Lunch Talk: Anka Steffen, Atlantic Slavery and Silesian Serfdom - An Entangled History
Date and Time
Location
"Atlantic Slavery and Silesian Serfdom - An Entangled History"
Anka Steffen, Visiting Scholar, Fall 2019, WIGH; PhD Candidate in History, Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)
Food is available starting at 12:30, and the talk will start promptly at 1pm.
ABSTRACT:
The talk will center on the time around 1700, a period crucial in the economic history of both Western Africa and the East Central European province of Silesia. I argue that Silesia’s economic development can only be fully understood if analyzed against the backdrop of the Atlantic trade in general and the slave trade in particular. Focusing on the example of the entangled early modern trade in Silesian linen textiles, I demonstrate the connection between plantation slavery in the Americas and serfdom in East Central Europe.