Benito Cereno is set off the coast of Chile in South America in 1799. This historical and geographical context is significant to the story in several ways. The novella, which centers upon a slave revolt aboard a Spanish ship, takes place in a period of time in which the transatlantic slave trade was both highly prominent but also vulnerable to revolts led by enslaved peoples. For example, the Haitian Revolution, one of the major influences on the story, was waged throughout the 1790s, ending in 1804. Further, the story is set in a region that was largely under the control of Spain, allowing Melville to depict the interactions of an American and Spanish sailor, two individuals from very different backgrounds who nevertheless have a shared interest in the slave trade. An early scene in the story presents a detailed picture of this setting. As a ship enters the harbor in which Delano’s ship is docked, the narrator notes that:
[T]he true character of the vessel was plain—a Spanish merchantman of the first class; carrying negro slaves, amongst other valuable freight, from one colonial port to another. A very large, and, in its time, a very fine vessel, such as in those days were at intervals encountered along that main; sometimes superseded Acapulco treasure-ships, or retired frigates of the Spanish king’s navy, which, like superannuated Italian palaces, still, under a decline of masters, preserved signs of former state.
Here, Melville emphasizes the role that the slave trade played in trade and commerce in the Americas. The narrator notes that the Spanish ship carries “negro slaves, among other valuable freight,” a description that underscores the extent to which enslaved individuals were thought of in terms of economic value and ultimately viewed as “valuable freight” or goods transported by ship. The Spanish influence in the region, the narrator implies, is beginning to wane, and the formerly “very fine” vessel now shows visible signs of “decline.”
