Arming the Slave Trade: Evidence on the Gun-Slave Hypothesis from Dutch Slavers

Philipp Huber

doi:10.5117/9789048560493

Arming the Slave Trade: Evidence on the Gun-Slave Hypothesis from Dutch Slavers

Philipp Huber

IISH

Research output: Chapter in book/volume › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

Firearms and gunpowder were among the most important goods bartered between Europeans and Africans in the transatlantic slave trade, as highlighted in the literature on the gun-slave hypothesis. The data backing this theory to date is very limited and draws exclusively from British sources. This article uses the archives of the Middelburgsche Commercie Compagnie (MCC), a Dutch slave trading company, and the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database, to properly chart regional differences and changes over time in the export of military goods for the first time. The weapons export of the MCC expanded strongly throughout the eighteenth century, with gunpowder playing an especially important role. The rise in the volume of this arms trade is explained by the increase in the volume of the slave trade, not by an increasing African demand for firearms specifically.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	The Dutch Transatlantic Slave Trade
Editors	Ramona Negrón, Jessica den Oudsten, Camilla de Koning, Karwan Fatah-Black
Place of Publication	Amsterdam
Publisher	Amsterdam University Press
Pages	45-68
ISBN (Print)	9789048560509, 9789048560493
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.5117/9789048560493
Publication status	Published - 06 Jan 2025

Publication series

Name	Slavery and Emancipation

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10.5117/9789048560493Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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abstract = "Firearms and gunpowder were among the most important goods bartered between Europeans and Africans in the transatlantic slave trade, as highlighted in the literature on the gun-slave hypothesis. The data backing this theory to date is very limited and draws exclusively from British sources. This article uses the archives of the Middelburgsche Commercie Compagnie (MCC), a Dutch slave trading company, and the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database, to properly chart regional differences and changes over time in the export of military goods for the first time. The weapons export of the MCC expanded strongly throughout the eighteenth century, with gunpowder playing an especially important role. The rise in the volume of this arms trade is explained by the increase in the volume of the slave trade, not by an increasing African demand for firearms specifically.",

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Arming the Slave Trade: Evidence on the Gun-Slave Hypothesis from Dutch Slavers. / Huber, Philipp.
The Dutch Transatlantic Slave Trade. ed. / Ramona Negrón; Jessica den Oudsten; Camilla de Koning; Karwan Fatah-Black. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2025. p. 45-68 (Slavery and Emancipation).

Research output: Chapter in book/volume › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review

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Arming the Slave Trade: Evidence on the Gun-Slave Hypothesis from Dutch Slavers

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