The City of the Dukes was by far the main French port involved in the slave trade between the 17th and 19th centuries.
This triangular trade has enriched many Nantes merchants.
Their mansions were built around this time.
Until June 2022, the castle of the Dukes of Brittany is offering a new exhibition devoted to this episode.
Ten years after the opening of the Memorial to the abolition of slavery in Nantes, 20 years after the Taubira law which recognizes trafficking and slavery as crimes against humanity, 30 years after the founding exhibition of Rings of memory, the castle of the Dukes of Brittany kicks off the
Abyss
on Saturday
, a new exhibition devoted to the “Atlantic slave trade and colonial slavery”. Main French slave port between the 17th century and the 19th century (1,714 slave expeditions recorded for more than 550,000 black captives transported to the colonies), the City of the Dukes played a large part in what is called “triangular trade”. However, it is difficult to notice, at first glance, the traces of this past on the walls of the city. You have to look closely to see that they are still very present, including on roads frequented by thousands of pedestrians every day.
“Nantes was enormously enriched thanks to the slave trade, so all the architectural aspects of this period, the mansions, the magnificent facades, resonate with this history.
These are specific buildings, always with a mezzanine and then a luxurious first floor, ”says Krystel Gualdé, scientific director of the Nantes History Museum.
Many were built on Île Feydeau, then on the banks of the Loire.
“At the time, it housed shipowners, captains and traders very involved in transatlantic trade.
"
The private mansions Temple of Taste (Allée Duguay-Trouin), Berouete (Quai de Turenne), de la Villestreux (Quai de Turenne) and Deurbroucq (Allée Gloriette) are the most famous.
Other emblematic buildings from this period can be found around Place du Commerce or Quai de la Fosse.
African faces on facades
The enrichment of Nantes merchants can still be seen in private courtyards and interiors.
“These buildings almost always offered 180 m2 of living space and three adjoining lounges.
Many have been redesigned but some have kept the authenticity of the paintings, floors, piers and sometimes even period furniture, ”explains Agnès Poras, guide-lecturer for Le Voyage à Nantes.
"The woodwork and large mahogany furniture are always an evocation of the slave trade," confirms Krystel Gualdé.
Quite simply because the mahogany wood was cut by slaves in the American colonies.
"
Another legacy of the slave trade: the mascarons, these faces carved in stone which still adorn the facades, represent, for some, men and women with African features.
“They are African kings, women who have neck shackles… These sculpted decorations are an opportunity to display the owner's success by designating the business that can be carried out”, specifies Agnès Poras.
“We are not sure that these African faces all represented slaves, nuance Krystel Gualdé.
The slave trade was considered a trade like any other.
It brought significant benefits but there was not necessarily a will to put it forward.
"
Magnolias, an unknown heritage
The city's slavery past can also be read on the street names evoking colonies or characters involved in the slave trade: Saint-Domingue, Guillaume-Grou, Kervégan, Bourgaud-Ducoudray, Guillon, Montaudouine, Mellier, Colbert… “These are important symbols of these great families which have grown rich and will remain in the toponymy ”, underlines the guide-lecturer. "Guillaume Grou was a leading slave ship owner," insists Krystel Gualdé. At least 10,000 men, women and children were deported from the African continent via its ships. Gérard Mellier was mayor of Nantes but he is also someone who wrote all the arguments that will allow to fix, by royal edict in 1716, the condition of people enslaved on the territory of France. "
Another more astonishing heritage: the magnolias. These emblematic shrubs of the city of Nantes were imported in the 18th century from the Antilles, from Santo Domingo in particular. “They arrived by boats that were necessarily linked to the triangular trade,” says the scientific director of the Nantes History Museum. “The captains had a royal obligation to bring back new botanical varieties. This is how Nantes has become one of the main acclimatization points for exotic plants, ”adds Agnès Poras. It is René Darquistade, mayor of Nantes from 1735 to 1747, who will be the first to acclimatize the magnolia. “This man has a complex history since he is going to support a slave who has initiated a lawsuit to obtain her freedom. This will not prevent him from becoming a slave ship owner a few years later ”,says Krystel Gualdé. One of the oldest specimens of magnolias in Europe can be found today in the Jardin des Plantes.
"There were many slaves who lived in Nantes"
The abyss
exhibition
, presented until June 2022, focuses on another little-known point of the slave trade: slaves have indeed been landed on Nantes soil, not just goods. “Of course, slavery took place mainly in the colonies. But there were many enslaved people who lived in Nantes throughout the 18th century and part of the 19th century, says Krystel Gualdé. They were in the parishes of Sainte-Croix and Saint-Nicolas, with people who had the means to own the property of servants in captivity. They were also found with master carpenters, master coopers ... Some of these people were sent to France to learn a trade that would be useful to the colonies. Some have stayed there all their lives. "
The abolition of slavery was not effective in France until 1848, ten years after the United Kingdom.
“This story is better known, especially in Nantes, but it is not always taken into account as it should be,” concludes the scientific director.
What it is, fundamentally, is the start of French and European colonial history.
Trafficking and slavery are closely linked to our colonial history.
"
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