THE TRANS-ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE
Imperialism: A policy of extending a nation's power and influence through colonisation or use of military force.
Decolonisation: The act of changing political status from a dependent colony to an independent nation.
Globalisation: The process of international integration arising from the interchange of worldviews, products, ideas and other aspects of culture.
Internationalism: A movement that advocates a greater economic and political cooperation among nations for the theoretical benefit of all.
Liberalism: Classical liberalism is a philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, and assembly.
Nationalism: A belief, creed or political ideology that involves an individual identifying with, or becoming attached to, one's nation.
Pan-nationalism: A form of nationalism distinguished by being associated with a claimed national territory, which does not correspond to existing political boundaries. It often defines the nation as a "cluster" of supposedly related ethnic or cultural groups.
Pan-Africanism - African unity to strengthen resistance
Racism: Consists of both prejudice and discrimination based in social perceptions of biological differences between peoples.
Africa Pre-Trade
Egypt was the first of many great African civilisation
African kingdoms were developed pre-European civilisation, operating successful trading schemes such as gold, wood and ivory
They were majorly of Islam faith (Muslim) and had a rich and diverse culture
They were intellectual and developed
Slavery existed in Africa pre-trade. However, it was a form of punishment (for criminals, prisons of war, debt and as a source of payment). In some cases, these slaves could work towards freedom.
Differences of Pre-Trade and Trans-Atlantic
Pre-Trade / Trans-AtlanticLargely sent to Middle-East
Likely to be immersed into Muslim societies
Numerically small – approx. 1000 per year
Children of slaves did not become slaves. They were free to immerse into society
Slaves largely female performing domestic activities (cooking, servings); boys trained for the military and girls in harem
Conditions weren’t dire / Largely sent to South America and Caribbean
Segregated from society
9-12 million per year (400, 000 to USA)
Enslaved to fuel economy. Rival kings would enslave nearby groups for profit
Children automatically became slaves and were not immersed into society
Largely male performing agricultural, hard labour (farming, plantation work)
Conditions harsh and dire
Origins/Beginnings of the Trade
The Portuguese discovered wind that allowed them to return relatively easily back to Portugal
African locals accepted the Portuguese settlings their forts on their territories because they were traded goods. There, the Portuguese took malice of the slave trade in Africa and began to participate.
As a result, Portugal became extremely wealthy. Surrounding European nations began to take notice of this and involved themselves in the trade as well.
This meant Britain felt compelled to join because they saw Southern Europe as competition and a threat (wealth = power). If Southern Europe had too much of an upper hand on Britain, they would increase power in wars and would therefore become a real threat.
Disease on a large scale, as well as violence, meant South America had large spaces of vacancy. These were converted into plantations and therefore, South America became a hub for slavery.
Arrival of European Traders
During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, European traders started to get involved in the Slave Trade.
European traders had previously been interested in African nations and kingdoms, such as Ghana and Mali, due to their sophisticated trading networks. Traders then wanted to trade in human beings.
They took enslaved people from western Africa to Europe and the Americas. At first this was on quite a small scale but the Slave Trade grew during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as European countries conqueredmany of theCaribbean islandsand much of North and South America.
Europeanswhosettled in theAmericas were lured by the idea of owning their own land and were reluctant to work for others. Convicts from Britain were sent to work on theplantations but there were never enough so, to satisfy the tremendous demand for labour,planters purchased slaves.
They wanted theenslaved people to work in mines and on tobacco plantations in South America and on sugar plantations in the West Indies.
Millions of Africans were enslaved and forced across the Atlantic, to labour in plantations in the Caribbean and America.
Slavery changed when Europeans became involved, as it led to generation after generation of peoples being taken from their homelands and enslaved forever.
A chattel slave is an enslaved person who is owned forever and whose children and children's children are automatically enslaved. Chattel slaves are individuals treated as complete, property to be bought and sold. Chattel slavery was supported and made legal by European governments and monarchs. This type of enslavement was practised in European colonies from the sixteenth century onwards.
Europeans wanted lots of slaves, so people were captured to be made slaves.
