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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Emigration from Western Africa, 1807-1940
Author:Clarence-Smith, W.G.ISNI
Year:1990
Periodical:Itinerario: European Journal of Overseas History
Volume:14
Issue:1
Pages:45-60
Language:English
Geographic term:West Africa
Subjects:emigration
forced labour
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Urbanization and Migration
History and Exploration
Ethnic and Race Relations
Abstract:When the abolitionists achieved the suppression of the British slave trade in 1807, they believed that a brave new world of free labour was opening up for Africa. Although they thought mainly in terms of ex-slaves providing the labour for plantation areas, they hoped that any shortfall could in part be met by free emigration from Africa. The reality was to be different. Emigration continued, but overwhelmingly in the form of coerced labour, and most attempts at stimulating free emigration failed. This report focuses on the large exports of coerced labour, paying attention to the geographical origins of the exports and their demographic impact, prices and sex/age ratios, the conditions under which slaves were illegally transported to the New World, conditions of settlement and return migration, and migration and related capital and political movements. In the interests of comparison with other areas of emigration, the report briefly analyses why a small current of free emigration occurred, and why it remained so limited. Ref. (Also in: European expansion and migration: essays on the intercontinental migration from Africa, Asia, and Europe / edited by P.C. Emmer and M. Mörner. - New York [etc.]: Berg, 1990, p. 197-210.)
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