Urban History, the Slave Trade, and the Atlantic World 1500-1900

Review of books related to urban history, the slave trade and the Atlantic World is discussed. Lyman Johnson's book 'Workshop of Revolution: Plebeian Buenos Aires and the Atlantic World, 1776-1810; details Buenos Aires's role in the Atlantic economy at the end of the late colonial period. It takes place within the context of the Bourbon Reforms in 1776 and ends shortly before the call for independence in 1810. His use of the word 'plebe' to encompass the slave population provides a more inclusive label to describe the black urban experience. He does not treat this group as a separate laboring sector in the Buenos Aires' economy, but rather as a direct effect of Buenos Aires' economy. By using probate inventories, wills, prices, and wages, Johnson argues the greatest volume of the slaves in the labor market occurred alongside the period of the highest wages. Johnson notes the importance of African descendants who actively partook in guilds. Identity and corporate affiliation were also integral themes in The Black Urban Atlantic. In addition to identities and corporate affiliations, The Black Urban Atlantic also provides a good examination of African migrants who were not slaves. In the first section, the scholars focus on the creolization of African identities. The second section focuses on the Spanish, French, and British Caribbean, which allows the reader to compare various imperial powers in a similar geograpical location.