BLACKBURN, ROBIN. The Making of New World Slavery. From the Baroque to the Modern 14921800. Verso, London [etc.] 1997. vi, 602 pp. Ill. Maps. 25.00

This is the second publication in Robin Blackburn’s study of the rise and fall of New World slavery, although it is first in terms of chronology, covering the years from 1492 to 1800. The previous volume, published in 1988, was entitled The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, 1776–1848, and dealt with the ending of slavery in the British and French colonies, and the related changes in the other remaining slave areas of the Americas. As did the earlier book, The Making of New World Slavery provides a sweeping survey of the various Western European nations and their American offshoots. In rough order of number of pages allocated, there are discussions of the English, Portuguese, French, Spanish and Dutch colonies. The book is loosely divided into two historical periods. The first, from 1492 to 1713, is focused on the struggle of the early modern state to survive, in part via the development of New World slavery. The second, from 1713 to 1800, deals with the establishment of New World slavery on a racial basis, the growth of slave systems, the role of slavery in metropolitan capital accumulation and economic growth, and the emergence of anti-slavery thought. Blackburn has done extensive reading in most relevant secondary sources in several languages, relating to slavery and to European history, with only limited archival work. While the basic presentation is non-quantitative, there are 35 tables (almost all in the second half of the book) as well as four maps and seven illustrations. The depth of detail is indicated by the almost 1,000 footnotes, some providing references to sources, others being more substantive in presenting arguments. Blackburn’s survey covers just about all aspects of the history of slavery and its impact upon Europe, and does so in a clear and thorough manner. There are generally excellent summary examinations of key questions, and of the sweeping changes that occurred. In many regards this is a very useful guide to the current state of the study of New World slavery. There is particularly good coverage of the Iberian colonies and of the early stages of the rise of New World slavery. And, as we shall see, Blackburn presents some very interesting and original analysis on some issues, adding new variants to current debates. Several of the key points of Blackburn’s analysis fit comfortably with what might be described as the current consensus view of slavery. New World slavery is seen as a key aspect of social modernization, being a flexible and profitable form of economic organization (although in the long run it is argued to be a factor retarding economic growth). The expansion of New World slavery was tied to the growth of consumption demands within Europe, thus providing a link (of uncertain quantitative magnitude) between the Americans and Europe. Slavery had been very widespread in time and place, and few societies existed without there having been some form of enslavement of members of another society. One important difference with New World slavery was the defining of race as the basis of the enslavable outsider. It had been only several centuries before the first transatlantic sailing that the Europeans had, for whatever reason, ended the legal enslavement of other Europeans.