Profitability of Slave and Long-Distance Trading in Context: The Case of Eighteenth-Century France

Abstract

This chapter discusses slave and other long-distance trades in eighteenth-century France. The largest trading power in Europe at the end of the 1780s was France. The total value of British long-distance trade was only 20 million pounds sterling. The growth of French long-distance trade from the 1710s had been faster than the growth of English trade. The organization of the French slave trade differed from that of the English. The slave trade was not a specialist’s activity. Slave trade ships, in contrast to what was happening in England, were used both for the slave trade and direct trade with the West Indies. The chapter compares investment in the slave trade and other longdistance trades with alternative investments in terms of internal rate of return, liquidity, maturity, and risk.