Transatlantic Slave Trade
(15th – 19th century)
“It takes more than a horrifying transatlantic voyage chained
in the filthy hold of a slave ship to erase someone’s culture”
- Maya Angelou
Kevin Lu
Period 5
1.
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2.
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Origins of Slave Trade
• Portugal: first to heavily
import African slaves, their
advantage: ship building
• Cause for slave trade =
economic-driven era
• mercantilism economy theory
set the stage for slavery
• based on the definition
"country's wealth depends on
capital (gold)“ (Chambers 543)
• slave = labor for raw goods =>
sell for capital in Europe
Destination of
most slaves
http://www.history.org/History/teaching/eft/slavetrades
ample/images/SlaveTrade_SampleLesson.pdf
Sugar plantation
Origins continued.
• Exploration => discovery of abundant
riches of West Indies, need labor for
profitable, but laborintensive sugar plantations in the
Caribbean and Brazil
• Symbiotic relationship with
Industrial Revolution
• ~12 million slaves arrive
in New World
Process of Indigo Dye
Triangular Trade
Triangular Trade – European manufactured goods like guns, gunpowder,
glass, textiles traded for slaves => slaves sent to West Indies => in return
raw goods like sugar, cotton, rice, coffee, tobacco sent to Europe
Middle Passage
•
•
Dangerous Middle Passage
- journey in which slaves were captured and loaded onto ships to travel
across the Atlantic Ocean
Crampled conditions
• Brutal conditions:
– unhygienic
– overcrowded
– disease
– force-fed
Slave Action Ad
– lack of water
– forced to “dance” to stay agile
– death was common
• Arrival in Americas: covered in grease so that they looked healthy and
more valuable at auctions, branded as possessions
• Seasoning - “breaking” or “conditioning” slaves for new life of labor
Language and Culture
• New
loss
of identity
Slavename,
trader’s
ledger
and real communication with others
Daily Life
• resistance, preservation of African language on the plantation to
organize together - subculture
Excerpts
•
From Slave Olaudah Equiano’s narrative (The Interesting Narrative of the Life of
Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African) 1789 (Click here to read whole narrative):
“The noise and clamor with which this is attended, and the eagerness
visible in the countenances of the buyers, serve not a little to increase
the apprehension of terrified Africans... In this manner, without
scruple, are relations and friends separated, most of them never to see
each other again.”
•
From An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa by
Alexander Falconbridge, a surgeon on slave ships (1788)
“ Upon the Negroes refusing to take sustenance, I have seen coals of fire,
glowing hot, put on a shovel and placed so near their lips as to scorch and
burn them. And this has been accompanied with threats of forcing them
to swallow the coals if they any longer persisted in refusing to eat.
These means have generally had the desired effect. I have also been
credibly informed that a certain captain in the slave- trade, poured
melted lead on such of his Negroes as obstinately refused their food. . .
”
A Landmark Case
recognizing slaves
as humans
Zong slave ship court case, 1781
- London ship navigates to wrong shore
- Not enough resources for the
overcrowded ship.
- Crew throws 132 alive slaves into
ocean believing that since the slaves
were property, they could claim
insurance.
Former slave Equiano found out and
alerted Quaker abolitionists. Case goes
to court. Court first says it is allowed
to kill “animals” for the safety of the
ship, equating Africans to being animals.
Eventually, landmark decision concluded
that the Africans were people. (Zong)
Read some more
landmark cases
Europe’s Role
part of 1713 Treaty of Urecht
with Great Britain gives Britain
How and why did slavefulltrade
start?
