Slaves and englishmen : human bondage in the early modern Atlantic world / Michael Guasco.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Guasco, Michael, 1968-

Series:

Early modern Americas.

The Early Modern Americas

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Slavery--Atlantic Ocean Region--History.

Slavery.

Slavery--United States--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775.

Slavery--Great Britain--History.

Atlantic Ocean Region--History--17th century.

Atlantic Ocean Region.

United States--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775.

United States.

Great Britain--Colonies--America--History--17th century.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (324 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Technically speaking, slavery was not legal in the English-speaking world before the mid-seventeenth century. But long before race-based slavery was entrenched in law and practice, English men and women were well aware of the various forms of human bondage practiced in other nations and, in less systematic ways, their own country. They understood the legal and philosophic rationale of slavery in different cultural contexts and, for good reason, worried about the possibility of their own enslavement by foreign Catholic or Muslim powers. While opinions about the benefits and ethics of the institution varied widely, the language, imagery, and knowledge of slavery were a great deal more widespread in early modern England than we tend to assume. In wide-ranging detail, Slaves and Englishmen demonstrates how slavery shaped the ways the English interacted with people and places throughout the Atlantic world. By examining the myriad forms and meanings of human bondage in an international context, Michael Guasco illustrates the significance of slavery in the early modern world before the rise of the plantation system or the emergence of modern racism. As this revealing history shows, the implications of slavery were closely connected to the question of what it meant to be English in the Atlantic world.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Introduction. The Problem of Slavery in Pre- Plantation America

Chapter 1. The Nature of a Slave: Human Bondage in Early Modern England

Chapter 2. Slaves the World Over: Early English Encounters with Slavery

Chapter 3. Imaginary Allies: Englishmen and Africans in Spain’s Atlantic World

Chapter 4. Englishmen Enslaved: The Specter of Slavery in the Mediterranean and Beyond

Chapter 5. “As Cheap as Those Negroes”?: Transplanting Slavery in Anglo- America

Chapter 6. Slavery before “Slavery” in Pre- Plantation America

Conclusion

Notes

Index

Acknowledgments

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780812223941

0812223942

9780812209884

0812209885

OCLC:

874148915