The Compatibility of the Slave and Palm Oil Trades in the Bight of Biafra

Abstract

The rise of the legitimate trade in palm oil in the nineteenth century is often described as following (or due to) a decline in the overseas slave trade. In fact in the most important oil producing region, the Bight of Biafra, the palm oil trade expanded well in advance of any decline in the slave trade and the suppression of the slave trade occasioned no marked increase in the rate of palm oil export growth. It would appear that the direct and indirect effects of the slave trade in this region had created economic conditions which enabled its small farmers to respond so rapidly to external demand for palm oil. The failure to understand the relationship between the slave and the palm oil trades is a result of misunderstanding the relationship between these oil producers and the coastal middlemen.