Envoys of abolition : British naval officers and the campaign against the slave trade in West Africa
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Bibliographic Information
Envoys of abolition : British naval officers and the campaign against the slave trade in West Africa
（Liverpool studies in international slavery, 15）
Liverpool University Press, 2019
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Note
Bibliography: p. 203-228
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
After Britain's Abolition of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, a squadron of Royal Navy vessels was sent to the West Coast of Africa tasked with suppressing the thriving transatlantic slave trade. Drawing on previously unpublished papers found in private collections and various archives in the UK and abroad, this book examines the personal and cultural experiences of the naval officers at the frontline of Britain's anti-slavery campaign in West Africa. It explores their unique roles in this 60-year operation: at sea, boarding slave ships bound for the Americas and 'liberating' captive Africans; on shore, as Britain resolved to 'improve' West African societies; and in the metropolitan debates around slavery and abolitionism in Britain. Their personal narratives are revealing of everyday concerns of health, rewards and strategy, to more profound questions of national honour, cultural encounters, responsibility for the lives of others in the most distressing of circumstances, and the true meaning of 'freedom' for formerly enslaved African peoples. British anti-slavery efforts and imperial agendas were tightly bound in the nineteenth century, inseparable from ideas of national identity. This is a book about individuals tasked with extraordinary service, military men who also worked as guardians, negotiators, and envoys of abolition.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1: Abolition at
sea
Chapter 2: Abolition on
shore
Chapter 3: Officers' commitment
to the anti-slavery cause
Chapter 4: Prize voyages
and ideas of freedom
Chapter 5: Encounters
with Africa
Chapter 6: Officers'
contributions to Britain's anti-slavery culture
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"