Cross-cultural trade and the slave ship the Bonne Société: baskets of goods, diverse sellers, and time pressure on the African coast

Gregg, Amanda and Ruderman, Anne ORCID: 0000-0001-5799-3806 (2025) Cross-cultural trade and the slave ship the Bonne Société: baskets of goods, diverse sellers, and time pressure on the African coast. Journal of Economic History. ISSN 0022-0507

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Abstract

The eighteenth-century French slave ship the Bonne Société traded bundles of goods in exchange for slaves in Loango. We present detailed evidence from the ship’s trading log that decomposes the goods in the bundle and identifies the European and African merchants selling captives to the ship. Prices steadily increased throughout the captain’s stay in port, and the captain increased the bundle’s price by adding more goods and adding high-priced goods. Sellers participated both as one-shot traders and as repeat traders. These results add a nuanced picture of how this destructive trade worked in practice.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Economic History
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
JEL classification:	N - Economic History > N7 - Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, Technology, and Other Services > N77 - Africa; Oceania N - Economic History > N8 - Micro-Business History > N87 - Africa; Oceania Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology > Z13 - Social Norms and Social Capital; Social Networks
Date Deposited:	11 Aug 2025 10:06
Last Modified:	10 Sep 2025 18:22
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/129101

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