In the 18th century, cruelty had poetic names, like Le Prudent ("The Prudent"), La Légère ("The Light") or Les Trois Maries ("The Three Marys"). The ships, named in the hope of a good voyage or baptized with Christian first names, were part of a brutal business between Europe, Africa and America: the slave trade. During a period of approximately 400 years, at least 13 million people were transported under horrendous conditions from Africa to the colonies of the New World.
The northwestern French city of Nantes played a central role in what has been described as the largest forced migration in global history. Although the city's merchants came late to the lucrative slave trade, long after the Portuguese, Spanish and British, over the course of the 18th century the city on the Loire River became a central hub of the Atlantic triangular slave trade -- and with it the most important port city in France.
Over 40 percent of the French slave trade was carried out via the city, with around 450,000 men, women and children abducted from Africa to America. According to curator Marie-Hélène Jouzeau, who is responsible for the city's historical heritage, it wasn't just the major merchant families who specialized in the business. "The entire mercantile community was involved, and the whole region profited from it," she told SPIEGEL ONLINE.
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