Age of the Atlantic Slave Trade

• Africa still maintained links to the Muslim world but came increasingly pulled into the world of the West

• African culture blended with the cultures of those places slaves were brought to

• During this period Africa itself remained relatively free of outside political control

• The PortugueseEstablished forts/trading (factories) posts with

consent of local rulersAllowed Portuguese to penetrate existing

African interior trade routesEstablished inland trade contact/collection

points (lancados)Trade was primary basis of relations with

Africans but with trade came political, social, and religious relations

• The Kingdom of KongoMissionaries succeeded in converting the

royal family to Christianity – then general population

Portugal and Kongo exchanged ambassadorsKongo treated with rough equalityEventual enslavement of Kongo citizens led

Kongo king to attempt to end slave trade and limit Portuguese activities

• Further contacts with African tribes made as Portuguese made way down Africa’s coast

• Portuguese established settlement at Luanda (Angola)

• Portuguese outposts an attempt to control trade

• Slavery active on Christian-Muslim frontier

• Trade between Iberia and Africa through African states

• Trade expanded with introduction of sugar into Atlantic islands and later Brazil

• Demographics1450-1850: 12 million Africans shipped across

AtlanticOnly about 10-11 million actually arrivedSlave trade peaked in 18th centuryHigh volume due to slave mortality rates and

low fertility ratesException was United States. Why?

In total populations, slaves in American colonies never more than ¼ - in Caribbean, slaves 80-90 percent

Brazil received the most slaves – about 42 percent of all those who reached the New World due to high demand over longest period of time

• Demographic patternsTrans-Saharan slave trade mostly women and

children. Why?Atlantic slave trade mostly male. Why?How might these patterns impact African

demographics

• Control of the slave trade by Europeans reflected the political situation in Europe: slavery was led by Portugal as was exploration

• As power of Portuguese eclipsed so too was its control of slave trade

• As Britain became power in Europe it took over slave trade

• Slave trade had costs- Majority of Europeans died the first year outLess than 10 percent of employees of Royal Africa

Company returned to Britain

• The Process of slave trading Europeans often dealt

directly with local rulers- paid tax or offered gifts

Mulatto agents bought slaves at inland trade centers and transported slaves to coast

Both Europe and African states involved in trade – both sought slaving monopolies

• The economics of slaveryWas it profitable? One voyage might give a

profit of 300 percent. But counting risks and costs, trade gave about a 5-10 percent profit overall

Slave trade vital to plantations and mines of New World – therefore contributed to growth of European economies

Linked Africa to globalized trade networks – Triangular trade

• Slavery in AfricaSlavery an established institution before arrival of

foreign slaversSlavery used for labor and to extend lineageThe Sudanic states took on Islamic concepts of

slaveryEuropeans were able to tap into pre-existing slave

trade routesAfrican states happy to supply slaves in return for

European goodsAfrican states rarely sold their own people - rather

they sold captives from neighboring tribes

• Western African states gained power through contact with Europeans (middlemen such as Sudanic states)

• Use of gunpowder weapons allowed expansion against weaker neighbors

• Result was unending warfare and disruption of society

• African kingdoms based on slaveryAsante

• Linked Akan clans under central rule• Expanded through gunpowder – constant supply of prisoners

for slave tradeBenin

• Already a power upon arrival of Europeans• Initial trade excluded slaves – increasing European

pressures resulted in limited slave trade Dahomey

• Used gunpowder to expand territory and slave trade• Major slaving state

• East Africa and the SudanSwahili trade cities still involved in Indian

Ocean trade – adjusted to military presence of Portuguese and Ottomans

Slaves brought from interior – mostly traded to Middle East but smaller number to European plantations

Zanzibar and off-shore islands – plantations established by Swahili, Arabs, and Indian merchants

• Islam in AfricaBreak-up of Songhay created smaller states –

such as Hausa states - run by Muslim royal or aristocratic families

Emergence of Muslim reform movements Fulani expansion based on Sufi variant – took

control of Hausa statesBased new kingdom at Sokoto under a caliphSocial and political changes due to expanded

