Memorializing the Middle Passage on the Atlantic seabed in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Integrating Cultural Heritage Into The Work Of The Ocean Foundation" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

More than 12.5 million Africans were held captive on 40,000+ voyages during the transatlantic slave trade. Many did not survive the voyage and the Atlantic seabed became their final resting place. Member States of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) have a duty to protect objects of an archaeological and historical nature found on the international seabed during mining related activites. Such objects may be important examples of underwater cultural heritage, and may be an important link to living cultural heritage. Contemporary poetry, music, art, and literature convey the significance of the Atlantic seabed in African diasporic cultural memory. We encourage Member States of the ISA to consider ways to memorialize those who lost their lives, ahead of mineral exploitation. An example of how this might be achieved is to place one or more virtual ribbons on ISA maps, depicting slave-trade routes to memorialize those who died during their Middle Passage.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Integrating Cultural Heritage Into The Work Of The Ocean Foundation   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2021

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology