Re:  Connections between the slave trade and alcohol.  There is no good
study that I am aware of that deals centrally with this question.  However,
see Joseph Miller's prize winning and magisterial, WAY OF DEATH, about the
south Atlantic trade.  Re. South Africa see the introduction to my own,
LIQUOR AND LABOR IN SOUTHERN AFRICA for some hints.  On Brazil, there is
CHILDREN OF GOD'S FIRE.  Any good study of the slave trade will have
something, note for eg. the recent work of Robin Law.  Miller has also
produced volumes of slave trade bibliography which are very helpful.  Keep
in mind that the sugar-rum-slaves construction is a useful heuristic to
understand the structure of the trade, but in practice it didn't usually
work out like that.  C. Ambler, History, Univ. of Texas, El Paso
 
At 01:13 PM 9/2/96 +0930, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender:       Alcohol and Temperance History Group <[log in to unmask]>
>Poster:       Melissa Raven <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject:      triangular trade
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>I've only recently come across references to the so-called triangular trade
>(rum, slaves, sugar, traded between England, West Africa, the Americas) in
>the early(?) nineteenth century (and late eighteenth?).
>
>I'd like to know more about this (I've only seen it mentioned in passing).
>Can anyone suggest a few good papers or books to read? Plus I'd welcome
>anyone's thoughts/ideas - I'm particularly interested in the significance of
>alcohol as a tool of imperial expansion/colonisation, and links between
>commercial interests and international politics, but I'm also intrigued by
>the symbolic significance of links between slavery and alcohol. Also, until
>recently I'd always thought of sugar as a fairly ordinary commodity, but
>I've heard a bit lately about the use of Torres Strait Islanders as slave
>labour in the sugar-fields of north Queensland (Australia), and the notion
>of the triangular trade suggests that there's a lot more to it than I'm
>aware of.
>
>Thanks
>Melissa
>Melissa Raven, Lecturer, Addiction Studies Coordinator
>National Centre for Education & Training on Addiction
>NCETA, Level 3B, Science Park Adelaide, BEDFORD PARK  SA  5042, AUSTRALIA
>Phone 61 8 2017557  Fax 61 8 201 7550
>
>