Measuring the British Slave Trade to Jamaica, 1789-1808: A Comment.

The article comments on study about the British slave trade to Jamaica. There have been significant developments in the historiography of the Atlantic slave trade. Scholars such as Philip D. Curtin, J.E. Inikori, and Roger Anstey have improved our understanding of the volume and character of the trade, and have stimulated further inquiry into the topic as a consequence of the variance in their findings. Another contribution to this investigation is Herbert Klein's "The Middle Passage: Comparative Studies in the Atlantic Slave Trade," in which he continues to develop the important comparative perspective of slave-trade scholarship. This is a work of great scope, and despite Klein's impressive scholarship, lacunae in the data remain. However, in the case of the Jamaican slave trade it is possible to fill some of the gaps. In both value and volume, the slave trade to Jamaica reached its peak between 1783 and 1808. Within this period, the years from 1789 to 1801 witnessed the largest volume of imports. It is here, however, that several lacunae are apparent in Klein's study.