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The Atlantic Slave Trade1770-1807

Sourcebook 1-The Triangular Trade

Lesson 1 - An outline of the Triangular Trade

Source 1

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In 1492 a young Italian sailor named Christopher Columbus was convinced that the world was round and that he could reach the lands of the East by sailing west. He set sail, hoping to get to India so that he could fill his ship with valuable spices. Finally after six weeks at sea he sighted land – but not India as he thought. He had found an unknown continent – the New World of the Americas. While the New World did not grow the spices the Europeans wanted, the West Indies could grow something else just as valuable – sugar. The problem was finding workers to do the hard labour of planting and harvesting. The natives of the West Indies were treated so cruelly by the Spaniards that most of them died. The Native Americans (Indians) fought the Spaniards or ran off into the interior. Some white men from Europe went as criminals or prisoners, but after a few years they became free.

Source 2 – A map of the ‘New World’

Source 3 - is from The Transatlantic Slave Trade by David Killingray, published in 1987At first convicts and bondservants brought over from Europe worked on the plantations. Bondservants agreed to work for a period of three to five years in return for a grant of land at the end of their bond. But the work of sugar production was a hard backbreaking grind, disliked and resisted by most Europeans. As the demand for sugar grew so did the need for a large and steady supply of cheap labour. This came from the shores of Africa. From the 1650s onwards the number of black slaves shipped the Atlantic from Africa to the Americas steadily increased.

Bondservant = A person who has to work without getting wages.

Convict = Someone who has been convicted of a crime.

Source 4 is from a modern textbook.By the 18th century a well-established trade route had grown up between Europe, Africa and America. It was called ‘The Triangular Trade.’ Outward Passage – Britain to Africa (40 days). Middle Passage - Africa to the Caribbean (38 days). Home Passage – Caribbean to Britain (50-60 days). Ships left Britain with cloth, guns, alcohol, metal goods and beads to buy slaves in

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Africa. 41% of slaves came from the Slave Coast. They exchanged their goods for slaves, palm oil, ivory and rice. In the Caribbean and America they sold the slaves for sugar, rum, molasses, cotton and tobacco. These were sold for very high profits in England.

Source 5 is from understandingslavery.comTextiles from Yorkshire and Lancashire, salt from Cheshire, pottery from Staffordshire, metal goods (chains, fetters, manacles … and guns) from the Midlands – all were transported along the canals to Liverpool to be loaded on to the slave ships bound for Africa and the Americas. Ireland provided enormous amounts of food to feed crews and slaves and to be shipped to the American plantations. The slave ships were weighed down by materials and produce from all corners of the British Isles, and much of it was consumed by Africans or exchanged for Africans on the African coast. 

While the slave ships provided the plantations with the African labour required for tropical toil, the colonists needed more than that and so were also dependent on the transatlantic shipping routes for their survival. They required a constant supply of imports in addition to enslaved Africans – equipment, seeds, plants, animals, metal goods, food and clothing for the slaves, and timber for construction.

In return, extraordinary volumes of slave-grown produce were shipped eastwards: sugar and rum from the Caribbean and Brazil; tobacco from Virginia and, later, from Cuba; rice from the Carolinas; coffee from Jamaica and Brazil; and, in the 19th century, enormous quantities of cotton from the southern United States to feed the industries of Britain. After delivering their African cargoes, the slave ships transported some of this slave-grown produce back to Europe. However, many more non-slave ships were required to transport all that the plantations produced.

Lesson 2 – Slave Factories

Source 6 –Early Europeans went ashore to kidnap slaves. Soon, Europeans could not travel inland. African tribes were always fighting and captives were traded for goods such as guns with the Europeans. Some African chiefs decided to capture members of their own tribes to trade for European goods. Some Africans sold their family members in order to get out of debt.

Source 7 –Europeans and Africans met to trade for slaves in a number of ways. The earliest Europeans simple went ashore and kidnapped the Africans. Later the Europeans found it easier to trade goods that the local African chiefs wanted, with the chiefs themselves.

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Source 8 –

Source 9-

Built in 1482 by Portuguese traders, Elmina Castle was the first European slave-trading post in all of sub-saharan Africa. Elmina, like other West African slave fortresses, housed luxury suites for the Europeans in the upper levels. The slave dungeons below were cramped and filthy, each cell often housing as many as 200 people at a time, without enough space to even lie down. The floor of the dungeon, as result of centuries of impacted filth and human excrement, is now several inches higher than it was when it was built. Outbreaks of malaria and yellow fever were common. Staircases led directly from the governor’s chambers to the women's dungeons below, making it easy for him to select personal concubines from amongst the women.

At the seaboard side of the castle was the Door of No Return, the infamous portal through which slaves boarded the ships that would take them on the treacherous journey across the

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Atlantic known as the Middle Passage. By the 18th century, 30,000 slaves on their way to North and South America passed through Elmina's Door of No Return each year.

