ABSTRACT
The case of colonial Louisiana and France illustrates the debt that both Europe and the Americas owe African people. Europe and the Americas (including the U.S. and Brazil) were “developed” economically, politically, and culturally at the cost of African people’s dis-unifi cation, degradation, impoverishment, and the loss of their mother languages and cultural heritage. Emblematic of the dynamics of the Transatlantic enslavement enterprise, the case of colonial Louisiana is particularly instructive. The maritime company of Le Havre, France made voyages to St. Louis, Senegal from 1717 to 1743. In 1720 the Ruby left Le Havre for St. Louis, Senegal in order to transport a full load of enslaved Africans intended for the new colony of Louisiana. Between 1720 and 1743, the French sent twenty-four (24) ships to sea for the triangular trade between the East, the African coasts and Louisiana. Seventeen (17) ships transported 4,700 men, women, and children from Senegal and Mali in particular. A list of recaptured fl eeing enslaved Africans between the 18th and the 19th centuries includes names like: Penda, Coumba, Taco, Bakary, Madjiguène, Ndella, Sabary, Moussa, Ousmane, Fadiguy, Bara, Ba, Baraka, Fatima, Demba, etc. (Hall, 1992).
