Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

The Profitability of the Nantes Slave Trade, 1783-1792

Bibliographic Data

ID4794150
AuthorsRobert Louis Stein (Université des Antilles, corresponding author), Robert Stein (0000-0003-0896-9943)
Year1975
Volume35
Issue4
Pages779-793
Publication date1975-12-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Economic History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0507 • E-ISSN: 1471-6372
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022050700073769
OpenAlexW2004956381
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited1

The town has that sign of prosperity of new buildings, which never deceives," wrote Arthur Young of Nantes in 1788. In fact, on the eve of the Revolution, Nantes-the infamous ville des négriers (city of the slavers)-was one of the richest cities in France and one of the most important ports in the kingdom. For almost a century Nantes had been the capital of the French slave trade, and by 1789 local merchants were investing almost 10 million L (livres) annually in the trade. Yet, in spite of the general activity, Nantes traders were experiencing difficulties with their business. Although a few slavers managed to create vast fortunes almost overnight, problems in France, the colonies, and Africa meant that most traders had to struggle to obtain even modest profits, from slaving. During the last decade of the old regime investments in the slave trade were usually no more profitable than investments in offices or land, although the trade alone offered the possibility, however, remote, of quick, vast profits

Archaeology · Business · Capital (architecture) · Economic growth · Economic history · Economics · Economy · Geography · Investment (military) · Political science · Profitability index · Prosperity · European Political History Analysis · Finance · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies

  • Negócio da Costa da Mina e comércio atlântico

    Open Access•Gustavo Acioli Lopes•2008

  • Profitability of Slave and Long-Distance Trading in Context

    Open Access•Guillaume Daudin•The Journal of Economic History•2004

  • The first wheel of commerce’

    Elaine Forman Crane•Slavery and Abolition•1980

  • Benefitting from brutality? Profits of north‐western Europe's slave trade at the eve of the industrial revolution

    Open Access•Klas Rönnbäck, Guillaume Daudin et al.•The Economic History Review•2026

  • Social capital, institutional innovation and Atlantic trade before 1800

    Robin Pearson, David Richardson•Business History•2008

  • Cross-Cultural Trade and the Slave Ship the Bonne Société

    Open Access•Andrew Gregg, Amanda Gregg et al.•The Journal of Economic History•2025

  • No commercial activity leaves greater benefit

    Open Access•Jose Miguel Sanjuan‐marroquin, Martin Rodrigo‐alharilla•The Economic History Review•2024

  • Partnership and Profit in the Early Andean Trade

    Open Access•John C Super•Journal of Latin American Studies•1979

  • Slave Trade, Commercial Organization and Industrial Growth in Eighteenth-Century Nantes

    Pierre H Boulle•Revue française d histoire d…•1972

Citations per year0.17
Citation span1979 - 2026 (48)
Highly citedNo

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae