The Slave Trade and Culture in the Bight of Biafra (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780521883474)

The Slave Trade and Culture in the Bight of Biafra dissects and explains the structure, dramatic expansion, and manifold effects of the slave trade in the Bight of Biafra. By showing that the rise of the Aro merchant group was the key factor in trade expansion, G. Ugo Nwokeji reinterprets why and how such large-scale commerce developed in the absence of large-scale centralized states. The result is the first study to link the structure and trajectory of the slave trade in a major exporting region to the expansion of a specific African merchant group - among other fresh insights into Atlantic Africa's involvement in the trade - and the most comprehensive treatment of Atlantic slave trade in the Bight of Biafra. The fundamental role of culture in the organization of trade is highlighted, transcending the usual economic explanations in a way that complicates traditional generalizations about work, domestic slavery, and gender in pre-colonial Africa.

Author: G. Ugo Nwokeji
ISBN-10: 0521883474
ISBN-13: 9780521883474
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 09/13/2010
Pages: 304
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.19lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.20w x 1.00d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 08/01/2011