The Zong Massacre: Maritime Insurance Fraud and Abolitionist Uprising
Cargo, Cruelty, and the Shocking Legal Battle That Ignited the British Anti-Slavery Movement, 1781–1783
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Beschreibung
Explore the horrifying insurance claim that exposed the true brutality of the slave trade and accidentally birthed the global abolitionist movement.
In 1781, the captain of the British slave ship Zong made a calculated, cold-blooded decision. Running low on drinking water due to navigational errors, he ordered 133 enslaved Africans to be thrown overboard. But the true horror of the event was not just the murder; it was the financial strategy behind it.
The Zong Massacre details how the ship's owners shamelessly filed an insurance claim upon returning to England, demanding compensation for the murdered individuals as "lost cargo." The subsequent court case did not prosecute the crew for murder, but rather debated the validity of the insurance fraud.
This book chronicles how the sheer absurdity and bureaucratic cruelty of this trial finally broke through the apathy of the British public. It uncovers how a young abolitionist named Granville Sharp used the horrifying transcripts to ignite a moral outrage that would ultimately dismantle the transatlantic slave trade.
Readers will confront the darkest intersections of capitalism and human rights, discovering how a single horrific legal dispute permanently altered the course of moral history.
Autor*in
Maida C. Richmond
Author
Themen in »The Zong Massacre: Maritime Insurance Fraud and Abolitionist Uprising«
zong massacre 1781 history of abolition british maritime law insurance fraud history transatlantic slave trade legal history books human rights origins