Chocolate Islands

Chocolate Islands: Cocoa, Slavery, and Colonial Africa by Catherine Higgs recounts the early-twentieth-century journey of Joseph Burtt, an Englishman hired by Cadbury to investigate allegations of slave labor in cocoa harvesting across São Tomé, Angola, and Mozambique. Through his travels, Higgs explores shifts from innocence to activism and reveals the complex attitudes of British and Portuguese colonial societies toward work, race, and imperialism. This compelling narrative offers a thoughtful look at historical perceptions and practices within Africa's colonial context.