The Impact of the Trans- Atlantic Slave Trade

CAPE HistoryA lesson at St Georges College

Prepared by Christopher A Humber

FORCED IMMIGRATION

“Humanity is divided into two -- the masters and the slaves.”

~Aristotle

• The potential wealth to be made from slavery led to

the triangular trade between

________________________________________.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade

Europe, Africa and the Americas.

• Europeans were able to sell manufactured goods

in exchange for ____________ and luxury

items.

raw materials

A Merchant Slaving Vessel: The Henrietta Marie

Let’s follow the journey of a typical slave ship…

First Stop!Londo

n!

The Port of London

The Henrietta Marie would start its journey in the London, a thriving port built on the banks of the Thames River.

jobs

dreams

• As the capital city, it was the center of

social and economic developments;

it was also the place to which young people came to learn trades,

find ____, and fulfill their

_________.

Investors in the Henrietta Marie

• The slave trading voyage was acostly undertaking.

• It required backing of several investors. A small stake in several voyages was more

prudent for the investor than a large stake in one ship.

• The problems to contend with ranged from bad _______ to slave revolts and payment

problems. • Some merchants did well in the

trade, while others went bankrupt.

weather

Investors in the Slave TradeBy 1650, most of the coastal states in Europe had possessions

in the Americas.

Graph of countries participating in the slave trade

1. Around what year was the Slave Trade at its peak?

2. Which country continued the Slave Trade the longest? Why?

The Crew of a Merchant Slave ShipMen who could not find other work often gravitated

to ports such as London where they signed on to escape their economic problems.

Crews of slavers tended to be desperate, violent men.

Former slave ship master Reverend John Newton (B.1725) wrote about the men aboard the merchant slavers:

"We are for the most part supplied with the refuse and dregs of the nation. The prisons and glass houses supply us with large

quotas of boys impatient of their parents and masters, or already ruined by some untimely vice and for the most part

devoid of principles."

A Merchant Slaving Vessel: The Henrietta Marie

Three-masted,

square-sterned

vessel, about 60

feet long.

Small ship, capable of holding 200 slaves in her cargo area.

Stepped decks, built on many levels to accommodate the different cargoes of the transatlantic trade route.

To Africa!

Benin

• When Europeans arrived in the late 15th century, there were established states

throughout West Africa.

Arriving in

Africa!

Port cities along the coast were controlled by Portuguese,

Dutch, English.

• West Africa was divided into states with different rulers governing different

areas.

• Some African ethnic groups read and wrote in Arabic, others had strong oral (speaking and singing) traditions,

and religious practices.

The Henrietta Marie in Africa• The Henrietta Marie traded in the area of New

Calabar, saluting the townwith several_______, as was the custom of the day.

• African traders would often send canoes out to the European ships arriving into slaving ports. Some of these Africans would guide the newly arrived ships

into the rivers or harbors or ports.

guns

Slavery in Africa Powerful African leaders met with

European Traders from the Henrietta Marie.

1. If you were an African tribal leader, what would you want in exchange for slaves? Why?

Slavery and War

• European _____were a popular trade item with the Africans. The coastal rulers who had access to _____ used them to control areas further

inland.

Pewter, Iron bars, glass beads, guns and other goods were rare in Africa, where they could be sold for much more than in England or other

European countries.

gunsguns

Africans Enslave Africans

War captivesPrisonersThievesReligious offenders

Soon Africans were rounding up slaves in groups of one, two and three

hundred for sale to the increasing number of European vessels arriving

in coastal ports.

Slave Catching Raids

• Conducted mostly by the Asante and Dahomey tribes.

• Would attack neighbors and catch as many people as possible.

• Europeans gave Africans weapons (mainly guns) to capture other Africans.

Before Shipping

• Slaves captured or purchased in the African interior were often held in confinement for months.

• Some of these people had been wounded in battles, and others were exposed to smallpox, yellow fever, and other

deadly diseases.

Europeans were Middle Men

• Carried a cargo valued at about £827. • £4 per slave: Brought 206 slaves to Jamaica. • 190 slaves were recorded sold at Port Royal

Not Welcomed Inland!

