There is an extensive bibliography that demonstrates the complicity that Africans and Europeans maintained in the Atlantic Slave Trade. Especially, in regard to the role played by numerous African kingdoms in the capture, sale and shipment of slaves from the coasts of Africa, to the american colonies throughout the 18th & 19th centuries. Less known is the participation of Africans and their descendants in the middle passage as crews of Spanish ships destined for Cuba; specifically during the period between 1817, with the signing of the first Anglo-Spanish treaty to abolish the Slave Trade and 1845, when the Spanish Penal Code included sanctions for the crime of trading slaves. It is also very interesting the presence of sailors of African origin who were born in the American colonies, and who ended up finding a place in illegal trafficking. A presence that, although not numerous, was undoubtedly part of the dynamics that generated slavery and the dreadful commerce of human beings across the Atlantic. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

slave trade Slavery African seamen

[No Keywords available]