The Maritime Museum shows the shame of Catalan slavery

BarcelonaIt is not easy to know who and how they got rich from the slave trade. In Spain and Catalonia it was a rather opaque business, because the largest slave trade took place when it was already illegal. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, different European countries kidnapped more than 12.5 million people from Africa, who were shipped to the American colonies. According to current research, ships flying the Spanish flag took nearly a million people to America. The United Kingdom made the slave trade illegal in 1807, and a year later the United States (although it did not abolish slavery until 1863). Spain did not prohibit the trade until 1820; paradoxically, it became big business for Spaniards and Catalans. "More than 550,000 African captives arrived in Cuba when the trade was already illegal under Spanish law, more than half the number in all of history," says historian Martín Rodrigo, who advises the exhibition. Infamy. Catalan participation in colonial slavery, which can be seen at the Museu Maritim in Barcelona until October 5. "We have included some names in the exhibition to illustrate it, but it is a much broader phenomenon," adds the historian.

"We have had this exhibition pending for many years, if not decades. Many other countries have reviewed their history, but Spain and Portugal have not yet done so in a sincere and manifest way, and it was a thorn in our side for some time," says the director of the Marítimo, Enric Gar. "We are proud to have taken this step, despite being aware that it will generate debate and controversy. We are not doing it to self-flagellate or to ask for forgiveness, but to tell a story that we have not talked about until now. The era in which it was said that museums should be neutral is over," adds the director of the Marítimo from. In front of it there is an interactive that shows buildings built with money from slavery. Behind, the name of the Liceu in very large letters.

A very present slave legacy

"It's about telling a story from the past that we're not proud of and that has consequences in the present," says Rodrigo. The journalist Antonio Tortajada, responsible for the script of the exhibition based on the museographic project of Ignasi Cristià, is committed to redefining buildings and statues: "Our society is not responsible for what its ancestors did, but it would be good for it to know that it lives with its legacy," Tortajada points out. "Racism is another part." In fact, at the end of the exhibition there is a reflection on this and an explanation is given of the importance of the exhibition. the removal of the statue of Antonio López.

There was trafficking, but also slave labour. Spain was the last country in Europe to ban slave labour in 1885. Many captives died during the crossing and, if they survived, they did not expect a very long life either. In the Ingenios, the name given to the large sugar plantations in Cuba, the conditions were terrible. Between 1847 and 1874, 125,000 Chinese arrived on the island. They were free men but were exploited as slaves.

"The life expectancy of a slave, once he started working, was 5 to 7 years," says Rodrigo. On these plantations, owned by Spaniards or descendants of Spaniards, sugar cane was ground and processed to make sugar or liquor. It was the main business on the island. In 1860, there were 1,365 sugar mills in Cuba, and all of them were run by slaves. Among other Catalan owners were Josep Carbó Martinell, from Sant Feliu de Guíxols; Josep Antoni Marquès Torrents, Salvador Samà Martí, Teresa Sicart Soler and Pau Soler Morell, from Vilanova i la Geltrú; Tomás and Pau Lluís Ribalta, from Barcelona; and Josep Riera Romeu, from Sitges. Among those who profited from the slave trade were also the Bourbons. Specifically, the queen regent Maria Cristina de Borbón and her second husband, Agustín Muñoz.

A society divided between slave owners and abolitionists

Cuba became a very lucrative business and so they often turned a blind eye to illegal trafficking. That was where the money was made. It was the largest sugar exporter in the world and so Spain did something unusual in Europe: it first built the railway to Cuba – the one that linked Havana with Güines – in 1837 and then in the metropolis, between Mataró and Barcelona, ​​​​in 1845.

The Marítimo also shows how art portrayed this slavery. There is a watercolor of the ship's layout. Marie Seraphim, by René Lhermitte (1770). We can see the location of the cargo and how the maximum number of people were packed into the hold: stretched out on the floor of the tween deck, next to each other and alternating with objects. In another painting, an ex-voto, we can read: "Felucca 'Uracán' chased by the English steamer 'Gráulas' in black market", and shows how a British ship pursues the Spanish vessel that was engaged in the slave trade. Some cartoons from the press of the time make it clear that there was controversy in 19th century society. While some defended slavery, others like the harp concert player, composer, writer and activist Clotilde Cerdà and the rector of the University of Barcelona and editor Antoni Bergnes de las Casas called for its abolition.

"For the first time a public entity tells this story. Other great powers have also been late, they have not done so until the 21st century, but they have done so before us. We arrived late, but we arrived," says Tortajada. "It is important that society accepts this and a process of restoration begins."