Port of Badagary, a Point of No Return: Investigation of Maritime Slave Trade in Nigeria

Summary

Two Danish ships that wrecked at Cahuita Point in Costa Rica carried many slaves of Yoruba ethnicity from a geographic locale in the vicinity modern day Nigeria in Africa. Danish Company records reveal that in addition, to human cargoes of around 400 slaves each, one ship included 4,000 pounds and the other 7, 311 pounds of ivory.  Founded in 1425 A.D., the port city of Badagry played a strategic role in both the transatlantic slave and ivory trade. Maritime Cultural Landscape Theory is a useful approach to analyze both the pre and post-colonial archaeological patterns of slavery in Badagry. This paper explores the maritime artifacts assemblages on land and underwater, and characterizes the archaeological signatures likely to be linked with maritime slave trade societies. The investigator will address the methods of collection, interpretation and integration of archaeological, oral and documentary sources, and the complex interchange between the data sets.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Expedition Costa Rica: East Carolina University’s Summer 2015 Maritime Studies Field School in Cahuita and Puerto Viejo   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 267