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The structural economics of the Atlantic slave trade. Wyman examines how European demand for sugar, tobacco, and cotton created a transatlantic system that enslaved 12 million Africans over four centuries, reshaping three continents.
This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.
Canon
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Sugar plantations were total environments designed to extract maximum labor through minimum autonomy. The physical environment of the plantation shaped every behavior of enslaved and enslaver alike.
Highlights
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The slave trade was driven by economics, enabled by racism — not the other way around
Wyman argues that racial ideology justified the slave trade but did not cause it. The cause was economic demand for plantation labor. Racism was constructed to make the economics psychologically sustainable.Was this useful?