Summary Of The Diligent: A Look At The Slave Trade

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Nate Shaw Dr. Schaeper History 101-C 2 December 2011 A New look At The Slave Trade Through extensive research and the accounts of a journal kept by a young lieutenant, Robert Durand, author Robert Harms tells the story of the worlds of the slave trade in his captivating book The Diligent: A Voyage Through the Worlds of the Slave Trade. What separates this book from other stories of the slave trade is how it strayed away from purely an economic mission. As nearly every one of the roughly seventeen thousand records of slaving voyages simply portrayed records of economic values such as prices, exchanges, profits, trades, and rates, The Diligent did much more. Harms enlightens us on the economic, political, and social values of the European…show more content…
Brittany had created a social system that allowed the upper class African nobility to be treated respectfully, and treat peasants badly while still regarding them as fully human. Harms also explains what drove and inspired the slave traders. He admitted it was “driven by greed and afflicted with inhumanity and caused people to be treated like cattle” (Harms 18). However, Harms mentioned how not everyone involved in the slave trade thought they were doing inhumane acts. Some people defended the slave trade. Savery de Bruslons echoed Mellier’s defense of the slave trade when he published his Dictionnaire Universel de Commerce. He wrote that the slaves were giving up their freedom in exchange for their lives in a path to salvation. He believed they owed their lives to the slave traders, and that by capturing the slaves they can be taken to a place where they can be baptized and instructed in the Catholic religion. In addition, the slave traders believed the overpopulated make-belief region of Africa called Nigritie would only be salvaged by taking some of the inhabitants and diminishing the…show more content…
The ship sailed to a French West Indian island called Martinique. 150 slaves were strapped down with iron chains. The conditions aboard the ship were close to, if not, torture. Many, including the crew, died from diseases. There was little communication between the handlers and the cargo. Sign language was used and sometimes the slaves guessed as to what they were supposed to do. The slaves were treated like cattle and the slave traders cared only about profit. As Harms states, the slave traders were taking a bigger risk than one may think. This took place during the age of the Enlightenment and people began to think more scientifically. Slavery was not as accepted as it once was. Slaves have always been a part of history, however as people began to expand their thoughts and become more intellectual, slavery became less popular. The Billy brothers, Guillaume and Francois, understood the risk they were taking, for the sake of profit not the slaves that is. Two months after the Diligent left Vannes, they reached the Gold Coast. One of many sketches that Durand drew in his journal was of the fortifications of the Gold Coast. Harms included those in the book to paint a clearer picture for the reader. Harms stressed the importance of what went on in the actual continent of Africa. The Dutch had a huge interest for gold in Africa, but was beginning to switch to slaves. Imported guns to the inland of Africa gave rise
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