Ann Thomson (Université de Paris VIII)
Université Paris 8: 'Religion,
commerce and intrigue: abbé Demanet and his networks'
Jean-Baptiste Demanet's Nouvelle Histoire de l'Afrique françoise (1767) is a source used by Raynal in book XI ofHDI. The abbé himself, whom Raynal probably knew, was a colonial adventurer behind several complicated schemes in West Africa and used his political friends to launch a slave trading company. His claims about routes to the interior of Africa were quoted in early editions of HDI, but after being denounced by the French administrator in West Africa he makes an anonymous appearance in 1780, as "un homme inquiet & ardent" duping unsuspecting people. Demanet's support in government circles undoubtedly facilitated his commercial ventures in the slave trade and somewhat megalomaniac schemes, which led to his final downfall and disgrace. This study, an attempt to unravel the career of this colonial adventurer and his complicated and rather shady African schemes against the background of Franco-British rivalry in West Africa, will throw light both on Raynal's informers and on the political networks which lie behind the text of HDI.
