The Slave Route Project

The Slave Route Project is a UNESCO initiative that was officially launched in 1994 in Ouidah, Benin. It is rooted in the mandate of the Organization, which believes that ignorance or concealment of major historical events constitutes an obstacle to mutual understanding, reconciliation and cooperation among peoples. The project breaks the silence surrounding the slave trade and slavery that has affected all continents and caused great upheavals that have shaped our modern societies. In studying the causes, the modalities and the consequences of slavery and the slave trade, the project seeks to enhance the understanding of diverse histories and heritages stemming from this global tragedy.

The concept of a route seeks to reflect the dynamics of the movement of peoples, civilizations and cultures. The concept of slave focuses on the universal phenomenon of slavery, and in particular, the transatlantic, Indian Ocean and Trans Saharan slave trades. The Slave Route Project has three main objectives:

Drawing on the ideas and work of an International Scientific Committee, the project deals with various aspects of the slave trade, and in particular provides:

The transatlantic slave trade and its Middle Passage are unique within the universal history of slavery for three main reasons. Firstly, it endured for approximately four centuries. Secondly, the victims of this trade were exclusively black African men, women and children. Finally, its intellectual legitimization - the development of an anti-black ideology and its legal organization through the notorious Code noir.

As a commercial and economic enterprise, the slave trade provides a dramatic example of the consequences resulting from particular intersections of history and geography. It involved several regions and continents: Africa, Americas, the Caribbean, Europe and the Indian Ocean. This slave trade is often considered one of the first systems of globalization. This 'triangular' trade connected the economies of three continents.

The transatlantic slave trade was the biggest deportation in history and a determining factor in the world economy of the 18th century. It is estimated that between 25 and 30 million people were deported from their homes and sold as slaves in the different slave trading systems. It is estimated that 17 million of these people were traded in the transatlantic route. These figures exclude those who died aboard the ships and in the course of wars and raids connected to the trade.

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