Key points slavery in Africa before the Atlantic trade

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• Early Portuguese trade on the west African coast Origins of European-controlled plantation slavery
• The African dimension Impact of the slave trade The trans-Atlantic trade
• The ‘triangular trade’ Slavery and the origins of racism Slavery in Africa before the Atlantic trade
• The trans-Saharan slave trade
• The origins of European maritime trade with west Africa
• Early Portuguese trade on the west African coast
• Origins of European-controlled plantation slavery
• Origins and development of the trans-Atlantic trade in slaves
• The nature of the slave trade The question of scale
• Impact of the slave trade
• The trans-Atlantic trade
• Plantations in the Americas and their demand for slave labour
• Profit from the slave trade: the European dimension The ‘triangular trade’
• Stage Two
• Slavery and the origins of racism

CHAPTER 12: THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE, SIXTEENTH TO EIGHTEENTH CENTURY KEY POINTS Slavery in Africa before the Atlantic trade The trans-Saharan slave trade The origins of European maritime trade with west Africa The aims of Portuguese initiatives Early Portuguese trade on the west African coast Origins of European-controlled plantation slavery Origins and development of the trans-Atlantic trade in slaves The nature of the slave trade The question of scale The African dimension Impact of the slave trade The trans-Atlantic trade Plantations in the Americas and their demand for slave labour Profit from the slave trade: the European dimension The ‘triangular trade’ Slavery and the origins of racism Slavery in Africa before the Atlantic trade Slavery has a very long history in Europe and Asia And in Africa: from Nubia to Ancient Egypt; from north east Africa to Persian Gulf; across the Sahara to Roman north Africa The trans-Saharan slave trade Slave labour in Saharan salt mines since ancient times Expansion of trans-Saharan trade with the Muslim penetration of north Africa and growth of Ghana North African Muslim merchants sought non-Muslims to enslave: hence demand for sub-Saharan Africans Scale: 8th-19th centuries: 5 million Africans transported across Sahara to be sold into slavery Same period, north-east Africa to western Asia: 2½ million Internal African slavery: mostly war captives: incorporated or ransomed back From 11th century, new factor: sale of captives Islamic rulers on southern fringes of Sahara conducted raids specifically to obtain captives. Trans-Saharan trade continued into twentieth century, but never on scale of trans-Atlantic trade The origins of European maritime trade with west Africa The aims of Portuguese initiatives Long-term objective: to reach India and bypass Muslim-controlled trade of western Asia Immediate objective: by-pass Muslim north Africa to reach west African gold This would provide wealth to fund exploration to India for trade in luxuries Early Portuguese trade on the west African coast 1470s: Portuguese ships reached coast south of Akan goldfields Built Elmina fort to protect from rival Europeans Traded European goods for gold Brought slaves from Benin to exchange for Akan gold Early 1500s added goods from Indian Ocean trade: cowrie shells, Indian luxury cloth Cowries became regular west African trading currency Half Akan’s gold diverted away from Songhay and south to Europeans at coast Origins of European-controlled plantation slavery 1480s: Portuguese occupied uninhabited Príncipe and São Tomé Developed sugar plantations with African slave labour Similar sugar plantations on Mediterranean islands: laboured by Slavs from southern Russia (hence, ‘slave’) Early 16th century: São Tomé largest producer of sugar for European market Provided the model for plantation slavery in Americas and Caribbean Origins and development of the trans-Atlantic trade in slaves Captives bought from local chiefdoms 15th – early 16th centuries: Senegambia captives to southern Spain and Portugal; Niger Delta and Congo to São Tomé From 1492: Americas and Caribbean: European colonisers decimated local population By end of 16th century 90% of Caribbeans wiped out European forced labour did not survive tropical conditions Africans: some immunity to tropical disease; experience in metal-working, mining and agriculture; plantation system already proved on São Tomé 1532: beginning of trans-Atlantic trade: numbers small at first 1630: Dutch, then English and French: rapid expansion of human traffic 1630s – 1830s: largest forced transportation of captive peoples in human history The nature of the slave trade The question of scale Historians dispute the scale and methods of measuring it [see ADDITIONAL DEBATE for Chapter 12, p.181] Statistically, in 300 years: 10 million landed alive and sold into slavery With 2 million dying on the voyage: at least 12 million taken out of Africa 17th century average: 20 000 a year 18th century: 50 000 – 100 000 a year 19th century decline in numbers, ending in 1870s and 80s With huge amount unrecorded, some argue numbers could be double the above The African dimension Huge regional variation in trade from African coastline: Senegal 16th century Angola, exceptionally, 16th – 19th century