In the 17 nineties, a guy name eli whitney invents the cotton gin. The economic situation in the american south explodes. And it is the fibre of the industrial revolution. It's almost as if, right when it seems like it would probably be in everyone's best interest to sort of jump on this, were phasing slavery out - but instead we're left with an institution that was unbelievably valuable. So it's going to last in brazil even longer than it does in the united states.
The Atlantic Slave Trade mixes centuries of human bondage with violence, economics, commerce, geo-political competition, liberty, morality, injustice, revolution, tragedy and bloody reckonings. That sounds like a lot, yet this show merely scratches the surface of this enormous subject.