L/D "The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Systems" ap world History
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L/D “The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Systems” Lecture/Discussion Notes “The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Systems” The Atlantic Slave Trade The Portuguese Begin 1480’s Portuguese begin to establish “factories” along the Atlantic African coast forts and trading posts Most important El Mina (1482) in the heart of the gold-producing region in what is today the country of Ghana. Forts allowed the Portuguese to exercise control with only a few personnel Established with the consent of the local rulers who benefited from European goods Goods Africans acquired included slaves from other regions In return the Portuguese received ivory, pepper, animals skins and gold These forts allowed the Portuguese to penetrate into the interior and then to existing African trade routes Missionary effort were also made by the Portuguese to convert rulers of such kingdoms such as Benin and Kongo By the 1570’s with the founding of Luanda, the Portuguese began to try to dominate the existing trade systems of not only the Atlantic coast but also the Indian Ocean trade routes secured bases in such places as Kilwa and Mombassa Portuguese effort primarily commercial, military and religious By 1550 Portugal’s major interest in gold, pepper and gold was supplanted by slave trade First slaves arrived in Portugal in 1441 but over the years even though the Portuguese and other Europeans raided for slaves the numbers were small. What gave impetus to the slave trade was the sugar plantations the Portuguese and Spanish began to develop on the islands of Madeira and the Canaries sugar plantations demanded a great number of workers The slave trade grew significantly in volume after 1550 as the American plantation colonies, especially Brazil began to develop 1600 slave dominated all other types of commerce Expansion of the Slave Trade 1450 to 1850 12 million Africans shipped across the Atlantic (less than 2 percent of the Africans went to Europe and most of those went to Portugal) Mortality rate was up to 20 percent, so actually 10 to 11 million actually arrived 18th century the great age of the Atlantic slave trade - 7 million (80 percent) were exported between 1700 to 1800 High volume necessary because the Caribbean Latin America slave mortality was high and fertility was low (more men then women) Only way to maintain or expand the number of slaves was importation Exception southern American colonies where the population actually grew Southern colonies depended more on natural growth than trade Dimensions of trade 1530 – 1650 Spanish America and Brazil received the majority After the English and French began to grow sugar in the Caribbean; Jamaica, Barbados and Haiti became important terminals Brazil alone received 5 million Africans from 1550 to 1850 (42 percent) The older trans-Saharan, Red Sea and east African slave trade also continued mainly in the hands of Muslim traders and added another 3 million people Where were they coming from? 16th century mainly from Senegambia region of West Africa By 17th century west central Africa (Angola and Congo) By 18th century, Gold Coast and the Slave Coast (Benin) added Demographic Patterns Unlike the trans-Saharan slave trade which concentrated on women (concubines and domestic servants) the Atlantic slave trade concentrated on men seeking workers for heavy labor African societies that sold the captives to the Europeans preferred to sell the men and keep the women and children Estimated that in 1850 that the west and central African population was at 25 million one half what it would have been if the Atlantic slave trade had not existed The captive women and children who remain in Africa swelled the numbers of enslaved people in Africa as well as skewed the proportion of women to men Organization of Trade Until 1630 the Portuguese controlled most of the coastal slave trade But the growth of plantations in the Caribbean and elsewhere led other Europeans to compete Dutch major competitors when they seized El Mina in 1637 to supply their conquests in northeast Brazil Dutch West India Company private trading company whose investors expected the company’s profits to cover its expenses and pay them dividends 1635 controlled 1000 miles of northeast Brazil Improved the efficiency of the sugar plantations Needed more slaves 1637 seized El Mina from the Portuguese as well as the port of Luanda in 1641 1660’s English chartered the Royal African Company to supply their colonies in Barbados, Jamaica, and Virginia by 1713 England was the leading slave-trading nation Not until 1700’s did the French became a major carrier Spain had no great stake in the slave trade Imported over a million and half, which was only a fraction of the slaves sold Spanish colonies’ economies centered around ranches not plantations East nation established merchant towns or trade forts on the African coast European agents often dealt directly with local rulers, paying a tax or offering gifts Various forms of currency iron bars, brass rings, cowrie shells Slaves brought to the coast by various means European military campaigns African and mulatto agents purchased captives at interior trade centers Profitability Many people profited including African rulers and traders A single slaving voyage might make a profit of as much as 300 percent But because of risks and costs, in the long run slave trade profits were more likely 5 to 10 percent by 17000 Great Circuit or Triangular Trade Slaves were carried to Americas Sugar, tobacco, and other goods were then carried to Europe European products especially cotton sent to African coast and traded for slaves as well as gold, timber Cycled repeated itself According to your book, “triangular trade” from New England rum to West Africa, slaves to the West Indies and molasses and rum back to New England Sugar and Slavery Brazil and Sugar 17th century Brazil was the world’s leading sugar producer the first great plantation colony Reason for this growth Europe had acquired a great sweet tooth Sugar plantations demanded large amounts of capital and large quantities of labor Slave did most of the work By the end of the 17th century, Brazil had over 150,000 African slaves (50 percent of the population) Brazil’s social hierarchy The white planter families the aristocracy linked by marriage to merchants and the few Portuguese bureaucrats and officials Poor whites farmers and laborers Mixed races caused by miscegenation between whites, Indians, and Africans artisans, small farmers, herders and free laborers Freed Indians and