The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Galinhas in Southern Sierra Leone, 1790–1820
Abstract In the early nineteenth century a centralized political entity, the Galinhas kingdom, emerged in southernmost Sierra Leone. Based on sources from Cuban, British, American, Spanish, and Sierra Leonean archives, this article examines the factors accounting for the emergence and consolidation...
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2021
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021853721000517 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0021853721000517 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0021853721000517 2024-03-03T08:47:05+00:00 The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Galinhas in Southern Sierra Leone, 1790–1820 Gonzalez, Jorge Felipe Andrew W. Mellon Foundation W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center, Harvard University 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021853721000517 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0021853721000517 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The Journal of African History volume 62, issue 3, page 319-341 ISSN 0021-8537 1469-5138 History journal-article 2021 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021853721000517 2024-02-08T08:46:12Z Abstract In the early nineteenth century a centralized political entity, the Galinhas kingdom, emerged in southernmost Sierra Leone. Based on sources from Cuban, British, American, Spanish, and Sierra Leonean archives, this article examines the factors accounting for the emergence and consolidation of Galinhas. I argue that the postabolitionist (1808) redeployment of North Atlantic slave trading actors, networks, routes, and spaces, particularly the connection with Cuba and resources from the island, created the conditions for Galinhas's commercial growth and the centralization of its political power. I then problematize the relationship between warfare, the Atlantic slave trade, and state making. During the foundation of a predatory state, before a slaving and political frontier existed, wars were detrimental to trade. When warfare and commerce — or any social activity — coexisted in the same physical space, the interdependent balance between them, which supported the slave trade itself, was disrupted. After the end of the war, political stability boosted slave trading operations. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Cambridge University Press The Journal of African History 1 23 |
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Cambridge University Press |
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English |
topic |
History |
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History Gonzalez, Jorge Felipe The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Galinhas in Southern Sierra Leone, 1790–1820 |
topic_facet |
History |
description |
Abstract In the early nineteenth century a centralized political entity, the Galinhas kingdom, emerged in southernmost Sierra Leone. Based on sources from Cuban, British, American, Spanish, and Sierra Leonean archives, this article examines the factors accounting for the emergence and consolidation of Galinhas. I argue that the postabolitionist (1808) redeployment of North Atlantic slave trading actors, networks, routes, and spaces, particularly the connection with Cuba and resources from the island, created the conditions for Galinhas's commercial growth and the centralization of its political power. I then problematize the relationship between warfare, the Atlantic slave trade, and state making. During the foundation of a predatory state, before a slaving and political frontier existed, wars were detrimental to trade. When warfare and commerce — or any social activity — coexisted in the same physical space, the interdependent balance between them, which supported the slave trade itself, was disrupted. After the end of the war, political stability boosted slave trading operations. |
author2 |
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center, Harvard University |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gonzalez, Jorge Felipe |
author_facet |
Gonzalez, Jorge Felipe |
author_sort |
Gonzalez, Jorge Felipe |
title |
The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Galinhas in Southern Sierra Leone, 1790–1820 |
title_short |
The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Galinhas in Southern Sierra Leone, 1790–1820 |
title_full |
The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Galinhas in Southern Sierra Leone, 1790–1820 |
title_fullStr |
The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Galinhas in Southern Sierra Leone, 1790–1820 |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Galinhas in Southern Sierra Leone, 1790–1820 |
title_sort |
transatlantic slave trade and the foundation of the kingdom of galinhas in southern sierra leone, 1790–1820 |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021853721000517 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0021853721000517 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
The Journal of African History volume 62, issue 3, page 319-341 ISSN 0021-8537 1469-5138 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021853721000517 |
container_title |
The Journal of African History |
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1 |
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23 |
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1792503216628301824 |