{"product_id":"sails-and-shadows-patricia-seed-9780520415874","title":"Sails and Shadows: How the Portuguese Opened the Atlantic and Launched the Slave Trade","description":"\u003cb\u003eHow the early Portuguese Empire facilitated the modern slave trade.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The Portuguese conquered the challenges of sailing the unforgiving Atlantic Ocean, extending their colonial empire along Africa's western shores. With their dedication to developing new sailing techniques and a groundbreaking new understanding of weather patterns and ocean currents, the Portuguese set the tone for the Age of Exploration. But their navigational achievements had horrific consequences for the people of western Africa: subjugation to the slave trade. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Patricia Seed examines the historical and climatic odds that Portuguese seafarers had to overcome to be the first Europeans to tame the Atlantic. Using scientific tools from fields ranging from oceanography to ethnography, she recounts how the Portuguese rapidly innovated and developed profound new understandings of the ocean and sailing. At the same time, she foregrounds the reality that these same innovations enabled them to inflict unimaginable cruelty as, against sometimes violent resistance, they forged what became their spoils of empire: the historic trade in human cargo that enslaved millions across Africa and beyond. \u003ci\u003eSails and Shadows\u003c\/i\u003e is a history of incredible innovation outweighed and overshadowed by the horrors it wrought.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Patricia Seed\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0520415876\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780520415874\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of California Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/06\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 278\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"Patricia Seed","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46962019467519,"sku":"9780520415874","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_84f054e5-ccb2-4f8b-87d9-4fb15ffd4af4.jpg?v=1750649071","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/sails-and-shadows-patricia-seed-9780520415874","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}