CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Sundu, Mehmet |
|---|---|
| Title | Strategic Adaptation in the Transatlantic Slave Trade: A Temporal Network Analysis of the Abolition Era |
| Summary | This study examines the transatlantic slave trade network's evolution during the abolition era using Temporal Exponential Random Graph Models (TERGMs). The analysis uses data from the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database across four historical phases to determine whether abolition laws dismantled trading networks or catalyzed strategic adaptations. The study constructs directed networks representing enslaved people's movement from African embarkation to American destination ports, examining network structure, colonial control patterns, and trading strategies as legal restrictions intensified. The methodology employs a progressive modeling approach, building from baseline structural effects through colonial controls, temporal dependencies, and strategic adaptations. The analysis reveals a striking paradox: ports operating under abolished flags demonstrate higher likelihood of maintaining trading connections than those under legal flags. Three key adaptation mechanisms emerge: powerful colonial homophily effects with ports under the same imperial control showing higher trading probability, remarkable temporal persistence with existing routes continuing despite legal upheavals, and strategic adaptations including flag manipulation and vessel modifications. Colonial power dynamics shape these transformations significantly, with British-controlled ports declining substantially while Portuguese-Brazilian and Spanish territories expand operations. These findings challenge narratives of abolition's effectiveness, demonstrating how formal institutional changes may strengthen rather than weaken illicit networks by concentrating operations among sophisticated actors, with implications for contemporary policy addressing human trafficking and modern slavery. |
| Supervisor | Wittek, Mark |
| Department | Network Science MSc |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/sundu_mehmet.pdf |
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