Slavery During the Industrial Revolution

The Origin of Slavery Slavery has existed throughout history, in different forms. In ancient civilization of China, Greece and Rome. Slavery existed in African cultures too. African societies enslaved people were domestic workers. Ownership of slaves symbolized wealth and power Who was involved in slavery: Africans, Spaniards, Portuguese, Dutch, French and British.

Overview Slavery is driven by the quest for wealth and power When in 1942 Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean he launched a competition for wealth and power among the ruling monarchs of Spain, Portugal, England and France. Each country would sent voyage and claimed ownership of various areas and land. Main source of captives for the transatlantic trade in African people were current countries in the West African coast of Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Cango and Angela.

Captures African people were controlled by powerful African traders European traders preferred young males between the ages of 15-25 who were in good health and has strong muscular bodies,

Triangular Trade Linked Europe to Africa to the Caribbean and Americas. The Transatlantic Slave Trade consisted of three journeys: The outward passage from Europe to Africa carrying manufactured goods. The middle passage from Africa to the Americas or the Caribbean carrying African captives and other 'commodities’. The homeward passage carrying sugar, tobacco, rum, rice, cotton and other goods back to Europe.

Trade of Goods From Europe to Africa Copper, manufactures clothes, silk imported from Asia, glassware, ammunition, gun, manila and pots From Africa to Caribbean  Enslaved women, men, children and Indigo From Caribbean to Europe  Sugar, Rum, Coffee, Tobacco and Cotton.

Illustration Map http://www.nmm.ac.uk/freedom/viewTheme.cfm/theme /triangular

By the 1790s there were 480,000 enslaved people in British Caribbean colonies. It is estimated that 11-12 million Africans were transported across the Atlantic into slavery. Many more had died during capture and transportation. In the first third of the 18th century, Britain’s involvement in the slave trade grew enormously. During the 1720s nearly 200,000 enslaved Africans were transported across the Atlantic in British ships.

The trade was so established that soon certain goods became almost currencies in their own right. Iron bars, or horseshoe or ring shaped manilas, most commonly made of copper, became a standard quantity to barter for captives.

The Middle Passage Voyage from Africa to the Caribbean Terrible living conditions on the ship The middle passage across the Atlantic was brutal. Enslaved Africans were packed into tight spaces and given barely enough food and water to stay alive. The slave ship Brookes. It is estimated that on average 10% died en route rising to 30% on a bad voyage. European sailors who crewed the ships also stood a high chance of not returning due to sickness during the voyage.

The Plantations Sugar nippers Most of the enslaved Africans worked on the sugar, coffee, cotton and tobacco plantations Some worked in the fields and others as domestic servants. Some were worked to exhaustion and some even worked to death. Plantation owners found it cheaper to buy more African slaves than to give the existing ones food, water, medical care and warm shelter. The slaves were treated as objects not people Sugar nippers

Sugar Plantations

What was Special About Sugar? Sugar was a luxury item in Britain at this time when fruit syrup, honey and other natural nectars were the only sweeteners available. Sugar was a way to make the bitter taste of coffee and tea sweeter. Coffee house became a center for social gathering and provided ready access to information through newspapers, spreading communication on a national scale Plantation grown sugar fuelled the English addiction first to coffee and then to tea.

Poem by William Cowper (1788) Pity for Poor Africans: I own I am shocked at this purchase of slaves, And fear those who buy them and sell them, are knaves: What I hear of their hardships, their tortures and groans, Is almost enough to draw pity from stones. I pity them greatly, but I must be mum For how could we do without sugar and rum? Especially sugar, so needful we see, What, give up our desserts, our coffee and tea?

How did the merchants get away with it? Sailors who did return brought back tales of what they had seen during their voyages. However, only a few spoke about it publicly for fear of being refused further work by the powerful merchants, ship owners and captains engaged in the trade. It was a very profitable business often making a high rate of return on investment, as account books from the period show. Powerful trading interests tried to prevent any regulation or abolition of the slave trade using a fierce campaign of misinformation, lies and delaying tactics.

Economic Impact of Slavery Slaves were not transported to Britain in significant numbers, but commercial enterprises which flourished through association with slavery included ship building equipping of vessels crews for the journeys, goods to trade in Africa especially textiles, glass, china, brass pots, guns and ammunitions copper currency bracelets (manillas) And alcohol, particularly gin, from Bristol.

Raw products coming back to Europe from the Caribbean such as raw sugar, rum, indigo, cocoa, coffee, wheat, tobacco and cotton where used to manufacture smoking tobacco and chocolate (large chocolate factories in Bristol UK) Cotton was a driving resource for the cotton mills in Liverpool. Sugar, tobacco and rum were mixed together to create a luxuries alcoholic beverage. A lot of the sailor were rewarded with alcohol which lead to an alcoholism problem in the UK. Sugar loaf

Summary: The overall economic development that resulted directly or indirectly from slave labour was felt in the growth of ports and cities from small towns and villages to international trading centres, and the associated boom in related banking and insurance. It has been argued that in this way the transatlantic slave trade fuelled the Industrial Revolution and created a global market.