Chapter 21 Outline – Africa and Africans in the Age of the Atlantic Slave Trade
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Coast
IV. The Early Modern Era
F. Africa and Africans in the Age of the Atlantic Slave Trade
1. The Atlantic Slave Trade
- Portuguese were 1st Europeans to visit and exploit Africa (began in 1400s)
 Portuguese set up forts along coast of Africa for trade, allowed them to control trade without
needing many Portuguese people there (ex: El Mina = most important of early Portuguese
trading forts, established 1482 in West African forest region in heart of gold producing region)
 Portugal allied w/local rulers who allowed forts in return for Portuguese products and protection
- Portuguese found existing African trade routes and got involved in them (ex: Mali and Songhay)
 Portuguese liked trading with Gold Coast (specifically kingdom of Benin)
 Portuguese tried converting rulers to Christianity
 Nzinga Mvemba (1507-1543) = Ruler of Kongo, Portuguese converted him and entire kingdom,
but Mvemba eventually tried to limit Portuguese control (b/c of slave trade) but Portugal
remained dominant over Kongo
 Luanda = Portuguese trade fort south of Kongo, start of Portuguese control of Angola
- Portugal interested in Africa for gold, pepper, and other resources, but also slavery
 Portuguese began importing slaves from Africa in 1400s
 Europeans mostly got slaves by trading for them from local African rulers
- Slave trade expanded greatly when Spain and Portugal established sugar plantations on islands they
owned in the Atlantic and then in America
 By 1600, the major form of commerce in Africa was the slave trade
a. Trend Toward Expansion
- From 1450 to 1850, 12 million Africans shipped across Atlantic to Americas as slaves
 Needed a lot of slaves b/c so many died and low birth rates (not as many women brought in)
 42% of all slaves went to Brazil (largest of any area in the Americas)
b. Demographic Patterns
- Most slaves shipped across Atlantic were men (planters in America wanted men to do work)
 African societies lacked men, and populations were lower than they would have w/no slave trade
 New foods from the Americas (like maize) introduced to Africa through slave trade
c. Organization of the Trade
- Early on, Portugal controlled slave trade, but after 1630, other Europeans got involved
 Dutch, British and French got involved
 The British began the Royal African Company to run their slave trade
- Europeans set up trade forts along coast and allied with local rulers (gave gifts in return for slaves)
 Men more valued as slaves than women and children (Spanish called the men Indies pieces)
- Slavery was important to European economy – slaves used on plantations in their colonies
 Triangular Trade = Trade that linked Africa, America, and Europe (slaves to America; sugar,
tobacco to Europe; European goods sent to Africa)
 Slave trade helped contribute to the growth of capitalism (people profited off the trade)
2. African Societies, Slavery, and the Slave Trade
- Slavery existed in Africa before the Europeans, but intensified and expanded when Europeans arrived
 Africans enslaved many women, and rulers had large harems, reducing status of women
- Europeans able to gain slaves quickly b/c they were able to control already existing slave trade routes
 African rulers of large, centralized states enslaved their neighbors, and traded them to Europeans
a. Slaving and African Politics
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Europeans set up forts along coast of Africa to trade slaves, preventing African coastal states from
dominating the slave trade
 African states just inside the coast benefited the most – they got access to European goods
(especially firearms) and then went to interior of Africa to capture slaves and sell them
 As result of slave trade, constant wars occurred in Africa as these states competed to gain slaves
b. Asante and Dahomey
- Asante and Dahomey = Empire on Gold Coast of Africa, rose to power through slave trade - defeated
neighbors and sold them as slaves to Europeans in return for guns, which they used to get more slaves
 African societies creative in the arts (bronze-casting, woodcarving, and weaving flourished)
 Best artisans worked for the rulers, and their art honored the rulers, and had religious overtones
c. East Africa and the Sudan
- East coast of Africa (Swahili Coast) was not as much affected by trans-Atlantic slave trade, and states
continued commerce in Indian Ocean, though now Portuguese and Ottomans involved
 Majority of slaves from east coast sent to Arabia and Middle East
- Along the northern savanna of Africa, a movement to spread Islam occurred (beginning in 1770s)
 Fulani = pastoral people of western Sudan who established an Islamic state
3. White Settlers and Africans in Southern Africa
- Dutch East India Company established colony at Cape of Good Hope in 1652 (called Cape Colony)
 Dutch settlers (known as Boers or Afrikaners) began building large plantations using slave labor
 The Boers began expanding further north, taking them in contact with the Bantu people
- Around this time (1815), the British gained controlled of the Cape Colony from the Dutch, and they
tried to stop the fights between the Boers and the African people
 In 1834, the British outlawed slavery and made restrictions on amount of land Boers could have
 Great Trek (1834) = Boers responded to British policies by moving further north, but that took
them into a region where the Bantu peoples were having deadly civil wars
a. The Mfecane and the Zulu Rise to Power
 Kingdom of Zulu, led by Shaka, emerged as the most powerful state in southern Africa, and the
Zulu expanded and captured much land (these wars of expansion were known as the Mfecane)
- Southern Africa was in great turmoil as Africans were fighting off Zulu expansion, and the Boers
(Dutch settler), with their superior weapons, continued to control much land
4. The African Diaspora
- Africa was drawn into world economy through the slave trade
 Africa imported European firearms, Indian textiles, and American tobacco, in return for gold,
ivory, and slaves
a. Slave Lives
- Slave conditions were brutal, and 1/3 of slaves died along the way to wherever they were being sent
 Middle Passage = slave voyage from Africa to America in horrible conditions, although
Africans kept their culture (languages, beliefs, art) and brought it to America
b. Africans in America
- Most slaves were brought to the Americas to work on plantations, though performed other labor also
c. American Slave Societies
- American slaves each had a distinct culture based on where they came from in Africa, though had
many similarities
 2 groups of slaves emerged: Salt water slaves (African born) and Creole slaves (American born)
 Social hierarchy based on race: whites at top and lighter skinned slaves higher than dark skinned
- In the Caribbean, African slaves made up the majority of the population (Indians had died out , not
many Europeans settled there, and mortality rates high, so many slaves African born)
 The southern colonies in North America differed, and had mostly American born slaves (Creoles)
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d. The People and Gods in Exile
- Africans brought in as slaves to the Americas faced many problems
 Work conditions were exhausting and most had short life span
 Forming families was difficult b/c not many women slaves, and families could be separated
- Africans brought to America kept much of their culture, while adapting to their new surroundings
 Converted to Christianity, but kept their old religious ideas and practices too
- There were many examples of slave resistance and rebellions in the Americas
 Palmares = kingdom formed by runaway slaves in Brazil in the 1600s (lasted about 100 years)
 Suriname = Former Dutch colony in South America where runaway slaves were able to maintain
independence and crush all those sent to capture them
e. Africa and the End of the Slave Trade
- The end of the Atlantic slave trade came b/c of changes in Europe and the Americas
 England played big role in ending the slave trade, ending the British slave trade in 1807, and
pressuring other nations to do the same
 Full end to slavery in the Americas came in 1888 when Brazil abolished slavery
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