Enslaved Africans were transported huge distances to work. They had no chance of returning home.
Children whose parents were enslaved became slaves as well.
Economic Benefit for Africa
The only economic benefit the slave trade contributed to Africa was that it provided coastal kingdoms with economic benefits – slave traders/merchants traded goods to buy slaves. People payed anywhere between 200 and 1000 for slaves worth a lot more.
Stats, Numbers and Dates
Mid 15th – Mid 19th Century (i.e. 1450 – 1850)
2m2 per individual (baracoons)
Approximately 11 million went to America in total – 400, 000 per year
9 – 12 million exploited per year
The peak of the trade was 18th century (approx.6 million slaves exploited)
Main destination were:
Brazil (40%)
Caribbean (35%)
North America (5%)
Spanish America (15%)
Islands on African Coast (2%)
Other (3%)
1789, William Wilberforce presents abolitions bill to House of Commons – doesn’t pass
1792, 519 petitions named into Parliament, House of commons vote in favour, House of Lord reject
1807, Abolition Bill passed (only prohibited trade, not slavery as a whole). Also this same year, Britain and USA abolished trade (not slavery)
1761, slavery abolished in mainland Portugal
1807, US abolished slavery completely
1834, Emancipation Act passed in Britain
1838, British colonies abolished slavery completely
1888, Brazil abolished slavery (they were late to benefit from the Industrial Revolution). In 1851, Brazil abolished slave trading completely
The Emancipation Act of 1834
Allowed for slaves to be free. However, they were required to endure 6 years of unpaid labour for their former owner. This was to placate plantation owners (make less angry’hostile) and used as a compromise.
The Emancipation Act (1834) was passed because of endless abolition movements and a considerable amount of revolts.
Because the Act essentially continued slave labour, abolitionists still pushed for freedom. This was achieved in 1838, when British colonies completely abolished slavery.
St Dominguez (modern Haiti)
Slaves drove the French off of the island
Proved their intelligence and power
Disproved ideology that Africans were inferior/animals/incapable
Movements taking place allowed for change.
1750 – 1780: The Industrial Revolution meant that the need for intensive labour was reduced because there were more machines and factories readily available. This also initiated an increase in education and printing; thus, information (i.e. horrors of trade) was spread quicker and more efficiently.
Treatment of workers sparked formation of unions which challenged authorities
Barracoons
Pens 17m2, 2m2 per individual
10 – 15% died
Contained 150 – 800 slaves
Costs included goods, voyage costs, commissions, wages and cargo
The Middle Passage
- The period between the points of embarkation to debarkation.
Central voyage of triangular trade
The Middle Passage refers to the part of the trade where Africans, densely packed onto ships,were transportedacross the Atlantic to the West Indies. The voyage took three to four months and, during this time, the enslaved people mostlylay chained in rowson the floor of theholdor on shelves that ran around the inside of the ships' hulls.
The shelves were under a metre high and often the enslaved Africans could not sit up.There could be up to more than six hundredenslaved peopleoneach ship.Captives from different nations were mixed together, so it was more difficult for them to talk and plan rebellions. Women and children were held separately.
In reality, itwas a system that brutalized both the sailors and the enslaved people. The captain had total authority over those aboard the ship and was answerable to nobody. Captives usually outnumbered the crew by ten to one, so they were flogged or put in thumbscrews if there was any sign of rebellion. Despite this, resistance was common.
The European crews made sure that the captives were fed and forced them to exercise. On all ships, the death toll was high. Between 1680 and 1688, 23 out of every 100 people taken aboard the ships of the Royal African Company died in transit. When disease began to spread, the dying were sometimes thrown overboard. InNovember 1781,around 470 slaves were crammed aboard the slave shipZong. During the voyage to Jamaica, many got sick. Seven crew and sixty Africans died. Captain Luke Collingwood ordered the sickenslaved Africans, 133 in total, thrown overboard (one survived). When theZongarrived back in England, its owners claimed for the value of the slaves from their insurers. They argued that they had little water and thesick Africans posed a threat to the remaining cargo and crew. In 1783, the owners won their case. This case did much to show the horrors of the trade and sway public opinion against it.
