The 18th-Century Slave Trade in the Indian Ocean

The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering — Fexingo History · Jun 16, 2026 · 6m · transcript

While the Atlantic slave trade is well-known, the enslavement of Africans in the Indian Ocean world was equally brutal and spanned centuries. This episode focuses on the 18th-century slave trade from East Africa to the Mascarene Islands—Mauritius and Réunion—under French colonial rule. We follow the story of the ship Le Brun, which transported captives from Mozambique to the sugar plantations of Île de France (Mauritius). We explore the role of the French Compagnie des Indes, the Swahili city-states that supplied captives, and the harsh labor regime on the islands. We also discuss the Maroon…