Letters on West Africa and the Slave Trade: Paul Erdmann Isert’s Journey to Guinea and the Caribbean Islands in Columbia

Isert’s book, in the form of twelve letters evidently written for publication, has excited interest ever since it first appeared in 1788. Modern scholars have long had a great interest in, and need for, careful translations of early Danish sources on Africa; but though Isert’s text was long ago translated into other languages, this is its first translation from the original German into English. Modern scholars have become interested in Isert because he himself approached his subjects in a scholarly and scientific way. Already a respected botanist and medical doctor, Isert became interested in ethnography on his arrival in Accra. His letters contain an unrivalled wealth of information, including details of customs, clothing, martial arts, music and recreation. His descriptions are the more valuable because, in marked contrast to his predecessors, he reveals an overwhelmingly positive, sympathetic and respectful attitude towards the Africans and their way of life. Isert has a special place in West African history because of his attempt to establish a plantation on the Gold Coast to counteract the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the editor has assembled additional source material on this in her Appendices. The last part of Isert’s book concentrates on the slave trade in the West Indies, and includes a first-hand description of a slave revolt on a ship. Throughout his text Isert draws a clear and lively picture of life on the Gold and Slave Coasts of Africa and the Danish and French islands in the West Indies at the end of the 18th century. This book is intended for scholars and students of the history of Africa and the Slave Trade. Edited and translated by: Winsnes, Selena Axelrod;