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 2020 University, suite 2400 Montreal, Qc. CANADA H3A 2A5 Phone: (514) 398-3070 Fax: (514) 398-4619 Email: [log in to unmask]