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COL155Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
Jonathan FultonSpring 2014
• Readings: Bentley 424-432
Effect of European trade in Africa
• Europe’s textiles + metal goods became popular
• Food crops came to Africa via the Americas, esp manioc, maize + peanuts
• Manioc most imp. - high yield and thrived in tropical climates
Effect of European trade in Africa
Effect of European trade in Africa
• Manioc: used to make flour – this bread became staple food in west/central Africa
• Result: better nutrition = population growth
Population growth
• 1500 CE – sub-Saharan Africa 34,000,000 people
• 1600 CE – sub-Saharan Africa 44,000,000 people
• 1800 CE – sub-Saharan Africa 60,000,000 people
Population Growth
• Especially strange as millions of Africans were being sent to the Americas as slaves at this time
Atlantic Slave Trade
• Began in the 15th Century, continued to the 19th.
• Europeans got slaves to work on plantations• Africans got manufactured products – mostly
guns
Atlantic Slave Trade
• Slavery – long history in Africa• Most slaves were war captives• Some criminals or people expelled from clans• No personal or civil rights• Could be punished, sold, • Some worked in agriculture, or soldiers,
advisors, administers, etc
Society in Africa
• Law – no private property• Wealth and power = control of labor• # of slaves a way to measure wealth• More slaves = more bigger harvest• Slaves could become part families &
eventually could win freedom
Islamic Slave Trade
• Muslim slave traders from north Africa, Arabia and Persia sold slaves after 8th century
• Sent slaves to Mediterranean, India, southwest China, southeast Asia, and China
• Captured, transported to east Africa, and shipped them
• 8th – 12th centuries – up to 10,000,000 slaves
European slave trade
• By the time Europeans started, the slave trade was well-established
• Used networks developed by Islamic slave trade
Growth of Atlantic Slave Trade
• Started with Portuguese. • Tried to capture slaves, got attacked• Realized that they could buy instead of
capture slaves, no more attacks. • 500 slaves / year sent to Portugal and Spain to
work as miners, porters, domestic servants• Also sent to plantations in Atlantic colonies
Growth of Slave trade
• Started to send them to sugar plantations of Brazil, Sao Tome
• Spanish Caribbean and American colonies needed people to work as disease was destroying native populations.
• African slaves considered solution• First African slaves to Caribbean in 1518• Early 17th century – slaves to North American
mainland
Triangular Trade
• Three parts to European voyages:• 1) Carried European horses and guns to Africa
to trade for slaves• 2) Took African slaves to Americas, where they
were sold at huge profit (2X, 3X)• 3) Bought American products – sugar +
molasses – returned to Europe to sell
• “At every stage of the process, the slave trade was a brutal and inhumane business” (426)
• African leaders started raiding other societies to capture more slaves, to meet demand
• Very violent – wars started to capture slaves as well
The Middle Passage
• Trans-Atlantic journey – ships were ‘filthy and crowded’
• Many slaves tried to starve themselves en route
• Some tried to start revolts• Sick & weak slaves were thrown from ships to
save food
The Middle Passage
• Trip took 4-6 weeks. • Beginning – 50% of slaves died in transit• Eventually got that down to 5%• Over course of Atlantic slave trade, 25% of
slaves didn’t survive Atlantic passage
Impact on Africa
• Before 1600 – about 2000 slaves/year • 17th century – 20,000/year• 18th century – 55,000/year• 1780s – 88,000/year• Sometimes 100,000+
Impact on Africa
• 12 million Africans to the Americas• 4 million died in transit• Some African societies profitted• Most of the continent suffered, however
Impact on Africa
• Approximately 2/3 of slaves were male• Preferred young men between 14 – 35 years
old• Changed social / gender roles in many
societies• Led to polygamy