Abstract

For three decades, studies of the African slave trade and the system of slavery have proliferated. Conferences have been held one after another: in Copenhagen (1974), New York (1978), Port-au-Prince (1978), Washington, Harvard University (1979), Manchester (1982), Nantes (1985), Madrid (1988), Paris, Port-au-Prince, Saint-Louis, Dakar (all in 1989), Nantes (1993), and Nouakchott (1995). Numerous specialists from universities in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas (Brazil, the United States, and Canada) have convened to compare the results of their research. Year after year, archival records have been brought to bear and the bibliography has grown ever longer. A number of studies of oral tradition have been undertaken in Africa.