Slave Wales

Chris Evans

Description

Atlantic slavery does not loom large in the traditional telling of Welsh history. Yet Wales, like many regions of Europe, was deeply affected by the forced migration of captive Africans. Welsh commodities, like copper and brass made in Swansea, were used to purchase slaves on the African coast and some Welsh products, such as woollens from Montgomeryshire, were an important feature of plantation life in the West Indies. In turn, the profits of plantation agriculture flowed back into Wales, to be invested in new industries or to be lavished on country mansions. This book looks at Slave Wales between 1650 and 1850, bringing the most up-to-date scholarship on Atlantic slavery to bear on the Welsh experience. New research by Chris Evans casts light on previously unknown episodes, such as Welsh involvement with slave-based copper mining in nineteenth-century Cuba, and illuminates in new and disturbing ways familiar features of Welsh history - like the woollen industry - that have previously unsuspected 'slave dimensions'. Many Welsh people turned against slavery in the late eighteenth century, but Welsh abolitionism was never a particularly powerful force. Indeed, Chris Evans demonstrates that Welsh participation the slave Atlantic lasted well beyond the abolition of Britain's slave trade in 1807 and the ending of slavery in Britain's Caribbean empire in 1834.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Americas
• History
• Wales

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 15 septembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780708323045
• Langue: English

Extrait

Slave Wales

The Welsh and Atlantic Slavery, 1660–1850

Chris Evans

University of Wales Press

S L AV E WA L E S

Slave Wales The Welsh and Atlantic Slavery, 1660–1850

C H R I S E VA N S

UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS CARDIFF 2010

© Chris Evans, 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff, CF10 4UP.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-0-7083-2303-8 e-ISBN 978-0-7083-2304-5

The right of Chris Evans to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77, 78 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Printed in Wales by the University of Wales Press

Acknowledgements

istorians do not work alone. We rely upon the encourage- H ment, bibliographical generosity and candour of others. Andy Croll, Neil Evans, E. Wyn James, Bill Jones and Göran Rydén have all helped here – some going so far as to read the whole manuscript. The sections of this book that deal with Welsh-made ‘Negro Cloth’ have been improved by comments from Robert Protheroe Jones of the National Waterfront Museum and Ann Whitall of the National Wool Museum. Seth Brown shared his knowledge of US textile manufacturers who catered for slave markets without hesitation. Others have been equally quick to help with their knowledge of Cuba and Welsh-inspired copper mining there: Roger Burt, María Elena Díaz, Jonathan Curry-Machado, Lucy McCann at Rhodes House, Inés Roldán de Montaud, Robert Protheroe Jones (once again) and Sharron Schwartz. Needless to say, those who have assisted me bear no responsi- bility for the arguments that I’ve made. Indeed, some are deeply sceptical. Thanks also go to Bettina Harden and her co-workers at the Gateway Gardens Trust, the charity whose educational project on the links between Wales and slavery has been an inspiration. Grateful mention also goes to Nick Skinner of BBC Wales, whose invitation to participate in a programme on the 2007 bicentenary of the abolition of the British slave trade was the starting point for this book. My research has only been possible because of the financial support offered by a number of bodies. I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy research fellowships at the Institute for Southern Studies at the University of South Carolina and the Virginia Historical Society, both of which contributed to this book. I’ve also been the beneficiary of research funding from the Historical Metallurgy Society and the Pasold Research Foundation. Above all, I’ve enjoyed the consistent support of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Glamorgan.

S L AV E WA L E S

P. G. Wodehouse dedicateda GoofHeart of , his short story collection of 1926, to his adored step-daughter Leonora, ‘without whose never-failing sympathy and encouragement this book would have been finished in half the time’. This book is dedicated to Ellis and Dan with the same wry affection.

vi

Contents

Acknowledgements

Slave Wales

Notes

Chronology

Guide to Further Reading

Index

v

1

137

144

148

153