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