Enlightenment, Scientific Exploration and Abolitionism Anders Sparrman’s and Carl Bernhard Wadström’s colonial encounters in Senegal, 1787–1788 and the British abolitionist movement

• By the late 18th century, leading British abolitionists credited two Swedish scholars – Anders Sparrman and Carl Bernhard Wadström – for important contributions to the breakthrough of the British abolitionist movement. After witnessing the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade during a journey to Senegal, both scholars came to be explicit critics of this trade. It is argued in the article that the two Swedes contributed to the abolitionist cause particularly because of their status as academic scholars. This enabled a science-based rhetoric to complement the sentimental rhetoric of most other abolitionists at the time.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Historia (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- History (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Slavery

abolitionism

Enlightenment

Africa

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)