Éditeur(s) : Université des Antilles AIHP-GEODE : Archéologie Industrielle, Histoire, Patrimoine/Géographie- Développement Environnement de la Caraïbe HARCMAR : Histoire et Archéologie Maritimes des Petites Antilles
Extrait de : "Entre exclusif et contrebande, le commerce colonial aux Antilles XVIIe-début XIXe siècle" : journées d'étude, du 24 au 26 octobre 2019. Université des Antilles
Description : In the eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries, inter-imperial connections, many of which were illicit, were of crucial importance in the functioning of European colonialism in the Atlantic world and during its heyday. One example of economically important trade connections across imperial borders is the maritime mule trade. Based on a large variety of secondary sources, supplemented by primary materials, this paper seeks to provide insights into the functioning of this business. Enterprising merchants used the opportunities available to them to connect breeding areas and zones of cash crop production. Likewise, geography played an important role in connecting demand and supply over both short and long distances, as physical proximity and trade winds helped forge connections. Mules were transported to the insular Caribbean, and in particular the French islands, to serve as draft animals, especially by moving vertical cylinders called rollers that crushed the sugar cane, although they were not the only animals used for such purposes. To meet the mule demand of the Caribbean islands, the animals were imported from a variety of regions, including France, North Africa, and the Cape Verde islands. Eventually, however, supplies from other parts of the Greater Caribbean came to dominate the mule business.
Siècle(s) traité(s) : 18
Permalien : http://www.manioc.org/fichiers/V19112