The Danish Slave Trade and Its Abolition

320 Pages·2016·8.32 MB·English

by  Erik Gøbel

The Danish Slave Trade and Its Abolition
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Studies in Global Slavery
Edited by
Damian Alan Pargas (Leiden University)
Jeff Fynn-Paul (Leiden University)
Volume 2
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/sgs
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The Danish Slave Trade
and Its Abolition
By
Erik Gøbel
LEIDEN | BOSTON
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Cover illustration: The Danish Fort Christiansborg at Accra on the Gold Coast, about 1770. (By courtesy of the
Danish National Archives).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gøbel, Erik, author.
Title: The Danish slave trade and its abolition / by Erik Gøbel.
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2016] | Series: Studies in global
slavery, ISSN 2405-4585 ; volume 2 | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016032367 (print) | LCCN 2016034378 (ebook) | ISBN
9789004330276 (hardback : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9789004330566 (e-book) |
ISBN 9789004330566 (E-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Slave trade--Denmark--History. | Slave trade--Ghana--History.
| Slave trade--United States Virgin Islands--History. | Slavery--United
States Virgin Islands--History. | Denmark--Commerce--History. |
Ghana--Commerce--History. | United States Virgin
Islands--Commerce--History. | Antislavery movements--Denmark--History. |
Ghana--Race relations--History. | United States Virgin Islands--Race
relations--History.
Classification: LCC HT1214.D4 G63 2016 (print) | LCC HT1214.D4 (ebook) | DDC
306.3/6209489--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016032367
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issn 2405-4585
isbn 978-90-04-33027-6 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-33056-6 (e-book)
Copyright 2016 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei
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This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.
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Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xi
List of Illustrations, Diagrams and Tables xii
Abbreviations xiv
Part 1
The Danish Slave Trade
1 Introduction 3
The Danish Slave Trade 3
2 Volume and Composition of the Slave Trade and
the Trade Cargoes 10
Slave Trade Cargoes 15
Profitability 21
3 Transatlantic Slave Trade Shipping 24
Vessels 24
Sailing Routes 25
Other Routes 31
Duration of Triangular Voyages 34
Nutrition 39
Mortality 42
Slave Rebellions 46
4 Slave Trade in the Danish West Indies and in Asia 51
Transit Trade 51
Slave Population 53
Agriculture 55
Profits in Denmark 56
Danish Slave Trade in Asia 57
Part 2
Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade
5 Prelude in Denmark Prior to 1792 65
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vi Contents
6 Ernst Schimmelmann 73
Heinrich Carl Schimmelmann 73
Ernst Schimmelmann’s Career 76
Private Economic Interests 79
Family 85
Evening of Life 88
General Characterization 89
7 The Slave Trade Commission and Its Report, 1791 90
The Danish Political System 90
Ernst Schimmelmann’s Letter, 18 June 1791 91
Ernst Schimmelmann’s Aide-memoire to the Commission,
16 July 1791 92
Royal Resolution, 5 August 1791 97
The Members of the Commission 98
The Course of the Commission’s Work 101
The Report of the Commission, 28 December 1791 104
Background 105
Slave Trade in Africa 105
Shipping 106
Numbers of Slaves 108
Mortality 111
Slaves from the Danish Settlements 112
Commodities 113
In the West Indies 116
Slave Demography 116
Discussion of the Report’s Demographic Section 120
Measures Towards Improvement 128
Economy 129
Private Ownership Rights 131
Education 132
Marriages 133
Legislation 133
New Slaves 134
Conclusions and Recommendations 135
Settlements in Africa 137
8 The Abolition Edict, 1792 138
Royal Resolution, 24 February 1792 138
The Board of Customs’ Royal Proposal, 13 March 1792 140
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Contents vii
Christopher Hansteen’s Minority Statement, 14 March 1792 143
Royal Resolution, 16 March 1792 144
The Abolition Edict, 16 March 1792 145
The Development of Particular Regulations 148
9 Transitional Period, 1792–1802 151