Source 10 - William Bosman was a Dutch slave trader. Here he describes what happened when slaves were brought to a factory. When slaves are brought from the inland countries, they are put in prison together. When we buy them, they are all brought out together and thoroughly examined by our surgeons. Those which are approved as good are set on one side; in the meantime a burning iron, with the name of the company, lies in the fire. Our slaves are branded on the chest after we have agreed a price with the owners of the slaves.

Source 11 - from The Shameful Trade by F. G. Kay, published in 1967, also describes what happened when slaves arrived at a factory.The ships’ surgeons became expert in selecting strong slaves. They also had to make an accurate estimate of the slaves’ age. The African merchants shaved all the slaves’ hair, to disguise their age. Thirty five was the maximum age for a first-class slave. Those that appeared older, or had poor eyes, teeth or limbs were classed as second rate. The slaves passed as fit and healthy were then branded on the breast with the buying company’s mark. This was to prevent the African traders from swapping bought slaves for unfit ones.

The slaves were kept until the weather was suitable for them to be transferred on board ship, sometimes up to two weeks. They were fed bananas, yams, millet and boiled beans. During this period they were kept chained in wooden compounds, or in underground cells.

Lesson 3 – The Middle PassageSource 12 –

The Middle Passage was the voyage between Africa and the New World. It took between 6-11 weeks. 12% of slaves died on the Middle Passage which is around 450,000 Africans. The slave ships made money carrying as many slaves as they could and selling them in the West Indies and America. They packed many onto the ships knowing some will die but most will survive.

Source 13 - from the beginning of the nineteenth century and shows cross-sections of a slave ship.

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Source 14 - Olaudah Equiano was captured and carried on a slave ship to the West Indies. He learned to read and write and later became free. He wrote his experiences in an autobiography in 1789.

The stench of the hold, the heat and the crowding, which meant that each had scarcely room to turn, almost suffocated us. There was sickness among the slaves of which many died. Things were worse because of the rubbing of the chains and the filth of the lavatory buckets into which children often fell. I became so sick that, as I was a young boy, my chains were removed and I was allowed to stay on deck. One day two of my wearied countrymen who were chained together, preferring death to a life of misery, jumped into the sea.

Source 15- This source is from The Transatlantic Slave Trade by D. Killingray, published in 1987.

Once the ship was out at sea slaves were brought up on deck usually a few at a time, to be fed and for exercise. Some slaves refused to eat and had to be forced. Those who would not exercise on deck to keep fit were whipped. Many slaves were miserably unhappy. Some just died; others killed themselves.

Source 16 - from The Savage Trade by Neil Grant, published in 1980.

While the slaves were out on deck, a good captain had the slave decks washed down with warm vinegar and scrubbed. Some did not bother, and in rough weather the slaves were never allowed out at all. The state of the hold became unbearable – dark, stuffy and stinking. Tarpaulins covered the gratings and air vents to keep out rain and spray, so it was pitch black. For slaves the journey to the lavatory buckets was so difficult that many gave up trying. As many slaves had dysentery, a severe form of diarrhoea, the state of their prison became more foul than can be easily described. The heat and foul air were so bad that a candle would not burn, and sick slaves had to be carried out before the ship’s doctor could treat them.

Source 17 – from Captain Phillips’ diary. He was captain of a slave ship.

We chain the men two by two when they come aboard. To prevent mutiny we always keep guards at the hatchways, and have a full chest of loaded weapons ready. We feed them twice a day, at ten in the morning and four in the evening, which is that time which they are most

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likely to rebel as they are all on deck. All spare men stand on duty with weapons. We feed them mainly maize ground into porridge, but three times a week we give them boiled horse beans which they like. This helps against diseases because it seems to cure their dysentery and prevent flux. This often ruins our voyages by deaths. We also make them dance for an hour or two to bagpipes, harp and fiddle for exercise to help their health.

Source 18 – an account of slaves rebelling and how they were dealt with.

Another ship in the area, the Elizabeth, had 120 slaves on board, but was short of officers as the captain and first mate had died of disease. That night firing broke out on the Elizabeth, and Snellgrave led a boarding party to find out what was happening. On the way across to the Elizabeth they saw two Negroes in the sea being eaten by sharks, and two more holding on to a rope, whom they pulled on their dinghy. The Elizabeth’s crew had regained control and herded the slaves back into the hold by the time Snellgrave got aboard. The crew were standing around the body of the crewman who had been on sentry duty, and had been killed with an axe. He found out that one of the men pulled from the sea had started the trouble. With several captains from ships nearby on the coast, Snellgrave organised a court. The slave was to be hung from the ship’s mast as a warning to others. All the slaves in the surrounding ships were brought up on deck to see the punishment. The killer was hoisted up by his arms, and then his body riddled with shot by a firing party. It was then lowered, and the head was cut off and thrown into the sea. Although the slaves were on board a further four months, there was no further trouble.

