Dear Anatol:
 
It is precisely because the historiography (Africanist and North
Americanist, alike) has failed to go beyond the role of foreign
alcohol as an item of exchange that you and I, not to mention
others, NOW HAVE this very interesting topic to work with. So
press on ahead!
 
And do remember that my posts were addressed to correct, from an
Africanist and South Atlantic viewpoint, two points in your
original posting:
 
1) that the Atlantic Slave Trade was triangular
 
2) and that the Caribbean islands were the center of the
[Atlantic] sugar, rum, and slave trades.
 
Did I say that in the case of Western Canada, Africa must assume
greater prominence than the West Indies?
 
Jose
 
PS. If you want to look at how one specific sector of the rum-
slave exchange operated in the South Atlantic, I suggest that
you take a look at Joseph C. Miller, _Way of Death: Merchant
Capitalism and the Angolan Slave Trade, 1730-1830. (Wisconsin:
University of Wisconsin Press, 1988, 770 pgs. Throughout this
extremely important tome, you will also find some material on
the non-slave trading roles of Brazilian sugar cane rum.
 
 
 
Jose C. Curto
Co-editor, Newsletter of CAAS
Center for Society, Technology and Development
McGill University
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