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F. DOUGLASS*St-BENEDICT *Il Moro

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4RANS !TLANTIC¬SLAVE¬TRADE

A. S. PUSHKIN*

4RANS 3AHARAN¬SLAVE¬TRADE
4RANS 3AHARAN¬SLAVE¬TRADE%UROPEAN¬OR¬!MERICAN¬SLAVE SHIP¬PORT,ARGE¬SLAVE TRADE¬PORT¬IN¬!FRICA
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he slave trade represents a dramatic
encounter of history and geography. This fourcentury long tragedy has been one of thegreatest dehumanizing enterprises in human history.
It constitutes one of the first forms of globalization.
The resultant slavery system, an economic andcommercial type of venture organization, linked
different regions and continents: Africa, the ArabWorld, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean and
the Americas. It was based on an ideology:
a conceptual structure founded on contempt forthe black man and set up in order to justify the saleof human beings (black Africans in this case) as amobile asset: For this is how they were regardedin the “black codes”, which constituted the legal
framework of slavery in the Americas.

T

TOUSSAINTLOUVERTURE*SCHOELCHER*P. ROBESON*

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-!+5These slave trade maps are only a “firstdraft”. Based on currently available historical data
gathered by Joseph Harris (USA) about the slave
trade and slavery, they should be completed tothe extent that the theme networks of researchers,
set up by UNESCO, continue to bring to light thedeeper layers of the iceberg by exploiting archives
and oral traditions. It will then be possible tounderstand that the black slave trade forms theinvisible stuff of relations between Africa,
the Arab World, Europe, the Indian Ocean, Asia,
the Americas and the Caribbean.

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The history of this dissimulated tragedy, its
deeper causes, its modalities and consequences
have yet to be better elucidated: This is the basic
objective that the UNESCO’s member states set
for the “Slave Route” Project. The issues at stake
are: historical truth, human rights, development,identity and citizenship in the modern multiculturalsocieties. The idea of “route” signifies, first andforemost, the identification of “itineraries ofhumanity”, i.e. circuits followed by the slave trade.
In this sense, geography sheds light on history.
In fact, the slave trade map not only lendssubstance to this early form of international
trade, but also, by showing the courses it took,illuminates the impact of the system.

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The Coordination of the Slave Route Project

19th Century

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17th Century¬DEPORTATION FLOWS, 15th-16th Centuries