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Reconstructing the Slave Route in the Colonial Era

21-05-2003 ()

Reconstructing one of the darkest pages of Argentina’s history, the one of the African slave trade of the Rio de La Plata, this is the aim of the contribution of the National General Archives (Archivo General de la Nacion) of Argentina to the Slave Trade Archives project, being carried out in the context of the Memory of the World programme of UNESCO. More than 500 documents have hence been digitised by the institution with UNESCO’s financial support.

Thanks to the Organisation’s support, the Archives specialists have initiated this project entitled “The Slave Route” (La Ruta de la Esclavitud). Hence, they have examined the 5000 documents the General Archives have saved on Slave trade to select 500 to be digitised. This is why Miguel Unamuno, the Archives director, can ensure that, in a two month time, all these documents will be visible on the Internet.

This initiative has been launched within the framework of the Slave Route Project that UNESCO launched in 1994. A Scientific Committee has hence been created with the mandate to examine the whole question of the slave trade and its impact on the economic and political situation in a number of countries. This Committee has furthermore stressed the importance of archival materials as the basis for this study and the need to digitise the original documentary sources related to it.

Related themes/countries

      · Slavery in Argentina
      · News Archives
      · Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean

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