Chains of Gains: Towards a Global Approach to the study of the benefits derived from commerce of enslaved Africans and slave-produced commodities

Filipa Ribeiro da Silva

doi:10.1163/9789004549296_007

Chains of Gains: Towards a Global Approach to the study of the benefits derived from commerce of enslaved Africans and slave-produced commodities

Filipa Ribeiro da Silva

IISH

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

Abstract

To date, most scholarship on the gains and gainers from slave trading and the commerce in slave-produced commodities has focused on assessing gross and net profits for European national economies and their respective imperial spaces. This historiography has also tended to concentrate rather heavily on gains from trade and those associated with the administration of slave trading. This chapter aims to propose a new way forward in the study of these questions. To this end, I will present and discuss ways of developing a new approach that i) encompasses the multiple operations related to these activities; ii) connects the various regions of the globe linked to these businesses, both directly and indirectly; and iii) attends to the wide range of historical actors involved. Additionally, I argue for the adoption of a multi-layered methodological approach that combines different methods and sources, including serial data and detailed case studies. The aim is to develop an analysis that pays due attention to quantitative and qualitative dimensions of these activities and their gains. This, in turn, will support a more open, long-term, and global approach to the study of these activities, their consequences, and their legacies.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	The Asiento and the Transatlantic Trade of Enslaved Africans (circa 1580-1750): Trade Networks and Transnational connections
Editors	Manuel Herrero Sánchez, Jonatán Orozco Cruz, Pedro Cardim
Publisher	Brill
Chapter	5
Pages	123-153
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004549296_007
Publication status	Published - 2026

Publication series

Name	The Atlantic World
Publisher	Brill
Volume	41

Access to Document

10.1163/9789004549296_007

Cite this

Ribeiro da Silva, F. (2026). Chains of Gains: Towards a Global Approach to the study of the benefits derived from commerce of enslaved Africans and slave-produced commodities. In M. Herrero Sánchez, J. Orozco Cruz, & P. Cardim (Eds.), The Asiento and the Transatlantic Trade of Enslaved Africans (circa 1580-1750): Trade Networks and Transnational connections (pp. 123-153). (The Atlantic World; Vol. 41). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004549296_007

Ribeiro da Silva, Filipa. / Chains of Gains: Towards a Global Approach to the study of the benefits derived from commerce of enslaved Africans and slave-produced commodities. The Asiento and the Transatlantic Trade of Enslaved Africans (circa 1580-1750): Trade Networks and Transnational connections. editor / Manuel Herrero Sánchez ; Jonatán Orozco Cruz ; Pedro Cardim. Brill, 2026. pp. 123-153 (The Atlantic World).

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abstract = "To date, most scholarship on the gains and gainers from slave trading and the commerce in slave-produced commodities has focused on assessing gross and net profits for European national economies and their respective imperial spaces. This historiography has also tended to concentrate rather heavily on gains from trade and those associated with the administration of slave trading. This chapter aims to propose a new way forward in the study of these questions. To this end, I will present and discuss ways of developing a new approach that i) encompasses the multiple operations related to these activities; ii) connects the various regions of the globe linked to these businesses, both directly and indirectly; and iii) attends to the wide range of historical actors involved. Additionally, I argue for the adoption of a multi-layered methodological approach that combines different methods and sources, including serial data and detailed case studies. The aim is to develop an analysis that pays due attention to quantitative and qualitative dimensions of these activities and their gains. This, in turn, will support a more open, long-term, and global approach to the study of these activities, their consequences, and their legacies.",

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Ribeiro da Silva, F 2026, Chains of Gains: Towards a Global Approach to the study of the benefits derived from commerce of enslaved Africans and slave-produced commodities. in M Herrero Sánchez, J Orozco Cruz & P Cardim (eds), The Asiento and the Transatlantic Trade of Enslaved Africans (circa 1580-1750): Trade Networks and Transnational connections. The Atlantic World, vol. 41, Brill, pp. 123-153. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004549296_007

Chains of Gains: Towards a Global Approach to the study of the benefits derived from commerce of enslaved Africans and slave-produced commodities. / Ribeiro da Silva, Filipa.
The Asiento and the Transatlantic Trade of Enslaved Africans (circa 1580-1750): Trade Networks and Transnational connections. ed. / Manuel Herrero Sánchez; Jonatán Orozco Cruz; Pedro Cardim. Brill, 2026. p. 123-153 (The Atlantic World; Vol. 41).

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

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AB - To date, most scholarship on the gains and gainers from slave trading and the commerce in slave-produced commodities has focused on assessing gross and net profits for European national economies and their respective imperial spaces. This historiography has also tended to concentrate rather heavily on gains from trade and those associated with the administration of slave trading. This chapter aims to propose a new way forward in the study of these questions. To this end, I will present and discuss ways of developing a new approach that i) encompasses the multiple operations related to these activities; ii) connects the various regions of the globe linked to these businesses, both directly and indirectly; and iii) attends to the wide range of historical actors involved. Additionally, I argue for the adoption of a multi-layered methodological approach that combines different methods and sources, including serial data and detailed case studies. The aim is to develop an analysis that pays due attention to quantitative and qualitative dimensions of these activities and their gains. This, in turn, will support a more open, long-term, and global approach to the study of these activities, their consequences, and their legacies.

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Ribeiro da Silva F. Chains of Gains: Towards a Global Approach to the study of the benefits derived from commerce of enslaved Africans and slave-produced commodities. In Herrero Sánchez M, Orozco Cruz J, Cardim P, editors, The Asiento and the Transatlantic Trade of Enslaved Africans (circa 1580-1750): Trade Networks and Transnational connections. Brill. 2026. p. 123-153. (The Atlantic World). doi: 10.1163/9789004549296_007

Chains of Gains: Towards a Global Approach to the study of the benefits derived from commerce of enslaved Africans and slave-produced commodities

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