Captivity's collections : science, natural history, and the British transatlantic slave trade / Kathleen S. Murphy.
| Author/creator | Murphy, Kathleen S. author. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication | Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2023] |
| Description | xiv, 239 pages : illsutrations, maps ; 24 cm. |
| Subjects |
| Series | Flows, migrations, and exchanges Flows, migrations, and exchanges. ^A1347336 |
| Contents | Cannot on These Coasts Gather Amiss -- Collecting for the Company -- The Asiento's Natural Historical Profits -- Botany under the Cover of the Slave Trade -- Searching for Goliath -- A Flycatcher among Slave Traders. |
| Abstract | "Cashews from Africa's Gold Coast, butterflies from Sierra Leone, jalap root from Veracruz, shells from Jamaica--in the eighteenth century, these specimens from faraway corners of the Atlantic were tucked away onboard inhumane British slaving vessels. Kathleen S. Murphy argues that the era's explosion of new natural knowledge was deeply connected to the circulation of individuals, objects, and ideas through the networks of the British transatlantic slave trade. Plants, seeds, preserved animals and insects, and other specimens were gathered by British slave ship surgeons, mariners, and traders at slaving factories in West Africa, in ports where captive Africans disembarked, and near the British South Sea Company's trading factories in Spanish America. The specimens were displayed in British museums and herbaria, depicted in published natural histories, and discussed in the halls of scientific societies. Grounded in extensive archival research on both sides of the Atlantic, Captivity's Collections mines scientific treatises, slaving companies' records, naturalists' correspondence, and museum catalogs to recover in rich detail the scope of the slave trade's collecting operations. The book reveals the scientific and natural historical profit derived from these activities and the crucial role of specimens gathered along the routes of the slave trade on emerging ideas in natural history"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Genre/form | History. |
| LCCN | 2023020737 |
| ISBN | 9781469675909 hardcover |
| ISBN | 1469675900 hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781469675916 paperback |
| ISBN | 1469675919 paperback |
| ISBN | electronic book |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joyner | General Stacks | QH21 .G7 M87 2023 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |