The slave trade
and the Atlantic economies 1451-187087Coast, 1680-1722', The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 2,
1972, p. 271-5.
Apart from the omission of some important sources, all four lists probably
contain most of the extant archival sources for a study of the slave trade to be found
in Europe.
The second set is more comprehensive. Not only does it deal with the whole of
Africa, but it includes sources in a greater number of European archives, and also
archival sources in the United States of America. This set, prepared by the Interna-
tional Council on Archives under the auspices of Unesco, contains eleven volumes
published under the title International Council on Achives: Guide to the Sources of
the History of Africa.
One of the frustrations of studying the slave trade, however, is that there are
records on the subject in private hands. But because people are very concerned about
the moral aspects of the trade, owners of such records are very reluctant to allow
scholars to see them. Professor F. E. Hyde of Liverpool University once mentioned
this to me about such records in Liverpool. It is possible that as the moral aspects
of the trade become less emphasized, scholars may be able to reach more of such
materials in private hands.
For central and eastern Africa, the various works by David Birmingham,
Phyllis Martin, Edward A. Alpers and others referred to in this paper, contain refer-
ences to a large number of the unpublished archival sources relating to the slave trade.