History from below the water line

Sharks and the Atlantic slave trade

Dados Bibliográficos

ID9298281
AutoresMarcus Rediker (0000-0001-6756-022X, Yahoo (United Kingdom), autor correspondente)
Ano2008
Volume5
Fascículo2
Páginas285-297
Data de publicação2008-08-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAtlantic Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1478-8810 • E-ISSN: 1740-4649
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14788810802149758
OpenAlexW2016982366
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas15
Referências citadas6

This essay explores the role of sharks in the Atlantic slave trade. It draws on the testimony of ship captains, officers, sailors, and passengers to assess abolitionist claims that sharks followed slave ships across the Atlantic and feasted on human remains thrown overboard during the Middle Passage. The essay concludes that the abolitionists were essentially right and that the shark functioned as an integral part of a system of terror utilized by the slave ship captain. The abolitionist image of the marine predator in turn added effective horror to what would become a successful public agitation against the slave trade

Ancient history · Atlantic slave trade · Biology · Economic history · Fishery · Line (geometry · Middle Passage · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History