CH. 4.3 ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE

And African Cooperation

BEGINNING AROUND 1500, EUROPEAN COLONISTS BEGAN ENSLAVING AFRICANS IN THE AMERICAS IN ORDER TO MEET THEIR GREAT DEMAND FOR LARGE NUMBERS OF CHEAP LABORERS."The veins of gold ore having been exhausted, the Blacks had to work in

sugar.” The woodcut depicts human-powered sugar mill and various phases of sugar manufacture at a very early period. Note, cauldron in left-hand corner for boiling the sugar, and the pots into which the unrefined sugar was placed.

SLAVERY IN AFRICA- HAD EXISTED FOR MANY YEARS BUT WAS NOT A MAJOR INSTITUTION. IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE 7TH CENTURY, WITH THE SPREAD OF ISLAM ACROSS AFRICA, THAT SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE INCREASED. Between 650 and 1600- black and white Muslims transported about 4.8 million Africans to the Muslim lands of Southwest Asia. These slaves had some legal rights and opportunities. Some served as generals in the army. Some owned large estates and slaves. Slaves could marry out of bondage. Slavery was not hereditary.

13th century slave market in Yemen

NATIVE AMERICANSIn 1492 Christopher Columbus, kidnapped 25 Native Americans to take back to Spain as slaves.

Columbus and other explorers used Native slaves and labor to finance there conquests of new lands.  Within the first decade, 3,000 to 6,000 Native American slaves were sent to Seville, Spain, for sale.

The Native Americans were also used as labor on the plantations and mines in the Americas but due to disease warfare, and enslavement, the populations decreased dramatically. By 1519, the Spanish nearly exhausted the population of Native Americans in Caribbean and had to begin importing African slaves.

INDIGENOUS AMERICANS DYING OF SMALLPOX

ADVANTAGES OF AFRICANS. A new labor force was required and Africa provided an unlimited supply of slaves to fill the job. Europeans saw several advantages to using Africans as their labor force:Many Africans had been exposed to various European diseases and had built up some immunity to them.

Many Africans had experience in farming and could be taught large-scale plantation work.

Africans had little knowledge of the land and had no familiar tribes in which to hide making them less likely to escape.

PUNISHMENTA front and profile view of an African's head, with the mouth-piece and necklace, the hooks round which are placed to prevent an escapee when pursued in the woods, and to hinder them from laying down the head to procure rest. The figure on the right has a flat iron which goes into the mouth, and so effectually keeps down the tongue so that nothing can be swallowed, not even the saliva, a passage for which is made through holes in the mouth-plate. On the lower right is an enlarged view of this mouth piece which "when long worn, becomes so heated as frequently to bring off the skin along with it." The lower left shows leg shackles used on the slave ships; also, "spurs used on some plantations in Antigua" (placed on the legs to prevent slaves from absconding).

"AN INTERIOR VIEW OF A JAMAICA HOUSE OF

CORRECTION"

 1834-1838, this illustration shows a man on left being flogged, in center at bottom, a woman has her hair cut off.

"NEGRES AU TRONCO"

(blacks in stocks) Three men with their feet in stocks, surrounded by their cooking utensils. The engraving was taken from a drawing made by Jean Baptiste Debret during his residence in Brazil from 1816 to 1831.

ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE Between 1500 and 1600, nearly 300,000 Africans were bought and sold for work in the Americas in the Atlantic slave trade. By the end of the Atlantic slave trade in 1870, 9.5 million Africans were imported to the Americas.

SPAIN IMPORTS SLAVESSpain had some slaves working the copper mines on Hispaniola but increased their need for slaves when they began to colonize the American mainland. By 1650, nearly 300,000 Africans labored in Spanish plantations and mines.

Early modern engraving showing slaves at

work in a silver mine in Peru.

PORTUGAL IMPORTS SLAVES Portugal’s colony in Brazil dominated the sugar market and the need for Africans to work their plantations surpassed any other European nation at the time. During the 17th century, more than 40% of Africans were brought to Brazil. By the time the slave trade ended, Brazil received more than 3.6 million Africans which was nearly 10 times the number of Africans who would arrive in North America.

