The eighteenth century was a golden age for the French Atlantic，with merchants making undreamt-of profits from voyages to the Americas. Some traded directly with France’s Caribbean colonies，taking flour，wine and industrial products for the colonists and returning with cargoes of sugar，indigo and tobacco；others invested in slaving，sending their ships to West Africa before crossing the Atlantic to sell the slaves in Saint-Domingue or Guadeloupe，where they would take on return cargoes. But profits were not guaranteed. Repeated wars disrupted the sea lanes and forced many to abandon transatlantic commerce or turn to privateering. Abolitionism and the moral challenges it posed undermined confidence in the slave trade. From 1792，revolution and naval wars with Britain spelt disaster for many merchants，leading to bankruptcies and to recession in the west-coast ports，while the loss of Saint-Domingue destroyed the plantation economy on which they had come to depend. Though some tried to resume Atlantic trade after the return of peace in 1815，others saw the need to diversify，expanding their commercial links with the Indian Ocean，India and China.