Islam under jihad – greater numbers of slaves

• 1652- Dutch colony at Cape of Good Hope established (VOC)

• Dependent on slave labor brought from SE Asia – later incorporated African peoples

• Colony expanded by Afrikaners (Boers)• Britain seized colony in 1795 • Chafing under British rule, Boers moved

north creating numerous autonomous Boer state

• The Zulus Unification of Nguni

peoples Shaka - military

reorganization based on lineage and age; new tactics; short thrusting spear; permanent institution

Shaka gained control by crushing royal families and opposition

Shaka assassinated but reforms left in place

Zulus most powerful African army

• Rise of Zulus and other Nguni chiefdoms brought about mfecane – wars of crushing and wandering

• Emergence of states based on Zulu model such as the Swazi

• Lesotho resisted Zulu model – defended against Nguni armies

• All of southern Africa in turmoil due to mfecane• Boers able to hold lands due to gunpowder• Zulus crushed by British in 1870’s

• Slave LivesForced march upon capture to trade towns or slave

pens on coast – as many as 1/3 died en routeVoyage to Americas (middle passage) saw losses as

high as 18 percentLosses also high on Muslim Saharan PassageConditions on ship led many to suicide or revoltSlaves arrived in Americas with African cultures intact

COT

Changes ContinuitiesRise of new slave trading kingdoms (Benin, Ife, Asante. Kongo) expansionistic through new gunpowder weaponryIntroduction of firearms, molasses and rumPortuguese coastal communities facilitated by Slave tradeBreak-down of families as slave trade required more males for labor intensive work in sugar plantations in new worldNew foodstuffs like manioc and sweet potatoes increase populationsPattern of European settlements in coasts and South Africa (Dutch Boers)Joint stock companies (VOC) invested in African tradeRise of Zulu in South AfricaIntroduction of Christianity to Kongo ( many converts)Diplomatic relations initially between Portuguese and KongoSlave trade led to unending warfare

Slavery persisted (controlled by Arabs from 8th-20th centuries)Swahili city0states still engaged in Indian Ocean tradeHigh mortality rate of slaveryAfrica still controlled by Africans (geography and diseases hindered interior expansion and still dominant African Empires)Islam still dominated life in AfricaAnimism still popular in AfricaAfrican culture remained intact (matrilineal, bride wealth, stateless societies, griots,, Bantu languages)Trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean Trade continued

Thesis

From 1450-1750 Africa was impacted by the new Trans-Atlantic slave trade ( great circuit, Middle Passage, African Diaspora) losing mostly male enslaved (appox 10-14 million) to engage in the intensive labor in the “new world” leading to the civil wars and destruction of many families, introducing new firearms for the development of dominant empires like the Kingdom of the Kongo, however, slavery would persist across the Sahara still dominated by Arab merchants.

• Africans in the AmericasUsed mostly as labor in mines and on

plantationsSlaves usually had experience in crop

production – skills used by plantation ownersSlavery gradually replaced indentured

servitude in American colonies due to costsUrban slaves worked as domestic servants,

artisans, and street vendors

• American Slave SocietiesSocieties differed as slaves mixed with various

European culturesSalt-Water slaves- African born; blackCreole slaves- American born; could be mulattoGeneral hierarchy with whites on top and slave son

bottom with free mixed races in-betweenCreole slaves usually had more opportunity for skilled

work, work in homes, and opportunity for manumission

Class lines based on color and differences of African groups (tribalism)

Many rebellions and mass-escapes organized along tribal lines

Total populations in Caribbean dominated by slaves; Brazil only about a 1/3 due to greater manumission

Despite difficulties, most slaves lived in family units

Slaves blended African religions with Christianity

Runaways constant problem• Runaway kingdom of Palmares• Jamaican maroons• Suriname maroons

• The End of SlaveryEnlightenment ideals + Christian revival +

Industrial Revolution = abolition of slaveryBritish slave trade abolished 1807 – British

navy used to suppress tradeSlavery truly ended in the Americas with

abolition in Brazil 1888