Herman L. Bennett, ‘African Kings and Black Slaves’

In ‘African Kings and Black Slaves,’ Herman L. Bennett mines the historical archives of Europe and Africa to reinterpret the first century of sustained African–European interaction. These encounters were not simple economic transactions. Rather, according to Bennett, they involved clashing understandings of diplomacy, sovereignty and politics. In the eyes of Iberians, the extent to which Africa’s polities conformed to these norms played a significant role in determining who was, and who was not, a sovereign people—a judgment that shaped who could legitimately be enslaved.