Theodore Canot

Born in Florence in 1804, Théodore Canot became known for the memoir Captain Canot, or Twenty Years of an African Slaver, a book based on his experiences in West Africa and in the slave trade. The work was published in the 1850s and has remained notable as a rare firsthand narrative from someone directly involved in that system.

Canot's life took him across the Atlantic world as a seaman, merchant, and slave trader. Accounts of his career connect him especially with the West African coast, where he was involved in commerce during a period when the transatlantic slave trade was being challenged but still persisted illegally.

He died in 1860. Because his memoir describes the slave trade from the viewpoint of a participant, it is often read today less as an adventure story than as a disturbing historical document that reveals how that trade operated and how its participants justified it.