The Grey Undercurrent

Whalers and Littoral Societies at the Deep Beaches of Africa (1770–1920)

Felix Schürmann, Joe Paul Kroll, Joe Paul Kroll

• Publisher: De Gruyter Oldenbourg
• Year: 2023
• ISBN:
  9783110760071
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: African History
• Index: History

By extending their voyages to all oceans from the 1760s onward, whaling vessels from North America and Europe spanned a novel net of hunting grounds, maritime routes, supply posts, and transport chains across the globe. For obtaining provisions, cutting firewood, recruiting additional men, and transshipping whale products, these highly mobile hunters regularly frequented coastal places and islands along their routes, which were largely determined by the migratory movements of their prey. American-style pelagic whaling thus constituted a significant, though often overlooked factor in connecting people and places between distant world regions during the long nineteenth century.

Focusing on Africa, this book investigates side-effects resulting from stopovers by whalers for littoral societies on the economic, social, political, and cultural level. For this purpose it draws on eight local case studies, four from Africa's west coast and four from its east coast. In the overall picture, the book shows a broad range of effects and side-effects of different forms and strengths, which it figures as a "grey undercurrent" of global history.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction: Outward bound
• Passages I: Hunting whales off the coast of Africa
• 1 From whaling ground to trading port: Walvis Bay, 1780–1860
• 2 Discord magnified: Delagoa Bay, 1780–1845
• Passages II: Experiencing the world aboard a whaler
• 3 A stabilising flow of goods: Saint Augustin, Madagascar, 1830–1860
• 4 Provisioning as a power resource: Mutsamudu, Anjouan, 1835–1890
• 5 Promise and endeavour: Port Louis, Mauritius, 1789–1878
• Passages III: Going ashore
• 6 Under the sign of abolition: Cabinda, 1850–1855
• 7 The emergence of a west African whaling community: San Antonio, Annobón, 1825–1950
• 8 Whaleships into migration vehicles: Furna, Brava, 1770–1920
• Conclusion: Homeward bound
• Vessels Index
• Places Index