control over
slave trade to
Spanish colonies,
later, in 1748,
th century)
• Portugal and Spain (15-16
part of Treaty of Aix-laChapelle
(1748)- renew
Asiento coast
– Prince Henry the Navigator
explored
contract with Spain
•
•
of West Africa by 1460,
since North Africa was already occupied by Muslims
Gold, but found profit in slaves
– Initially sought
– Spanish Asiento give permission for Great Britain to sell slaves to
Spanish colonies
Dutch (17th century)
– Dutch West India Company controls richest sugar crops in Brazil
– Copper trade
French and English (late 17th-18th century)
– Captain John Hawkins, under the rule of Queen Elizabeth I, heads
first English slave ship voyage in 1562
– first British settlement in Jamestown, Virginia 1607
– France founds Quebec in 1608
– initially, only British government can transport slaves through Royal
African Company, this changes in 1698 so rich can take advantage of
this profitable trade – eventually known as capitalism (Alcott)
Impact in Europe
Background: The Slave Ship by
JWM Turner (1840)
-Humans are powerless to the
storm and sea monsters
(government)
-Speaks out against the exploitation
of slavery, the redness of the
sunset symbolizes blood
Economic
• Eventually jumpstarts Industrial Revolution with the profits
made by sugar and other investments – advancement of
technology
• Cotton as raw material in textile production => employment
=> shift in roles, women go to work => stimulate need for
transportation => railroads
• 2nd half of 18th century, British wonder about the morality of
this slave trade and religious groups of Quakers and
Methodists began to organize and spread abolitionist
messages
• Wealthy port cities, like Liverpool, UK develop
The Slave Ship, http://personalpedia.wordpress.com/
Africa’s Role
Locations of most
Slavery
existed
slave has
trading
Portugal makes contact with
Kingdom of Kongo, converts
King to Christianity, gains
times footing in Africa
–
since ancient
– Global scale with growth of European colonial
expansion and demand for supply of slaves
– European traders rarely go inland for fear of disease
and unknown territory=>they trade along the coast
– Civil war and hostile rivalries within Africa led
Africans to capture and sell other Africans to
European slave traders in return for to trade for
goods like guns, gunpowder, textile, glass, iron
(M'Bokolo)
– Become involved in slave raid (immediate profit
return) instead of build powerful states which require
time and greater cost (roads, border security,
government system) (M’Bokolo)
– King Gezo (1840)
“The slave trade is the ruling principle of my people.
It is the source and the glory of their wealth... the
mother lulls the child to sleep with notes of triumph
over
Slaves
beingan enemy reduced to slavery...” (BBC)
transported in Africa
Impact in Africa
• Difficult to assess due to lack of statistic evidence
• Demographic shifts, uneven ratio of men to women and
population declines (Rubenstein 253)
• Conflict among coastal regions who want to control trade
leads to internal war
• Lack of agricultural and artisan development, instead
there is focus solely on slave trade
• People afraid of getting captured, mistrust and fear =>
ethnic stratification (Whatley)
• Rich kings and African slave traders => unstable,
unbalanced wealth
• Small, divided states
• Loss of contact with outside world – insulation, economic
stagnation, weak political structure
Slave forts along the
coast
The New World’s Role
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
First slaves arrive on Hispaniola in 1502 on Cuba, then
Jamaica, South Carolina, Virginia, Colombia
Arrival of Europeans in New World brought diseases
that reduced the native population drastically
Only 5% of slaves go to North America, rest go to Brazil
and Caribbean (West Indies)
Black slaves fulfill labor force on the plantation
“Plantation economy” produces huge number of cash
crops like cotton, sugar, tobacco=> more slaves than
European settlers ("Africa and the Transatlantic Slave
Trade")
practice chattel slavery which means that slave status
was passed down to descendants, society revolve around
mass export of commodities
- vs. lineage slavery in Africa, descendants may not
share the same status, slaves were given tasks that free
people did not want to do, not laborious manual labor for
the singular goal of maximizing profit
Impact on the New World
United States
1. Gabriel’s Rebellion
(1800), Vesey
Conspiracy (1822), and
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
(1831)
Click here to learn more
about the rebellions
2.
Frederick Douglass aids
abolition movement, Civil
War, culminates in
Emancipation
Proclamation (1863)
1
Click on
Thumbnails to
Learn More
3
South America
3. Simon Bolivar – 1826
liberate South America
4. Brazil Emancipation (1888)
(Chambers 776)
4
http://www.co.henrico.va.us/about-henrico/imgs/852.gif
http://repeatingislands.com/2011/12/17/the-dual-legacies-of-bermudas-denmark-vesey
http://www.biography.com/imported/images/Biography/Images/Profiles/B/Simon-Bolivar-241196-1-402.jpg
http://public.gettysburg.edu/~tshannon/hist106web/site20/brazil.htm
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Nat_Turner_captured.jpg/250pxNat_Turner_captured.jpg
* Box shows New
World
Influence of Religion
Africa
• Before slavery: variety of religious, spiritual
beliefs
• By 15th century, Portuguese missionaries
spread Christian beliefs in Africa
Americas
• Spanish government promise fugitive slaves
freedom if they came to Florida and converted
