Kent Academic Repository Full text document (pdf) Citation for published version Nicholls, Peter A. (2018) 'The Door to the Coast of Africa': The Seychelles in the Mascarene Slave Trade, 1770-1830. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Kent,. DOI Link to record in KAR https://kar.kent.ac.uk/67029/ Document Version UNSPECIFIED Copyright & reuse Content in the Kent Academic Repository is made available for research purposes. Unless otherwise stated all content is protected by copyright and in the absence of an open licence (eg Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher, author or other copyright holder. Versions of research The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record. Enquiries For any further enquiries regarding the licence status of this document, please contact: [email protected] If you believe this document infringes copyright then please contact the KAR admin team with the take-down information provided at http://kar.kent.ac.uk/contact.html ‘The Door to the Coast of Africa’: The Seychelles in the Mascarene Slave Trade, 1770-1830 Peter A. Nicholls PhD History Submitted to the University of Kent, January 2018 78,000 words Abstract Rejecting the customary scholarly distinction between legal and illegal slave trades, this research explores the relationship between the Seychelles islands and the south- western Indian Ocean‘s slave trade to the Mascarenes from the time of the Seychelles‘ colonisation in 1770 to the demise of the slave trade in c. 1830. The work begins by locating the French colonisation of the Seychelles within the context of the changing dynamics of the trade, specifically the shift from Madagascar to Mozambique as the primary supplier of slaves for the Mascarenes and the growing slave-exporting role of the Swahili coast at the end of the eighteenth century. When set against this backdrop, the colonisation of the Seychelles appears in a novel light, and the thesis advances the argument that – contrary to what has commonly been assumed – slave trading ambitions and activity were central to the settlement project. Since growing numbers of slaving voyages between East Africa and Mauritius and Réunion made use of the Seychelles in subsequent decades, the dissertation next turns its attention to discussing the socio-economic life of early Seychellois and, specifically, the various services which they provided to slavers. It is here demonstrated that the Seychelles were used as a provisioning station and, most important of all, as a sanatorium for passing slaves. The Seychelles could perform this latter function – and thus impact on slave mortality rates during sea crossings – thanks to the presence of small islands which were employed as quarantine stations, the availability of clean water and the abundance of wild food sources, especially tortoise and turtle meat. The intermediary role of the Seychelles is shown to have increased in the aftermath of the British takeover and the subsequent criminalisation of the slave trade in 1810. Following repressive measures in the 1820s, the Seychelles became the centre of a wide-ranging smuggling network that drew on the outer islands of the archipelago to move East African and Malagasy slaves predominantly to Réunion. The inner islands, for their part, were more central to the large-scale abuse of the so-called ‗transfer system‘, which resulted in thousands of newly purchased slaves being imported into Mauritius following a period of acclimatisation in the Seychelles. The thesis‘ overarching argument is that the Seychelles were much more significant to the slave trade of the Mascarenes than has been previously assumed and that, were it not for the Seychelles, such trade might not have expanded as rapidly as it did in both geographical and demographic terms. i Acknowledgements Over the course of this research project I have been very fortunate in receiving support, advice and assistance from a host of generous individuals and institutions to whom I wish to express my sincere gratitude. My utmost thanks go to Giacomo Macola for all his guidance and committed support that has extended far beyond his duty as supervisor of this PhD. For insightful conversations, advice and good company throughout my time at the University of Kent, I would like to thank Andy Cohen, Christine Whyte, John Kegel and Tarryn Gourley. Juliette Pattinson also deserves to be thanked for her advice and feedback, as do Faye Beesely and Rob Brown for their much appreciated assistance. A special thanks is owed to Richard Allen for his invaluable advice, sharing with me vital unpublished materials and pointing me in the direction of essential archival documents. I am grateful to Vijaya Teelock and the Centre for Research on Slavery and Indenture for accommodating me at the University of Mauritius and providing opportunities to share my research and receive feedback there. I have received much appreciated advice and feedback from Julien Durup and William McAteer. I am grateful to Karine Wigmore for her help in deciphering particularly difficult and damaged documents, and to Tony Mathiot for sharing his extensive knowledge of documents in the Seychelles National Archives. Thanks are extended to Tonio, Maria, Mena, Martha, Brigitte, Janet, Caroline, Anne, Norbert and Mr Lucas at the Seychelles National Archives, and to Mrs Mohun and the Mauritius National Archives for their hospitality and assistance during my visits. For funding this research, I thank the Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts South-east England and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Finally I wish to thank my family for all their help, support and encouragement. ii Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 The Historiographical Landscape ........................................................................................................ 3 Aims and Structure of the Dissertation .............................................................................................. 22 Sources and Methodology .................................................................................................................. 26 Chapter 1 Foundations - The Mascarene Slave Trade .............................................................. 32 An Overview of the Mascarene Slave Trade ..................................................................................... 33 Madagascar ........................................................................................................................................ 36 Mozambique ....................................................................................................................................... 40 The Swahili Coast .............................................................................................................................. 42 A Space for the Seychelles ................................................................................................................. 44 The Mascarene Network .................................................................................................................... 46 The Last Years of the Legal Trade ..................................................................................................... 50 Chapter 2 The Seychelles Enter the Mascarene Slave Trade .................................................... 52 The Turn of the 1770s ........................................................................................................................ 52 Enter the Seychelles ........................................................................................................................... 57 The Slave Trade and the Growth of the Early Seychelles Colony ..................................................... 72 Chapter 3 Slaving Services and the Seychellois ....................................................................... 82 The Horrors of Disease ...................................................................................................................... 84 Slaves Disembarked ........................................................................................................................... 88 Provisioning ....................................................................................................................................... 91 Ship Repair ......................................................................................................................................... 93 The Consumption of Tortoises ........................................................................................................... 95 The Fear of Slave Resistance ............................................................................................................. 98 The Slave Trade of the Seychellois .................................................................................................... 99 The Significance of the Slave Recovery Station .............................................................................. 103 iii Chapter 4 The Seychelles and the Onset of the Illegal Slave Trade ....................................... 107 Coming to Terms with Illegality .....................................................................................................