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The Iranun and Balangingi slaving voyage: Middle passages in the Sulu zone
Book chapter

The Iranun and Balangingi slaving voyage: Middle passages in the Sulu zone

J.F. Warren
Many Middle Passages: Forced Migration and the Making of the Modern World, pp.52-71
University of California Press
2007
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Abstract

A cacophony of new sounds, sights, objects and tastes, along with an accelerated, materially oriented life, had transformed the Sulu zone by the early nineteenth century and created a much increased demand for slave labor. Europe’s commercial intrusion in China at the end of the eighteenth century made a significant impact on the growth of the slave trade in Southeast Asia, driving a need for coolies to produce Chinese tea, much sought by European traders, which was cultivated in the mountains of Fujian. In turn, this stimulated a parallel demand for slaves to work in the fisheries and forests of the Sulu Zone to meet the demands of Europeans for exotic commodities like sea cucumber and birds nest to trade to China. The result was the development of a permanent slave trafficking network around organized markets and depots in the Sulu Archipelgo. Jolo Island, as the centre of a redistributive network encompassing the Sulu Zone, became the most important slave marketing centre by 1800.

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