ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Nautical Atlases, the Royal Navy and Slave Trade Abolition: Maritime Science in Ships and Ports, 1750-1850

• In Event: Making and Circulating Images, Their Impact and Influences on Different Fields of Science 1

English Abstract

Drawing on various sources of 18th-century nautical cartography, I would like to explore several atlases that provide information on navigation, demonstrating the knowledge that pilots and slave traders possessed of the coastlines of Africa and the Americas in the late 18th century. In this presentation, I will also focus on examining some rare atlases published in the context of controversies and debates in the English Parliament. Furthermore, I intend to demonstrate the importance of the Royal Navy's abolitionist campaigns for the advancement of nautical knowledge and the expansion of the British presence along the African Atlantic coast.

Author

• Íris Kantor, FFLCH-USP, Brasil