The Slave Trade

First Contact

• By the early 1400s, European had begun exploring the African coast

• They were searching for: – The rumored gold rich

empires in the west– A route to India and the

spice-rich islands

• Small trading villages were established along the coasts of Africa

Prince Henry: Not a navigator but a nobleman that sent expeditions to the coast of Africa to find gold

Believed that at the equator the waters boiled and skin turned black

The Slave Trade • The beginning

– Europeans took a few slaves to Europe to work on plantations

• Later– Labor intensive sugar, tobacco

and cotton plantations in the Americas

• Caribbean and South American primarily

• At first Native Americans but died– European diseases – Familiar with land=Escape– Could communicate with each other

Note: Slavery has always existed and still does exist. •Usually had a position in society •Often gained freedom

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

Europeans saw $$$$• Became a trading commodity • Jammed aboard ships bound

for the Americas• Treated like livestock• Primary goal = $$$$$$$$$

Africans saw $$ too• Captured and traded to

Europeans at coastal ports• Often traded for guns which

helped Africans capture more slaves

Trans-Atlantic imports by region1450-1900

Region

Number of slaves

accounted for %

Brazil 4,000,000 35.4

Spanish Empire 2,500,000 22.1

British West Indies 2,000,000 17.7

French West Indies 1,600,00 14.1

British North America and United States

500,000 4.4

Dutch West Indies 500,000 4.4

Danish West Indies 28,000 0.2

Europe (and Islands) 200,000 1.8

Total 11,328,000 100.0

Data derived from table II as presented in:The Slave Tradeby Hugh Thomas

Simon and Schuster, 1997,ISBN 0-68481063-8

Trans-Atlantic exports by region1650-1900

Region

Number of slavesaccounted for

%

Senegambia 479,900 4.7

Upper Guinea 411,200 4.0

Windward Coast 183,200 1.8

Gold Coast 1,035,600 10.1

Blight of Benin 2,016,200 19.7

Blight of Biafra 1,463,700 14.3

West Central 4,179,500 40.8

South East 470,900 4.6

Total 10,240,200 100.0

Data derived from tables 1.1, 3.2, 3.4, 4.1 and 7.4as presented in:

Transformations in Slaveryby Paul E. Lovejoy

Cambridge University Press, 2000,ISBN 0-521-78430-1

The Middle Passage

Slave Resistance

• Throughout their captivity, slaves often resisted by:– Rebelling against the

Europeans taking them hostage

– Mutiny on the ships– Jumping overboard– Hunger strikes– Non-cooperation– Running

• Millions died resisting enslavement and forced labor

Abolition Movement• Some African leaders began seeing the destruction caused by the slave

trade and spoke out against it.

• Some Europeans also began speaking out against the slave trade.

• Human rights activists and freed slaves began speaking out against it.

• Eventually, in 1807, Britain outlawed the slave trade.– WHY???

Impact of the Slave Trade

• 10-15 million Africans (exact #s unknown)– (what population specifically? How did that

impact Africa?)

• Due to the economic incentives offered to the African leaders who partook, tremendous friction between African societies erupted.

• Racism today• African Diaspora led to cultural diffusion