Between Shackles and Contracts

The French Vessel Alfred and the Trafficking of Workers Engaged in Mozambique to Réunion Island

Abstract

Throughout the 19th century, in the shadow of slavery, indentured labor became
an important strategy for obtaining workers thus causing the displacement of
significant population contingents. In the context of the post-abolition of French
colonial slavery and the prohibition of the slave trade, this article analyzes the
trafficking of engaged workers from Mozambique to Réunion Island through the
case of the barque Alfred, considering imperialist geopolitics in the Indian Ocean
world and East Africa, British pressure against this type of trafficking, the intensification of demand for low-cost labor in tropical regions of the world and the
agency of these workers.