Maritime Archaeology and Slave Shipwrecks in Mauritius

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Maritime Archeology of the Slave Trade: Past and Present Work, and Future Prospects", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Analyzing slavery through the lens of shipwrecks makes a significant contribution to the understanding of labor migration. The 'vessel' was a vehicle of culture contact, and the study of the artifacts found in the shipwreck can give us significant information on life at sea. Accordingly, exploring this shipwreck's social, craft, and biographical aspects contributes important new evidence and helps contextualize the period of slavery.

Mauritius is a very special case study. The presence of an extraordinary number of wrecks, over 800, demonstrates the great potential of this island.

This paper presents two slave shipwrecks discovered in Mauritius. The Victoire (1804) was built and in use during the French period when the slave trade was legal, and the Coureur (1821) sailed during the English period when the trade had been abolished. Although they are chronologically close, they were parts of two distinct episodes of slave trading: Mauritius's history and colonialism.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Maritime Archeology of the Slave Trade: Past and Present Work, and Future Prospects   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow