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The Danish Slave Trade and Its Abolition <UN> 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 <UN> The Danish Slave Trade and Its Abolition By Erik Gøbel LEIDEN | BOSTON <UN> 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 Want or need Open Access? Brill Open offers you the choice to make your research freely accessible online in exchange for a publication charge. Review your various options on brill.com/brill-open. Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. 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 Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. <UN> 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 <UN> 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 <UN> 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 <UN> 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 <UN> 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 <UN>

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In The Danish Slave Trade and Its Abolition, Erik Gobel offers an account of the well-documented Danish transatlantic slave trade. Denmark was the seventh-largest slave-trading nation with forts and factories on the Gold Coast and a colony in the Virgin Islands. The comprehensive Danish archival mat
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