The death toll amongst sailors was also appallingly high (20%). Sometimes the crew would be harshly treated on purposeduring the ‘middle passage'. Fewer hands were required on the third leg and wages could be saved if the sailorsjumped ship in the West Indies. It was not uncommon to see injured sailors living rough in the Caribbean and North American ports.
A law (The Dolben Act) was passed in 1788, which fixed the number of enslaved peoplein proportion to the ship's size but conditions were still appalling. Research by Wadstrom(published in 1794)calculated that a man was given a space of 6 feet by 1 foot 4 inches; a woman 5 feet by 1 foot 4 inches and girls 4 feet 6 inches by 1 foot.
In his speech, made to the House of Commons in 1789, William Wilberforcequoted evidenceshowing that not less than 12½percent of enslaved peopleperished in the passage andanother 4½ percent died on shore, before the day of sale.He also described the conditions on the ships for the enslaved people.
Mortality and the Middle Passage
17.5% died on the Middle Passage
Revolts on 1 in 10 voyages
11, 000, 000 arrived alive to plantation. The amount that were taken from Africa and died is impossible to denounce because they died in various places (i.e. at baracoons, plantations, walking to and from place, on board the ship).
It is estimated that between 1 and 9 million died
Slaves accounted for 75% of Africa’s exports in 18th century
25% of slaves ran away (during the Middle Passage)
The Enlightenment dated from 1650 – 1780. It was a period of social change in which there was a focus on individual rights. People began to stand up for personal liberty rather than follow authorities (i.e. rebellion against conformity).
During this time, abolitionists were shining light on horrors of slavery (on board vessels, in barracoons) shifted societies mindset. People began to reject slavery, rather than prioritise its economic benefit.
The Triangular Trade
STAGE 1
Slave ships fromBritainleft ports like London, Liverpool and Bristol for West Africa carrying goods such as cloth, guns, ironware and drink that had been made in Britain.
Later, on the West African coast, these goods would be traded for men, women and children who had been captured by slave traders or bought from African chiefs.
STAGE 2
African dealers kidnapped people from villages up to hundreds of miles inland. One of these people was Quobna Ottabah Cugoano whodescribed in the autobiographyhow the slaversattacked with pistols and threatened to kill those who did not obey.They marched the captivesto the coast where they would be traded for goods. The prisoners would be forced to march long distances,as Major Galan describes,with their hands tied behind their backs and their necks connected by wooden yokes.
On the African coast, European traders bought enslaved peoples from travelling African dealers or nearby African chiefs. Families were separated.
The traders held the enslaved Africans until a ship appeared, and then sold them to a European or African captain. It often took a long time for a captain to fill his ship. He rarely filled his ship in one spot. Instead he would spend three to four months sailing along the coast, looking for the fittest and cheapest slaves.
Ships would sail up and down the coast filling their holds with enslaved Africans. On the brutal ‘Middle Passage', enslaved Africans weredensely packedonto ships that would carry them to the West Indies.
There were many cases of violent resistance by Africans against slave ships and their crews. These included attacks from the shore by ‘free' Africans against ships or longboats and manycases of shipboard revolt by slaves.
STAGE 3
In theWest Indiesenslaved Africans would be sold to the highest bidder at slave auctions.
Once they had been bought, enslaved Africans worked for nothing on plantations.
Theybelonged to the plantation owner, like any other possession, and had no rights at all. The enslaved Africans were often punished very harshly.
Enslaved Africans resisted against their enslavement in many ways, from revolution to silent, personal resistance. Some refused to be enslaved and took their own lives. Sometimes pregnant women preferred abortion to bringing a child into slavery.
On the plantations, many enslaved Africans tried to slow down the pace of work by pretending to be ill, causing fires or ‘accidentally' breaking tools. Whenever possible, enslaved Africans ran away. Some escaped to South America, England or North America. Also there were hundreds of slave revolts.
Two thirds of the enslaved Africans, taken to the Americas, ended up on sugar plantations. Sugar was used to sweeten another crop harvested by enslaved Africans in the West Indies - coffee.