reconnecting

In Nantes, from the beginning of the slave trade, several slave ships brought plants on board. At first, anecdotally and spontaneously, a royal decree of 1726 required all captains of merchant ships - and therefore ships chartered by slave owners - to bring plants and seeds from the West Indies, America and Africa. The ship's surgeon was then in charge of collecting plants (mainly medicinal) and local knowledge on their uses. Today, the tropical greenhouses of the Grand Blottereau park are the heirs of this botanical collection and preserve many species that arrived in Nantes during the slave trade. 

Pour aller plus loin:

Catherine Vadon, Botanical Adventures from Overseas to the Atlantic Lands, Ed. Jean-Pierre Gyss. 2002

Yves-Marie Allain, Voyages et survie des plantes au temps de la voile, Ed. Champflour, 2000

Germaine Courteix, Le Jardin des Apothicaires. Contribution à l'histoire de la pharmacie à Nantes, Baugé, Impr. du Pays Baugeois, 1929

Fleury Marie, " Impact de la traite des esclaves sur la phytogéographie : exemple chez les Aluku (Boni) de Guyane française ", Journal of Traditional Agriculture and Applied Botany, 36ᵉ year, bulletin n°1,1994. pp. 113-137.