The Unexpected End of the Slave Trading Business

• In Event: 355 - Section on Economic Sociology Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 07. Inequality: Structure and Mechanisms

Abstract

In 1807, Britain ended its participation in the transatlantic slave trade after 20 years of campaigning under the leadership of the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Slave trading was a growing and profitable market, so why could the slave traders not protect their business? We analyze the interactions of local and national level to find answers to this question. By using data from various sources, we reconstruct the network of the economic elite in Bristol from 1763 to 1807. Furthermore, we use data on the representatives of the House of Commons. That way, we will be able to evaluate which part of the defeat of the slave traders by the abolitionists can be attributed to which mechanism.

Authors

• Timo Böhm, University of Mannheim

• Henning Hillmann, University of Mannheim