rheinze, 10 months ago

These quaint little fishing towns are so deeply entwined in the trade - local shipping companies got rich by trading slaves, the whole hinterland was engaged in weaving cotton cloth (called „indienne“) which was in turn sold to #African #slave traders. Last photo shows the #cloth distributed all over the region in which #cotton was woven into #textiles in the #earlymodern workshop system.

@histodons

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rheinze, 10 months ago

@histodons This, for example, is Honfleur, a little port close to Le Havre on the other side of the Seine estuary. It’s a nice old touristy place, although one can see it used to be a rich port. The local part of the exhibition on #slavery where I got the book details the involvement in the #slave trade: 140 ships in the “long” 18th century before abolition 1822, 50 000 African men and women enslaved, shackled and transported. From one small port in Normandy of then ~9 000 population.

An exhibition panel, translation of the text reads: “Although the Honfleur trade did not become significant until after 1783, it was based on an ancient tradition, that of the exclusive regime of the Compagnie du Sénégal, which saw the first trading expeditions recorded as such leave the port, between 1685 and 1718. Between then and 1822 (the time of the illegal slave trade), no fewer than 140 ships set sail, embarking some 50,000 Africans for the Caribbean. More than 30 of the town's shipowners were involved, the most active of whom were the Prémord, Picquefeu de Bermon and Picquefeu de Bermon families. Picquefeu de Bermon and Lacoudrais.”