Did convert some kingdoms to Christianity (Kongo)Forbidden to alter African

politics

The Henrietta Marie

• The men, women and children were shackled and confined to the

stifling cargo holds below deck. • After securing her cargo, the Henrietta Marie would have brought food and water aboard for the long voyage to the West Indies known as

the _________________.

To the Americas!

Middle Passage

• Trek from Africa to the Americas lasted 35-60 days

Middle Passage

The “Cargo”

• By 1654, some 8,000-10,000 Africans each year were undergoing the Middle Passage.

• By 1750, the annual number stabilized at 60,000-70,000.

• The mortality rate averaged between 13 and 33 percent of the slaves and the crew.

Dangers of Middle PassageScurvy

Dysentery

GangreneDehydrationSuicid

eDisease Malnutrition

The Middle Passage

“If the Atlantic were to dry up it would reveal a scattered pathway of human bones marking the various routes of the

Middle Passage.”

• About 9 to 15 million Africans went on voyage:• 3 to 5 million perished before they even reached the Americas.

The Atlantic Slave Trade“But what heart could be so hard as to not be pierced

with piteous feelings to see that company?” ~Eyewitness to a Portuguese slave unloading

1. Despite the inhumane

treatment of the African people,

why did the slave trade continue until the 19th

Century?

The Triangle Trade

SUGAR, TABACCO

SLAVES

GU

NS,

RU

M, G

OO

DS

Arrival in the Americas: The Henrietta Marie

The Native

Americans were

beginning to be

exterminate

d-due to over

working and

disease.

Land Ho!

Colonizers in the New World found a new source of labor...____________.

the Africans

Selling Slaves in the Caribbean

• With the first sighting of land, the captain of the Henrietta Marie would have ordered slaves on deck in

small groups for fresh air and grooming To improve their appearance for sale.

• Men were shaved, sores were dressed, and rations were improved as

they approached their destination of Jamaica on May 18, 1700,

indicating that she spent almost fourteen weeks on the Middle Passage.

Get Your Workers Here!

• Sold to the highest bidder

• Slaves-washed and greased with tar or lard

• Judged by condition– Muscle– Teeth– Scratches

Profitability“No commerce in the world produces as

many advantages as that of the slave trade.”

~Colbert, Frenchman

Some believe the slave trade was the major reason for the rise of commercial capitalism and the Industrial Revolution.

Forced Migration of Africans

Africans mine and wash gold and deliver it to a Spanish overseer

A system soon developed where _______________ enslaved Africans were sent to Spanish America

by as early as 1600.

75,000 to 90,000

• As early as 1522, the first notable slave revolt broke

out in the Spanish colony of

Hispaniola (now Haiti).

• In the Caribbean they were known as

"Maroons" and lived in the hills, using

guerrilla warfare to _____ other slaves and steal necessary arms

and equipment.

free

Rebellions in the Caribbean

Indentured Servants• White indentured servants were another exploited group of people who, in return for

their passage to the Americas or the Caribbean, agreed to work for their sponsor.• Indentured servants were at the mercy of their master: they were unpaid and had to do

whatever they were told.

• They were bound to their master for a set period of time, _________________, after which they were set free, and could expect to receive a small tract of land from their master.

usually five years

The European

Sweet Tooth

• Most Europeans had never tasted sugar before the economic successes

of the transatlantic trade made the Caribbean product

readily available.

• England was a major consumer as early as 1660. For a century and a half,

sugar remained the most valuable and largest import,

overtaken only by _______ in the 1820s.cotton

The Henrietta Marie

• The profits from the sale of slaves enabled the Henrietta Marie to load West Indian goods for

her voyage home to England. • Sugar was the main commodity and cargo

entries reveal that she was carrying 81 hogsheads (large barrels) of muscovado sugar.

Back to!

London!

• Removal of millions of African men and women from their homeland

• Economic dependence on Europe, devastating effects when trade was outlawed

• Susceptibility to European imperialism