Mid 17th century: Dutch, French, English, Danes: ‘Slave Coast’ (western Nigeria) 18th century: most ports from Senegal to southern Angola Most European forts: ‘Gold Coast’ of modern Ghana 19th century: mostly ‘Slave Coast’ and Angola Europeans not usually active in capturing victims (Angolan exception) Even in Angola, direct intervention failed, but warfare deliberately stirred-up Generally Europeans confined to coast, paying local rulers for permission to stay Local African rulers provided captives; specialist African and Afro-European traders conveyed them to coast, where purchased by Europeans War captives, previously incorporated, now sold out of Africa, with no return Wars not usually fought just for captives Rise and fall of states produced captives as a by-product: Benin: 15th century expansion – captives for sale to Portuguese; 16th-17th century stability – no captives for sale; 18th century decline – renewed sale of captives 16th century: Mane colonisation of Sierra Leone highlands – local captives for sale 18th century rise of Futa Jalon – captives for sale on coast of Guinea 17th – 18th centuries: expansion of Oyo, Dahomey, Asante – rise in export of captives Rulers rarely sold from own society (except criminals and outcasts) Small village-based societies often victims of power neighbours, some disappearing altogether European presence at coast provided the stimulus for the trade, especially in 18th century when guns became their major trading item: they made warfare profitable Impact of the slave trade General increase in warfare Loss of productive labour for raided societies Loss of incorporated labour or source of ransom for the captors Sold for goods worth a fraction of a life’s production Demographic loss of mostly young population (14-35) Walter Rodney: slave trade = source of modern European industrial wealth and African poverty and underdevelopment: African became easy victim of 19th century colonisation and 20th century neo-colonialism The trans-Atlantic trade Callous disregard for human life Terrible degradation, suffering and shortened life People treated as property and traded like domestic livestock Marched in chains to coast: locked in cages or dungeons awaiting shipment Stripped naked for examination during coastal sales Packed onto shallow ‘decks’ on specially adapted ships: appalling conditions 15-30% died during voyage Despite ‘losses’, trade still profitable for shipping merchants and plantation owners Plantations in the Americas and their demand for slave labour Brazil: sugar and coffee; Caribbean: sugar; southern north America: tobacco and cotton Largest number of slaves to Caribbean: constant expansion of plantations and high death rate – underfeeding and overwork: one-third died in first 3 years, few survived 10 years Cheaper to import fresh slaves from Africa than allow them to rear their own children Jamaica: three-quarters of a million slaves imported over 200 years, but population only one-third of a million in 1834 (emancipation) Productive wealth of ‘New World’ built on African labour – those who profited most: European merchants Profit from the slave trade: the European dimension The ‘triangular trade’ Three-stage trade, with profit at each stage Stage One: cheap manufactured goods from Europe to west Africa (18th century: substandard guns specially manufactured for ‘Africa trade’ in British city of Birmingham) 1780s increasing European competition enabled African traders to demand higher prices for slaves – European merchants began to question trade’s continued profitability Stage Two: slaves sold for several times their cost in Africa Directly bartered or money from cash sales used to buy plantation crops Stage Three: Return to Europe with plantation crops and a profit realised on each stage of the voyage Profits from this trade account for rising wealth of port cities: Bristol and Liverpool (Britain); Bordeaux and Nantes (France); Amsterdam (Holland) Slavery and the origins of racism Roots of racism: deep and complex European enslavement of Africans definitely part of this For 300 years Europeans viewed Africans primarily as slaves They claimed the slave trade ‘rescued’ them from ‘barbarity’ Africans thus viewed as ‘inferior’ Thus later colonisation claimed to be spreading ‘civilisation’ © Kevin Shillington, 2012 Directory: resources -> CW%20resources%20(by%20Author) resources -> Request for proposal contract form for the transit industry resources -> Request for Proposal [insert date] resources -> The University of York 13th 16th April 2004 resources -> Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program Community Education Initiative resources -> Region III standing regional response team (rrt) meeting williamsburg, Virginia Thursday, January 12, 2012 resources -> Efca eastern District and TouchGlobal, the crisis response ministry of efca CW%20resources%20(by%20Author) -> Chapter 12: the atlantic slave trade, sixteenth to eighteenth century synopsis CW%20resources%20(by%20Author) -> Chapter 13 Summary CW%20resources%20(by%20Author) -> Chapter 10: Ecology and climate change CW%20resources%20(by%20Author) -> Remembering through structures In chapter 21 of Download 25.58 Kb. 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