Amistad: A Hidden Network of Slaves and Merchants - Softcover

Zeuske, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 155876593X ISBN 13: 9781558765931

Publisher: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2014

Synopsis

The 1839 Amistad revolt and the fate of the African slaves on board are well documented in books and in a blockbuster film. Michael Zeuske adds a new dimension to this history: the story of the people behind the Amistad. Based on his discovery -- in previously unknown collections in Cuba and Spain -- of the captain's logbook, the cook's notes, and the merchants' ledgers and correspondence, he paints an eye-opening portrait of the slave trade between Africa and the Spanish Caribbean. After the British Empire abolished the slave trade in 1808 and enforced the ban with warships, slave traders in Africa, Spanish and Cuban ship captains and financiers, and international merchants created a hidden network based on forged documents and well-placed bribes. This network lasted until 1886 and ensnared hundred of thousands of slaves smuggled from Africa to the Caribbean, mostly to Cuba, and tens of thousands of slaves who were smuggled from Cuba to the United States. Zeuske reveals these secrets for the first time and offers a new historical framework for our understanding of the Amistad story.

About this title

About the Author:

Michael Zeuske is a Latin American history specialist who has held the position of fellow at many leading research institutions, including Yale University and the University of Michigan. He is also an expert in the twentieth-century slave trade, and is the author of Black Caribbean: Slaves, Slavery and Emancipation Cultures.

About this edition

• Publisher: Markus Wiener Publishers
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 155876593X
• ISBN 13: 9781558765931
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 268