Nigel Worden

This first comprehensive analysis of slavery in early colonial South Africa, based on research in Britain, the Netherlands and South Africa, examines the nature of Cape slavery with reference to the literature on other slave societies. Dr Worden shows how the slave economy developed in town and countryside, and discusses the dynamics of the slave market, the growth of land concentration, the harsh life on the farm, and the developing polarisation of rural race relations. He analyses the relation of fear and brutality in small farming communities and demonstrates that, contrary to previous assumptions, small-scale slavery produced conditions as severe as those experienced in the large-scale slave-holding systems of the Deep South. However, Cape slavery was exceptional in that manumission was rare and unity among slaves was inhibited by their diverse origins. The study is an important contribution to an understanding of the development of South African colonial society and to comparative slave studies.

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