American Slaves and African Masters: Algiers and the Western Sahara, 1776-1820

Sears, C.

Whether by falling prey to Algerian corsairs or crashing onto the desert shores of Western Sahara, a handful of Americans in the first years of the Republic found themselves enslaved in a system that differed so markedly from nineteenth century U.S. slavery that some contemporaries and modern scholars hesitate to categorize their experiences as 'slavery.' Sears uses a comparative approach, placing African enslavement of Americans and Europeans in the context of Mediterranean and Ottoman slaveries, while individually investigating the system of slavery in Algiers and Western Sahara. This work illuminates the commonalities and peculiarities of these slaveries, while contributing to a growing body of literature that showcases the flexibility of slavery as an institution.

Details

Published by: Palgrave Macmillan

Publication Date: 2012-09-06

Format: Paperback

ISBN-13: 9781349443536

DOI: 10.1057/9781137295033

Dimensions: 216cm x140cm

Pages: 240