EURESCL

ID

36

Surname Koster

First Name Henry

Title

Travels in Brazil

Classification Book

Place of Publication London

Publisher Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown

Date 1816

Language English

Translations

Voyages dans la partie septentrionale du Bresil, depuis 1809 jusqu'en 1815 (Paris: Delaunay, 1818). French. Reisen in Bresilien, von Heinrich Koster (Weimar: Landes Industrie, 1817). German.

Theme Travel Writings

Source

Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature, University of London. British Library. Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Weblink click here

Document

Key Words

Slavery Travels Brazil Slave Trade Manumission Labour Plantation Portugal Colonies

Precis

Two chapters of Henry Koster's Travels in Brazil are dedicated to slavery and "the impolicy of the slave trade" (chapters 19 and 20). Koster condemns the exercice of absolute power and potential for abuse inherent in slavery, and criticises the inefficiency of slave labour compared with free. He describes the arrival and sale of slaves in Brazil, slavery, manumission and creolization of African and European cultural influences in the plantations. In chapter 20 he condemns the "great moral evil" (445) of the slave trade.

Notes

Koster's Travels in Brazil is cited in James Cropper's Letter addressed to the Liverpool Society for promoting the abolition of slavery (1823) and his argument on the inefficiency of slave labour is cited in Adam Hodgson's Letter to M. Jean-Baptiste Say (1823).