The Diligent: A Voyage Through the Worlds of the Slave Trade

Robert W. Harms

Basic Books, 2002 - History - 466 pages

The Diligent began her journey in Brittany in 1731, and Harms follows her along the African coast where her goods were traded for slaves, to Martinique where her captives were sold to work on sugar plantations. Harms brings to life a world in which slavery was a commerce carried out without qualms. He shows the gruesome details of daily life aboard a slave ship, as well as French merchants wrangling with their government for the right to traffic in slaves, African kings waging epic wars for control of European slave trading posts, and representatives of European governments negotiating the complicated politics of the Guinea coast to ensure a stead supply of labor for their countries' colonies. The Diligent is filled with rich stories that explain how the slave trade worked on all levels, from geopolitics to the rigging of ships.

What people are saying

Review: The Diligent: A Voyage through the Worlds of the Slave Trade

User Review  - Dejana Vuletić - Goodreads

At first I wasn't too sure about this book, but I was assigned to read it for a course here at school, so I put up with it all the way to the end. It was a great read and highly educational. Only ...

Review: The Diligent: A Voyage through the Worlds of the Slave Trade

User Review  - Michael Hattem - Goodreads

In this largely narrative history, Harms uses a ship diary to recreate the slave-trading voyage of the Diligent from France to West Africa to the French Caribbean. Harms contends that "there was no ...

About the author

Robert Harms is Professor of History at Yale University. He is the author of two books about Africa, River of Wealth, River of Sorrow and Games Against Nature. He lives in Guilford, Connecticut.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Diligent: A Voyage Through the Worlds of the Slave Trade
• Author: Robert W. Harms
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Basic Books, 2002
• ISBN: 0465028721, 9780465028726
• Length: 466 pages
• Subjects: History / General; History / World; Social Science / Slavery