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The Rest Is History · November 25, 2024 · 58m
The Atlantic Slave Trade
The Rest Is History
The Atlantic slave trade from its origins in the 15th century to abolition in the 19th. Holland and Sandbrook examine the economic, moral, and political dimensions of the largest forced migration in human history.
This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.
Highlights
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The slave trade was enabled by economic rationality — it was enormously profitable for everyone except the enslaved
Holland presents the slave trade as a rational economic system: African rulers profited from selling captives, European merchants profited from transportation, plantation owners profited from forced labor. Morality was overridden by profit.•
Abolition required moral argument AND economic change — neither was sufficient alone
Sandbrook argues that abolition succeeded only when moral arguments (slavery is wrong) aligned with economic shifts (industrialization made wage labor more profitable than slave labor in key sectors).Was this useful?