“These Poor People”: Sentiments of a Common Humanity Between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans During the Age of Revolution

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Abstract This article situates maritime life within Enlightenment debates on empathy, equality, and human rights during the Age of Revolution. While intellectual history has often overlooked seaborne experiences, this study highlights how sailors, enslaved people, and other maritime actors were portrayed as rational, emotional beings in travel literature and personal letters. Juxtaposing the sentimental writings of Haafner, Le Vaillant, Barrow, and Logan with the private testimonies found in the Letters as Loot ( Brieven als Buit ), the paper demonstrates how depictions of suffering at sea, through disease, coercion and violence, reflected and reinforced evolving enlightenment ideals. The article argues that travel writers and seafarers played an underrecognized role in shaping contemporary cultural and intellectual discourse by modeling empathy and framing seaborne individuals as autonomous agents. Despite the era’s prevailing racial hierarchies, these narratives contributed to a broader cultural shift toward recognizing a common humanity.