Migration, Trade, and Slavery in an Expanding World

The twelve essays explore three connected aspects of European expansion in the period between 1500 and 1900 - migration, trade, and slavery - with some attention given to present-day echoes from that era. The book's first section deals with European migration to transatlantic and Asian destinations, the second and third sections focus on the Atlantic slave trade and representations of slavery, and the final section analyzes the demise and legacy of slavery. The authors reach surprising conclusions: European expansion did not entail major economic benefits; the small scale of the Europeans' intercontinental migration never jeopardized their colonial projects; and the unique popular nature of British abolitionism can be explained in part by the growth of the newspaper press in the mid-eighteenth century, which regularly reported about slave ship revolts.