LA AMISTAD DE CUBA: RAMÓN FERRER, CONTRABANDO DE ESCLAVOS, CAPTIVIDAD Y MODERNIDAD ATLÁNTICA.

The article presents, based on new archival foundings, a new perspective of the Cuban and the Atlantic dimensions of the Amistad "case", different to the traditional interpretations. In this context the new archival material from Havana, New Haven, London, Lisboa, Madrid, Arenys de Mar, and Praia (Cape Verde island) shows the real history of the catalan captain killed in the rebellion of the captives of the schooner Amistad in 1839. First the article presents Ferrer as the owner of not only one little coastal schooner, but of two or three ships (one of them the modern steamer Vapor Principeño). These ships did not only coastal transport but also contraband trade to Africa. Ferrer and his partners used the profits of the giant Atlantic business for the accumulations of new capitals and invested it in promoting new sugar and slave areas in Cuba and in the modern technologies like railsroads and steamers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]