Brazilian gold, Cuban copper and the final frontier of British anti-slavery
Event Date October 12, 2010 5 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Location – Glamorgan Conference Centre
Inaugural Lecture given by Professor Chris Evans
International mining companies, based in Britain but operating overseas, were a growing feature of the world economy in the middle decades of the nineteenth century. They exemplified new forms of corporate organisation and often deployed the latest in advanced technology. But when they set up in Brazil and Cuba in the 1820s and 1830s they also made use of slave labour.
What should we make of Britons who, as shareholders or directors of joint-stock companies, held slaves beyond the bounds of Britain’s own empire? What does this tell us about the ingrained character of unfree labour in the global economy? About the ostensibly abolitionist culture of early Victorian Britain? Or about the nature of responsibility for slavery as an historic crime?
To register your place at this event please contact Jane Garrett on 01443 483345