Lesson 4 – The impact of the Triangular Trade on British ports

Source 20 –

For most of the 18th century, Bristol dominated the trade in sugar imported from slave plantations. This was stored on the quays, refined in the city's new refineries and sold to sweeten tea and coffee from the colonies, and to provide cheap calories in the diet of the factory workers. Bristol was transformed from a fishing port to a prosperous city and some areas of it, such as Queen Square built for Bristol's richest inhabitants became a showcase for the luxurious homes of slave merchants.

Source 21 – Queen Square, Bristol

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Source 22 – Dr Gareth Griffiths, director of the Bristol’s Museum.Bristol’s built environment was also changed by the slave trade. The wealth that the trade generated allowed merchants to buy larger premises, upgrade or replace ships, build furnish, and entertain on a lavish scale. The Theatre Royal in Bristol, which is the second oldest working theatre in the country, was built as a result of very wealthy subscribers each pledging a sum of money for the building. In Bristol the most money from slave voyages and slave labour was made by the merchants. During the years of the slave trade 11 owners of slave ships served as Mayor. 

Source 23 – is from Britain and the Slave Trade by Rosemary Rees, published in 1995.In 1700 Liverpool was a small fishing port of 5000 people. One hundred years later over 78,000 people lived and worked in Liverpool. Prosperity depended on the slave trade. Liverpool’s wealth came from trading in slaves and slave-produced cotton. Liverpool’s slave merchants rose to positions of power and influence in the town. At least 26 of Liverpool’s mayors between 1700 and 1820 were slave merchants. Thousands of people found work because of the slave trade. More and more ships were needed. These had to be built and equipped. Carpenters, rope-makers, dockers and sailors were all needed. Many found jobs in banking and insurance. Gradually the prosperity of the whole town and those who lived there began to depend more and more on the slave trade.

Source 24 –

Liverpool merchant and banker Thomas Leyland was one of the wealthiest people in the town whose fortune at the time of his death in 1827 was more than £736,000. Born in 1752, he went on to become Mayor of Liverpool in 1798, 1814 and 1820 – a very significant period in the history of the port. Young Thomas was a partner in the provisions trade in Water Street and originally came into money in a way still only dreamt of by many people. He won a large sum of cash in a lottery which financed his new general merchant’s business, importing Spanish and Portuguese goods. Thomas grew bored with the often humdrum grind of day-to-day business and branched out into slaving, which generated much of his huge wealth. He had a ship called Lottery which made regular scheduled voyages – Liverpool to Nigeria to

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collect enslaved Africans, Nigeria to Jamaica where they were sold and Jamaica to Liverpool. In three years this ship alone made Thomas Leyland a profit of £100,000. In all, he had financial interests in at least 70 slaving voyages. Between 1782 and 1807 he was responsible for transporting more than 25,000 Africans into slavery.

Source 25 – Liverpool docks

Lesson 5 – The impact of the Triangular Trade on African society

Source 26 – Map of the Ashanti lands

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Source 27 – Description of the Ashanti tribe

The Ashanti territory was an inland kingdom on the Gold Coast. They had used slaves for years but sought more slaves to trade them for cloth, alcohol and guns with the Europeans. They became very powerful and started wars against their neighbours in order to get more slaves to trade. They had gold mines where slaves worked. They also put slaves to death in religious rituals as human sacrifices.

Source 28 - In his autobiography Equiano describes how, at the age of eleven, he became a slave.

When the grown people were gone into the fields to work, the children gathered together to play. Usually some of us climbed into a tree to look out for any kidnapper, for they often took the opportunity of our parents’ absence to attack and carry off as many as they could seize. Three people, two men and a woman, climbed silently over a wall. Before we could cry out they seized my sister and me and gagged us. Then they carried us off into the woods. For two days they hurried us through the woods. On the third day some new people took my sister off. I never saw her again.

Source 29 – Ways in which the slave trade affected Africa.

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Farming in Africa changed to grow crops which were bought to provision the slave ships.

The slave trade led to a big increase in wars, raids and

kidnapping.

Possibly 20-30 million Africans were lost to slavery.

African chiefs and Kings stopped ruling by custom and law as they

became greedy and cunning tradesmen. They were surrounded

by corrupt African officials and were advised by unprincipled

European agents.

Law and justice became corrupted as more crimes, no matter how small, were punished by being

made a slave.

Husbands sold wives, parents sold children and neighbours tried to

blame each other for crimes which were punishable by slavery.

Thousands of villages were ruined and deserted as they were raided

for slaves.

Native crafts died out as they were unable to compete with European

goods.

Source 30 –From Cape Verde to the Cuanza river, a coast of over 1000 miles, more than 150 European forts dominated Africa. African farming changed to grow the crops used to provision the slave ships. Native crafts died out, unable to compete with cheap European goods. Chiefs and kings stopped ruling by law and custom, and became greedy cunning tradesmen, surrounded by corrupt African officials and advised by unprincipled European agents. Tribal wars went on

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and on, caused invariably by the profits from the slave trade. Law and justice were corrupted; more and more crimes no matter how small were punished by being made a slave.