercolonial slave trade: African people became commodities. O’Malley provides ample evidence to argue this point. Business and state papers reflect that British intercolonial slave traders and the imperial government viewed Africans not as humans, but as commodities to be traded and used to open markets to British goods. However, I wish he had provided a bit more evidence to differentiate this mindset from that of the transatlantic slave traders.
This book is well-written and well-argued, but it is a dense read.
O’Malley did not have the luxury of having scores of slave narratives to tell him how Africans experienced their Middle or intercolonial passages. He does not ignore how they experienced the trade. He uses the scant personal and second-hand accounts he found, as well as the matter-of-fact business and legal records he uses throughout the book, to infer and make educated guesses about the slaves’ experiences. Unfortunately, without these first-hand accounts, there are no historical persons who readers can follow and live through vicariously throughout the book.
Although a dense read, I thought it was well-worth my time. O'Malley's work deepened my understanding of the slave trade, how and why slavery expanded throughout the western hemisphere, and why the slave trade lasted for over a century.
For many slaves, the Middle Passage ended with the arrival of their ship at a Caribbean entrepôt such as Jamaica or Barbados. Local plantation owners and merchant slave traders purchased slaves either at auction or from the transatlantic ship captain. Plantation owners tended to purchase healthy, male slaves in the prime of their lives. Slave traders often purchased the slaves the plantation owners didn’t want for transshipment to other North and South American ports, where the infrequency of slave ship arrivals made buyers less picky about the health, sex, and age of slaves. O’Malley focuses on this transshipment trade.
O’Malley sets out to prove five important points about the intercolonial slave trade:
1. The intercolonial slave trade was “robust” in scale.
2. The extensive scale of the intercolonial slave trade powerfully shaped enslaved people's experiences.
3. The intercolonial slave trade was not just incidental to the British transatlantic slave trade, but VITAL to its growth and to the growth of American slavery in general.
4. The intercolonial slave trade facilitated other branches of commerce, which entangled the profits of many traditional trades with the buying and selling of people.
5. The intercolonial slave trade influenced imperial policy. It pushed Great Britain, France, and Spain away from mercantilism and toward policies of free trade.
O'Malley takes on an ambitious project, but he argues all five points convincingly because he has the facts and figures to illustrate his points.
O’Malley relies on shipping records, the business papers of merchants, and state papers to prove his points. These matter-of-fact records reveal that the intercolonial slave trade was hemispheric in nature; it often began in the Caribbean and stretched to mainland North and South America. These documents also show that many British intercolonial slave traders used the slaves as a gateway commodity.
British manufacturers and merchants wanted to trade British goods in Spanish and French North American ports. As neither the French nor the Spanish could satiate their colonists’ demands for slaves, French and Spanish governors and customs officials often turned a blind eye when British ships entered their ports with slaves. Ports once closed to the British opened for slaves.
Rather quickly, British merchants learned that the more slaves they shipped to foreign ports, the more opportunities they had to trade British produce and manufactured goods. They filled ship holds with a minimum number of slaves needed to enter a foreign port and packed the rest of the holds with British manufactured goods and produce. Once ship captains disembarked their human cargo, they unloaded the rest of these goods.
O’Malley points out that the British desire to open ports to its goods resulted in the greatest horror of the intercolonial slave trade: African people became commodities. O’Malley provides ample evidence to argue this point. Business and state papers reflect that British intercolonial slave traders and the imperial government viewed Africans not as humans, but as commodities to be traded and used to open markets to British goods. However, I wish he had provided a bit more evidence to differentiate this mindset from that of the transatlantic slave traders.
This book is well-written and well-argued, but it is a dense read.
O’Malley did not have the luxury of having scores of slave narratives to tell him how Africans experienced their Middle or intercolonial passages. He does not ignore how they experienced the trade. He uses the scant personal and second-hand accounts he found, as well as the matter-of-fact business and legal records he uses throughout the book, to infer and make educated guesses about the slaves’ experiences. Unfortunately, without these first-hand accounts, there are no historical persons who readers can follow and live through vicariously throughout the book.
Although a dense read, I thought it was well-worth my time. O'Malley's work deepened my understanding of the slave trade, how and why slavery expanded throughout the western hemisphere, and why the slave trade lasted for over a century.
November 1, 2014
Final Passages reminds me of another excellent book, Nature's Metropolis. It is about a different topic, but also analyzes trade in certain commodities to help understand human events. Both use anecdotes, written correspondences, and other records to help the reader empathize with the people involved. One describes the rapid growth of Chicago in the 19th Century, the other describes the slave trade in the Caribbean and North America in the 17th and 18th Centuries. One changed the way I think about cowboys while the other changed the way I think about pirates. Each opened my eyes to understanding North American history in fundamentally different ways.
Final Passages deals with heartbreaking, distressing and often overwhelming subject matter. It treats the actors involved in the human slave trade as individuals making decisions both moral and economic. I am glad I read it and recommend it highly.
Also, Greg is my brother.
Final Passages deals with heartbreaking, distressing and often overwhelming subject matter. It treats the actors involved in the human slave trade as individuals making decisions both moral and economic. I am glad I read it and recommend it highly.
Also, Greg is my brother.
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Final Passages: The Inter-colonial Slave Trade of British America, 1619-1807_ by Gregory E. O'Malley. | "He argues that such voyages were a crucial component in the development of slavery in the Caribbean and North America and that trade in the unfree led to experimentation with free trade between empires." #slavery
Final Passages: The Inter-colonial Slave Trade of British America, 1619-1807_ by Gregory E. O'Malley. | "He argues that such voyages were a crucial component in the development of slavery in the Caribbean and North America and that trade in the unfree led to experimentation with free trade between empires." #slavery
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews