History Unit 2Assess the impact of the Atlantic Slave

trade on West Africa up to 1800.

“…Coffee, chocolate and tea- All had a naturally bitter taste. What made them palatable to Europeans was the addition of sugar. Without (Slavery) there would have been no sugar…”

James Walvin

The Atlantic slave trade or the transatlantic slave trade, according to the free dictionary.com, was “ the business of trading in slaves or the trafficing of slaves”.

How did the Atlantic slave trade affect Africa ?

Africa was affected Socially, Politically and Economically during the Atlantic Slave Trade.

Effects: Socially Increased insecurity, distrust and high

level of conflicts among African groups accured as the Africans were capturing and selling their own people into slavery to meet the Europeans demand for slaves.

Language: the language of many African tribes were mixed with European language thereby forming new languages. One such language is the Swahili.(Warshaw, 1986)

Cont.

Cultural Erasure: the loss of their cultural beliefs or practices over a period of time. (Mohammad 2004)

Cultural Diversity:

Cultural Retention:

Culture Renewal: Hybridization:

Effect: Politically Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade contributed to

the instability as well as the expansion of politics in Africa.

There was the distribution of ammunition in Central and West Africa which helped with the military and political supremacy of tribes in Africa.

Political Alliances were betrayed between slave traders and African leaders. These Alliances enabled the rulers to establish authority over their counterparts.

Monarchs/African Kingdoms were destroyed and Africans were kidnapped during the raids of European slave traders and Africans.

Many tribes became extinct as they were burnt to the ground destroying flourishing cities of trade such as Kilwa and the Swahili cities.

Cont.

Some kings prospered, and entire kingdoms developed around the Slave Trade.

Effect: Economically The trade had a negative impact on the economic

development, as Africa was being robbed of its most important resource: Human Resource, which was being exploited. This trade destroyed the labor force creating insecurity and instability in the economy of Africa.

It affected Agriculture and mining in that the remaining people had no veal to revive the economy any more. Also, it must be known that the Trans-Atlantis Slave Trade strained Africa of her most productive man power ( ages 15-35).

Structural transformation: Shift in Economy from Agricultural Economy to Industrial Economy. (Inikori, )

Increased dependency on European goods.  As European demand grew for products such as sugar, tobacco, rice, indigo, and cotton, and as more New World lands became available for European use, the need for plantation labor increased.

Why Africans?

They were familiar with hardship or hard labour.

They were accustomed to the system of slavery since there was already the existence of slavery in Africa.

They were strong and able to resist diseases. Also, they were accustomed to the hot weather or climate conditions and the diseases brought about by these conditions.

Cont.

The were skilled men and women. Also, they were familiar with farming and agriculture.

They pointed to scriptural backup to why they were enslaving the blacks.

How the slaves were captured

The original capturing of slaves were almost always violent.

As the Europeans demand grew, African Chieftains prepared raids against sister tribes.

Others launched wars specifically for the purpose of capturing slaves.

Who were the losers and the winners in the long run?

Arguments are based on 3 issues:1. The social Cost in Africa of forced

migration.2. Atlantic slavery, the rise of the Western

world.3. Atlantic slavery, the world of the slaves,

and their enduring legacies

Rodney tells us in his article that Europe owned a “great majority of the world’s sea going vessels, and controlled the financing of the trade between four continents”. He goes on to say that Africa was clueless of the tri-continental trade links between other powers.

Africa helped to develop Western Europe, while at the same time Europe helped to under-develop Africa. We are told by scholars that towns like Liverpool, Manchester, Hamburg, Bristol rose from relative poverty to industrial towns

European goods that were traded to Africa was already being manufactured or produced in Africa.

Europeans took advantage of Africa by dumping their unwanted products in Africa. Walter states that they unloaded, “old sheets, cast-off uniforms, technologically outdated fire arms, and lots of odds and ends found guaranteed markets in Africa”.

Some European countries colonized places in Africa, e.g. Portugal

The Europeans lured the tribes to trade with then even though several tribes and kingdoms stood against them, but it did not last. Rodney tells of Queen Nzinga(of Matamba) who tried to resist trade with the Portuguese in Angola. However, Portugal had the upper hand in 1648 and this left Matamba isolated. Therefore, the queen was forced to start human trafficing with the Portuguese in 1656.

Rodney also speaks about the “gold rush’ of some Europeans, especially the Portuguese who searched the West and Central Africa for gold.

Kings turned against their people because of greed for wealth which was promised to them by the Europeans. Walter enlightens us about two kings: one of Congo and the other of Benin which were persuaded to sell their people into captivity.

Some scholars like Inikori referred the total number of slaves traded to be 15.4 million, while some say 12 million.

African population began to decrease significantly. E.g. 1650’s – 30%, 1800’s ( roughly 10%)

Female exporting ratio turned out to be over 35%

Conclusion

From the point of view of this study, it is thus clear that Western Europe and North America were the ones who gained in the Atlantis Slave Trade, while the African traders though some making small profits lost in the long-run.

Are we finished yet?

Sources Michael L. Conniff and Thomas J. Davis, Africans in the Americas(New York,

1994) Steven Warshaw, HBJ Social Studies; The World Past and Present,

(California 1986) Jennnifer Mohammad, Cape Caribbean Studies, ( 2004) Eric Nadine G. Atkinson David V.C. Browne, Atlantic Interactions Professor Rex Nettleford. Joseph E. Inikori, The slave trade and Atlantic Economies 1451-1870. Rodney Walter, How Europe became the dominant section of a World-wide

Trade System. Joseph E. Inikori, Stanley L. Engerman, The Atlantic Slave Trade: Effects

on Economies, Societies and Peoples in Africa, the Americas, and Europe. Klein A. Martin, The impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on the societies of

the Western Sudan. Hogendorn Jan, Lovejoy E. Paul, Keeping Slaves in Place: The Secret

Debate on the Slavery question in Northern Nigeria, 1900-1904.