Africans Bottom slave thought of as property Catholic missionaries especially the Jesuits ran extensive cattle ranches and sugar mills to support the construction of churches and schools in Brazil Barbados – Dramatic Transformation 1640 Barbados economy was dependent on tobacco By 1680’s sugar became the colony’s principal crop Three more times the number of Africans in less than 40 years – Why? Many preferred indentured servants because they cost half as much as African slaves Poor European men and women hoped to acquire their own land at the end of their service but the price of land was so high they could not afford to buy land Chose to indenture themselves in mainland North American colonies Rather than raise wages, Caribbean sugar planters used African slaves Became England’s wealthiest and most populous colony in the Americas by 1700 Environmental Effects of Sugar Plantations More profitable to clear new lands when yields declined in the old fields moved to new islands resulting in soil erosion Deforestation by the 1800 only the land in the interior of the islands had dense forests All the domesticated animals and cultivated plants in the Caribbean, especially were ones brought in by Europeans crowding out native species Wiping out of the Amerindians The African Diaspora – Largest in the History of the World Slave lives Slavery meant the destruction of their villages and their capture in war, separation from family and friends and then forced to march to an interior trading town or slave pens on the coast Conditions deadly - one-third of the captives died along the way or in the slave pens Slave were loaded onto specially modified or built ships, as many as 700 crowded into a dank, unsanitary conditions of the hold Average mortality rate on the ship 18 to 20 percent To make a profit the slave traders had to buy the slaves in Africa for less than the cost of the goods they traded in return and had to deliver as many healthy slaves as possible 1510 a watershed year for slavery first time slaves were shipped to the Americas FOR general sale Prior to this slave were shipped to a particular destination or a particular owner From this date forward, shipped to auctioneers who resold them to the highest bidder Chattel Slavery a slave was considered to have no more value than any other object The Middle Passage The slave voyage to the Americas six to ten weeks Traumatic Men confined below deck during most of the voyage shackled to one another and so closely packed that it was almost impossible to shift position Special netting rigged around the outside of the ship Dangers of poor hygiene, dysentery, other diseases like smallpox, dehydration, “fixed melancholy”, and bad treatment Many committed suicide Some mutinied or rebelled Africans in America Mainly lived on plantations (plantocracy) and mines Landed estates (plantations) using large amounts of labor became the characteristic of American agriculture first in sugar the later for rice, cotton and tobacco West Africans coming from societies in which herding, metallurgy, and intensive agriculture were widely practiced and were sought by the Europeans for the specialized tasks of making sugar. Africans were used for gold mining in Brazil and in the silver mines of Mexico Urban slavery artisans, street vendors and household servants Artisans were very important especially the “head boiler” American Slave Societies Each American slave-based society reflected the variations of its European origin and its African cultures There were certain similarities and common features Each recognized distinctions between African born salt water slaves who African and their American born descendents, the Creole slaves, some of whom were mulattos Free people of color were in the middle of society between the whites and the slaves Among the slaves hierarchy was based on origin and color 70 percent worked in the fields mainly the “salt water slaves” “great gang” the strongest slaves in the prime of their lives doing the heaviest work “grass gang” children doing light work like weeding Creoles and especially mulattos were given more opportunities for skilled jobs or to be house servants (about 2 per cent) They were more likely to win their freedom by manumission voluntary freeing of slaves Problems faced by the African slaves Exhausting working conditions up to 18 hours a day during cane harvest A planter on a Caribbean island in 1798 recorded that 25 percent of the African slave brought to his plantation died within three weeks Heat prostration a major problem Feat prompted work in order to escape the punishment of the “driver” Those who fell behind due to fatigue or illness whipped Openly rebellious slaves flogging, confinement in irons, or mutilation All worked except the disabled or old Family formation was difficult mainly because of the shortage of women slaves Insecurity of slave status family members might be separated by sale of by a master’s whim Slave marriages were not recognized by law Still, most slaves lived in family units which helped to preserve their language, religion, arts Some slaveholders tried to mix up the slave on their plantations so that strong African identities would be lost, forbade the speaking of African languages, the use of African names and the performance of African music What emerged a dynamic and creative Afro-American culture that reflected African roots adapted to a new reality Religion African slaves were converted to Catholicism but the African religious ideas and practices did not die out Many accused of witchcraft by the Inquisition In English colonies, African religious practices were known as obeah; and in Haiti as vodun Many Africans held their new Christian beliefs and their African beliefs Sunday was not a day of rest however, had to farm their own gardens, and do other personal chores; also main market day for slaves No time for schooling Life expectancy was 23 for males and 25 ½ for females due to poor nutrition, disease and hard work Major diseases dysentery, malaria and yaws High mortality rate added to the volume of the Atlantic slave trade Resistance and rebellion were not uncommon Communities of runaway slaves formed throughout the Americas In the 17th century Brazil, Palmares an enormous runaway slave kingdom and population of 10,000 resisted Portuguese and the Dutch for over 100 years Most remarkable story of resistance Suriname Large numbers of slaves ran off in the 18th century and mounted a perpetual war in the rainforest Truce developed Directory: userfiles userfiles -> Class Schedule Credit Class Schedule userfiles -> Recovery: What's a Coach Got To Do With It? 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