'Enslaved' Episode 3 Preview: Tracing money from South America to Europe, show delves into economics of slavery
The third episode of 'Enslaved' titled 'Follow the Money' digs deep into the economics of the slave trade and why it was so profitable. The official synopsis of the episode states: "Shot on location in Suriname, Brazil, Portugal, and the UK, this episode investigates the economics of the slave trade while searching for a sunken ship that represents the single greatest loss of life during the entire slave trade."
Unraveling the economics of the trade, in essence, means also diving into what was the greatest economic growth spurt in countries, starting with Portugal and spreading to countries like England. The main money-maker was the trade in sugar but also other luxury crops like cacao and coffee. Plantations were set up all across colonies in places like Brazil and Suriname in South America and the Caribbeans by slave owners and traders, in addition to the plantations in the US. These labor-intensive plantations needed the free labor of enslaved Africans to function and turn a profit, even as sugar became a highly-prized commodity and immensely popular during the 18th century. Great Britain, for instance, consumed five times the amount of sugar in 1770 as it did in 1710.
This consumption of sugar, like a drug, was courtesy of the drastic change in eating habits among Europeans, starting from the rich and trickling down to the poor when sugar became a bulk commodity instead of a luxury good. Jams, candy, sweetened bitter coffee, cocoa, and processed foods like chocolate and airy sugary confectionaries became all the rage. But amid all this sweetness — both taste-wise and in terms of money — was the bitter truth of the trans-Atlantic slave trade that made the production of sugar in such large quantities possible.
By now, the episodes of this weekly docuseries have settled into a precise format. Samuel L Jackson and the two investigative journalists, on land, track down historical documents, artifacts and locations that were key to the slave trade and the episode's main theme. The divers, on the other hand, search the seas, trying to piece together the stories of sunken slave ships that tell the tales of those who did not make it.
In Episode 3, we can expect Jackson and his team to "follow the money" so to speak, and find out all the ways in which the money flowed to the European countries involved in the slave trade. The divers on the other hand will investigate the wreck in which the most number of enslaved Africans died at sea and the circumstances surrounding the wreck and the "single greatest loss of life during the entire slave trade". This refers to the "The Leusden", a Dutch West India Company slave ship, carrying nearly 700 African men, women and children to Suriname. When the ship was caught in a terrible storm, the captain ruthlessly ordered the crew to lock the Africans below deck, making sure they drowned with the ship before they made their escape on lifeboats. It was mass murder on the seas.
'Enslaved' Episode 3 'Follow the Money' airs on Monday, September 28, on Epix at 10 pm ET.