35.4

22.1

17.7

14.14.44.4

Percentage of Slave Imports

BrazilSpanish EmpireBritish West IndiesFrench West IndiesBritish North AmericaDutch West Indies

The English soon began to dominate the slave trade with their growing demand for cheap labor in their American colonies. From 1690 until they abolished the slave trade in 1807, England had imported nearly 1.7 million Africans to their colonies in the West Indies. Only about 400,000 Africans were imported to Britain’s North American colonies. However, the slave population steadily grew to about 2 million by 1830 in the United States.

In 1787 the abolitionists recruited William Wilberforce (1759-1833), a brilliant young MP for Yorkshire, as their principal advocate in the House of Commons. A man of strong religious beliefs and a powerful speaker, he worked to push the Abolition Bill through parliament.Nevertheless, it was not until 1807, at the 14th attempt, that the Bill was passed, making participation in the slave trade illegal for British subjects.

Title page of; William Wilberforce. A letter on the abolition of the slave trade: addressed to the freeholders and other inhabitants of Yorkshire.

THE FORCED JOURNEY And African Cooperation

MANY AFRICAN RULERS AND MERCHANTS PLAYED A WILLING ROLE IN THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE. AFRICAN RULERS AND

MERCHANTS HAD BEEN SELLING AFRICANS AS SLAVES TO MUSLIMS FOR YEARS AND SAW LITTLE DIFFERENCE IN SELLING

THEM TO WESTERNERS. AFRICAN MERCHANTS, WITH THE HELP OF LOCAL RULERS, WOULD CAPTURE AFRICANS, ENSLAVE AND

THEN DELIVER THEM TO THE EUROPEANS WAITING IN THE PORTS ALONG THE WESTERN AND EASTERN COASTS OF AFRICA

IN EXCHANGE FOR GOLD, GUNS AND OTHER GOODS

.

Burning of a village in Africa and the capture of its inhabitants.

King Alfonso I – also known as King Mbemba a Nzinga of Congo (or the Kongo Empire) was a Christian ruler who worked closely with the Portuguese. In the beginning, King Alfonso participated in the profitable slave trade in the Congo. However, it was not long into his rule that he realized the devastating effect of enslavement on African societies.

1526- King Alfonso writes a letter to the king of Portugal protesting the capturing and enslavement of Africans. King Alfonso’s plea for help was unanswered and the slave trade continued to grow (luring many African rulers into continuing the practice.) African merchants developed new trade routes to get around local rulers who opposed the slave trade.

FORCED JOURNEY- THE TRIANGULAR TRADE- TRADE ROUTE WHICH TRANSPORTED AFRICANS TO THE AMERICAS.

Triangular trade route 1: 1. Europeans transported manufactured

goods to the west coast of Africa where they exchanged the goods for captured Africans..

2. Africans were then transported across the Atlantic Ocean and sold in the West Indies.

3. The money made from the sale of Africans was then used to buy sugar, coffee and tobacco and then sailed back to Europe to be sold.

Triangular trade route 2:1. Merchants carried rum and other goods

from New England colonies to Africa2. The merchandise was then exchanged

for captured Africans.3. Africans were then transported to the

West Indies where they were sold for sugar and molasses.

4. Sugar and molasses bought in the West Indies was then sold to rum producers in New England.

TRIANGULAR TRADE ROUTE 1

TRIANGULAR TRADE ROUTE 2

MIDDLE PASSAGE The voyage that brought captured Africans to the West Indies and later to North and South America. It was also called this because it was considered to be the middle leg of the triangular trade.

AFRICANS WERE PACKED INTO THE DARK HOLDS OF THE SHIPS. ON THESE SHIPS THE AFRICANS DIED OF EITHER SICKNESS OR CRUEL TREATMENT BY THE MERCHANTS.