(Muhammad)
• British slaveholders were afraid that Christianity
would result in slaves demanding freedom
(Muhammad)
• Colonies then passed laws that said conversion
did not change their slave status
• Great Awakening spread messages like
"individual freedom" and "direct channel with
God" (same "one god" belief as those of African
religions), concept of heaven, with Baptist and
Methodist churches
Founder of Methodist
Church, John Wesley
opposed slavery, published
Thoughts on Slavery in
1774
Learn More
Influence of Religion
continued…
Americas
• Appealing to slave through similar actions of dancing, call-andresponse (ring shout) singing; missionaries say slaves would bond
through a common religion, "social control“ (Muhammad)
• Several slave rebellions happen => plantation owners fear religion
is cause behind these insurrections, restrict blacks from meeting,
tear down churches (Muhammad)
Americas and Europe
• use Bible to justify slavery – “bring civilization” Learn More
Abolition Movement
• driven by many reasons, including beliefs spread by Methodist and
Quakers, former slave autobiographies, awareness of
inhumanity, French/American revolution
Click here to learn more about slavery and religion
Notable Figures
Toussaint L’Ourverture
- leader of successful 13-year
slave rebellion in SaintDomingue on the island of
Hispanola, gaining
independence from France in
1804
- influence from the French
Revolution taking place
overseas Click here to learn
- grand-scale influence: Haiti
become a refuge for slaves
escaping from Jamaica, inspires
Simon Bolivar to fight for
Venezuela's independence,
inspires enslaved blacks in
United States to revolt
William Wilberforce
• member of British
Parliament
• dedicated to the abolition
of slavery
• 1807 – 263 to 16 vote in
favor of abolishing
transatlantic slave
Decline of Slave Trade
http://faculty.goucher.edu/mbell/
Master_of_the_Crossroads/Tlouv1.jpg
• Olaudah Equiano (1745 – 1797) – slave who
bough his freedom after 21 years,
“God Almighty has set before me
involved in the British abolition movement
great
objects,
the–
• Haitian Rebelliontwo
at Saint
Domingue
of 1791
abolish slavery,
gain independence,
ledslave
by
suppression
of the
trade
Toussaint L’Ourverture (Chambers 598-600)
andAct
the1807
reformation
oftrade,
• British Slave Trade
– abolishes slave
but not slavery.
manners.”
– Began with growing Christian duty, spread by new forms of
Protestantism,
such asWilberforce,
Quakerism to free1759
the “oppressed
-William
savage” (Rubenstein 267)
– Led by politicians William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson
• Treaty of Paris 1814 – includes agreement to end slave trade in
5 years, in 1814 Dutch outlaw slave trade too
• La Amistad (1839) – slave-led mutiny on ship from Sierra Leone
to Cuba => end up in U.S. court case, United States v. La Amistad,
survivors return to Africa in 1842
Legacy
Africa
• Lack of common language and
religion
• Tension between state borders
caused by ethnic differences and
unequal levels of wealth
“Point of No Return” Door, Goree
Senegal – slaves exit
• poverty due to lack of Island,
homeland through this door
industrial/economic growth
Click to Learn More
because younger generation
is
sold into slavery
Infamous Elmira Castle, Ghana –
Americas
slave trading outpost
• Forever
alters history => racism
Click to Learn More
• key issue in American politics –
leading to many arguments
between North and South states
• Modern day: African Diaspora –
African Americans visit West
Africa, research their collective
history (inspire TV series: Roots)
Quiz
1.
Most important West
Indian cash crop?
a) sugar
b) gold
c) tobacco
d) rice
e) Coffee
2. African slaves were
converted to:
a) Witchcraft
b) Laissez-faire
c) Quakerism
d) Christianity
e) Islam
3. First country to begin
contact with Africa?
a) Italy
b) Britain
c) Portugal
d) Spain
e) France
5. Which was the destination
for the most slaves?
a) Barbados
b) New England colonies
c) Mexico
d) Brazil
e) Netherlands
6. Most of the slaves in the
New World came from:
a) West Africa
b) Natives
c) Prisoner of war
d) North Africa
e) East Africa
7. The Middle Passage refers
to:
a) Slave rebellion in Sierra
Leone
b) Transportation of slaves
from selling block to
plantations
c) Introduction of Christianity
to slaves
d) Slave capture in Africa
e) Voyage across the Atlantic
Ocean from Africa to
America
8. The ever-growing demand for
sugar was dependent on:
a) Stable British government
b) Indentured servants from
Western Europe
c) New agricultural technologies
d) Rise of mercantilism
e) Slave labor
9. Which was not part of the
triangular trade?
a) Transportation of West Indies
natives to Europe
b) European export of
manufactured goods to
Africa
c) Shipment of sugar, rice,
tobacco to Europe
d) Ship slaves to New World
e) All of the above are correct
1)A,
(Answers
2)D, 3)C,
will4)D,
show5)A,
up
7)E,
here
8)E,
on 9)A
next click)
Extra Links (Click on image)
• Transatlantic slave trade and abolition
• Very good PBS resource– broken in 4 time
periods from 1450 to 1865
• Lots of good resources at the end of this
page – pictures of slave forts, pamphlets
related to the slave trade, autobiographies
of slaves
http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/2-battleground/detail/almanac.html
http://consortiumnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/PBS_logo.jpg
http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Am_I_not_a_man-276x300.jpg
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