Reading Linda A. Newson and Susie Minchin’s study From Capture to Sale on the administration and handling of the purchase, transport, and sale of African slaves to South America is most illuminating. Although literature dealing with the tragic history of compulsive African immigration to America is abundant, there still exist lacunae concerning such seemingly simple matters as the actual composition of slave diets, food prices, or medical care during the Middle Passage in the early seventeenth century. This investigation is based on the extraordinarily rich and complete documentation of 750 folios concerning the first two slave-trading expeditions undertaken by a young Portuguese of New Christian ancestry, Manuel Bautista Pérez, and his agents, found in the Archivo General de Peru in Lima.
The fascination of the book lies in the uncensored inside glimpse at the slave business that we get thanks to Manuel Bautista’s testimony. He wrote without moral or political...