The Abstract of the Report Published by Kirstein 151
Reactions in Denmark 152
Reactions in England 153
Reactions in the Danish West Indies 155
Slave Loans and Further Developments in the Danish West
Indies 157
Abolition or Extension of the Interim Period 163
10 Developments after 1803 167
The Slave Trade Question after 1 January 1803 167
Slave Trade after 1 January 1803 174
11 Conclusion 183
Part 3
Sources
The Slave Trade Commission’s Report, 28 December 1791 189
Appendix A to the Report: Specification of Ships Departed from the
Gold Coast 262
Appendix B to the Report: Slaves Bought at Danish Settlements on the
Gold Coast, 1777–89 268
Appendix C to the Report: Danish Slave Trade Cargo,
about 1790 272
Appendix D to the Report: Number of Negroes on Saint Croix,
1780–90 276
Appendix E to the Report: Negroes on Saint Croix Plantations Indebted
to the King, Listed by Gender 277
Appendix F to the Report: Negroes on Saint Thomas and Saint John
Plantations Indebted to the King, Listed by Gender 280
Appendix G to the Report: Negroes on Plantations on Saint Croix Belon­
ging to Count von Schimmelmann’s Family Trust 281
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viii Contents
Appendix H to the Report: Negroes on Plantations on Saint Croix
Belonging to Count von Schimmelmann’s Family Trust, Listed by
Gender 282
The Abolition Edict, 16 March 1792
Danish National Archives, Collection of Printed Ordinances 283
Bibliography 287
Index 300
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Preface
In 1792, Denmark was the first slave-trading nation in Europe to decide to abol-
ish its own trade in slaves. Even though the Danish transatlantic slave trade
was far from being as extensive as that of the large slave-trading nations, the
Danish trade on the Gold Coast and via the Middle Passage – and especially
its abolition – is of great international relevance. This holds true with regard
both to professional scholars and students of history around the world and to
people living today in Ghana, the United States Virgin Islands, and Denmark.
My first intention in writing this book was to provide a general survey of the
slave trade carried out under Danish colours, with brief chapters on the Dan-
ish slave trade in Asia as well as the domestic slave trade in the Danish West
Indies. My second aim was to discuss the process and considerations which
led to the early Danish ban on the slave trade, but only after a ten-year grace
period. Thirdly, for the benefit of future historians I reproduce two important
source texts, namely the comprehensive report of the Danish Slave Trade Com-
mission and the Royal Edict of 16 March 1792, which abolished the slave trade.
As a professional historian I have been researching this field for decades – as
well as other aspects of the history of the former Danish colonies in the tropics.
Since 1981, I have been fortunate enough to work as a Senior Researcher in the
Danish National Archives (Rigsarkivet) in Copenhagen. The Danish Ministry of
Culture (Kulturministeriet) also granted me a six-month research leave, which
enabled me to carry out much of the research into the literature and archival
material behind this book. It is my happy duty to thank both the National Ar-
chivist Asbjørn Hellum and the Ministry of Culture for these favourable condi-
tions. I am also grateful that the Danish National Archives paid for the copy
editing of my text.
My research rests primarily on Danish literature and archival materials in
Denmark. Because of their enormous importance to the respective history,
a few of these collections – the record groups of the West India and Guinea
Company (Vestindisk-guineisk Kompagni) and of the Guinea Company (Guin-
eisk Kompagni) – have been included in unesco’s prestigious Memory of the
World Register because of their enormous research potential and international
relevance. The Memory of the World Register enumerates the most significant
and unique items of world culture heritage, such as manuscripts, books, and
archival collections of unique importance to the world.
The intent here is to make a unique and vital contribution, drawn from this
extraordinarily rich Danish material, most of which is largely inaccessible to
scholars from outside Scandinavia because of the language barrier, and from
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