Adventures of an African Slaver

Brimming with information on every aspect of the slave trade in the nineteenth century, this detailed account by a former captain of a slave ship accurately portrays the appalling machinery of commercial slavery. One of the few real, unexaggerated accounts of the slave trade by a participant, this volume contains the complete text of the author's original memoirs, gathered in 1954 from his journals, memoranda, and conversations. A slave trader for three decades, Captain Theodore Canot describes the economic structure of the African kingdoms; his extensive travels in the interior of Africa to round up slaves; illegal disembarkations in the West Indies, involving an elaborate system of bribes; transactions with wealthy African kings; the harems and "factories" maintained by the slavers; the treatment and discipline of black Africans on slave ships; the suppression of a slave revolt at sea; as well as tables of expenses and profits. Essential reading for students and teachers of African-American history, this book will also be of value to anyone interested in the long, ongoing struggle for civil rights. Unabridged republication of the work first published by D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1854.