1. Slavery & World History
Assyria
Babylonia
China
Egypt
India
Persia
Mesopotamia
Slavery was a universal institution in the ancient world but it was a dominant labor force only in a small number of societies.
First true slave society - Ancient Greece (6th to 4th Century)

2. Old World vs. New World Slavery
Classical world and medieval slavery systems were not based on “racial” or ethnic distinctions.
In habitants of the Ancient world did not necessarily view slavery as a permanent condition.
Slaves did not necessarily hold the lowest status in previous civilizations.
Slaves in the old world often were symbols of prestige, luxury and power – also true in the new world prior to European Colonization/Invasion.

3. How was slavery justified?
Earlier civilizations - accident or bad luck.
Aristotle - notion of the “natural slave”
Christian world – “Curse of Ham”
18th Century European - pseudo-scientific racism.
The question of “eligibility.”
“Otherness.”

4. Some sources of how Africa became vulnerable to the Slave Trade
Political Fragmentation
Sailing Routes
High birth rates
Skills in metalworking, farming, and herding
Minimal diplomatic repercussions.

5. Why not others – why not indigenous Americans?
Pathogenic disease – “supply deficit”
Knowledge of terrain
Different agricultural skills

6. Principal Participating Countries
Britain
Denmark
France
Holland
Portugal
Spain
Norway

7. Why did European powers turn to African labor?
Labor supply was insufficient. Epidemics reduced the indigenous population by 50% - 90% in some areas.
Evidence of deeply help racist sentiment. Racism was a consequence of racial slavery as well as a cause. See Jordan.
In English colonies the supply of servants decreased. See Morgan.

8. Crude Geography of Slavery
Enslaved Africans mostly came from the area stretching from the Senegal River in Africa to Angola.
Europeans divided the area into five regions:
Upper Guinea Coast
Ivory Coast
Lower Guinea Coast
Gabon
Angola

9. Brief Comparison of Slavery in the Americas
North America
Latin America
Enslaved persons had no legal protection
Unusually harsh punishments
Families were sold apart
“Better” diet, housing, medical care
Had to produce their own food, higher death rates, low proportion of women
Half of all enslaved persons worked on plantations/in slave labour camps with 20 or fewer enslaved persons.
Up to 500 enslaved persons on a plantation/in a slave labour camp
Slavemasters typically lived in the labour camps
Absentee ownership was more common
Two-category system of racial classification. Also, slavery depended in part on the loyalty of non-slaveholding “whites.” 3/4 owned no slaves.
Wide range of racial gradation, esp. in Spanish & Portuguese labour camps and “colonies”

10. How did slavery differ from indentured servitude?
Contracted time period; land often promised when indenture ended
For life. Freedom was not contractual.
Could be bought, sold, or leased.
Could be punished by whipping.
Were allowed to own property.
No legal property ownership. No legal rights.

11. Origins of the Infamous “Middle Passage,” or one meaning of it….
The middle leg of a three part voyage.
Began and ended in Europe.
Carried cargo of iron, cloth, brandy, firearms, gunpowder
Landed on Africa’s “Slave Coast” and exchanged cargo for enslaved persons
Set sail for the Americas, where enslaved persons were sold or exchanged for sugar, tobacco, and molasses.
Ship sailed back to Europe.

12. An Alternative Sense of the “Middle Passage,” One That Began with Capture and Forced Marching
Europeans built approximately 60 forts along the west coast of Africa.
Enslaved persons/captives walked in caravans to the forts, often 1000 miles away.
Europeans “selected” and then branded the enslaved persons of African origins.
One half survived the death march. Europeans then placed the survivors in underground dungeons until they were forced to board slave ships.
For the enslaved persons, the “Middle Passage” therefore was what?

13. Middle Passage Statistics
10-16 million persons of African ancestry forcibly transported across the Atlantic from Probably 12 million.
2 million died during the “Middle Passage” (10-15%)
Another 15-30% died during the marches to the African coast.
For every 100 enslaved persons who reached the New World, 40 died in Africa or during the Middle Passage.

14. Middle Passage Conditions on Board the Ship
Enslaved persons chained together and crammed into spaces sometimes less than five feet high.
Slavers packed three or four hundred enslaved persons into the ship cargo holds.
Little ventilation, human waste. Disease. More about this in the days to come….

15. British Slave Ship

16. Destination of Captives
Caribbean 40%
Brazil 40%
Latin America 10%
British North America 10%

17. Growth of African American Population
1820
1.77 million
13% free persons
1830
2.33 million
14%
1840
2.87 million
13%
1850
3.69 million
12%
1860
4.44 million
11%

18. “Slave Exports” and Profits
Early 18th Century - 36,000 human beings per year
During 1780’s - 80,000 humans per year
Between ,000 captives per year, on average.
17th Century – enslaved persons sold in the Americas for about $150
Slave trade illegal in Britain in 1807, US 1808, France 1831, Spain 1834.
Once the slave trade became illegal, prices for the enslaved went much higher. In the 1850s, a “prime field hand” could cost $1200-$1500 – about $25,000 today.

19. Slave Revolts Denmark Vesey The Amistad Nat Turner
Late 18th Century slave revolts erupted in Guadeloupe, Grenada, Jamaica, Surinam, Haiti, Venezuela, Winward Islands
Within the United States slave revolts were common as well. Richmond, Virginia, Louisiana, Charleston, South Carolina.
Denmark Vesey
The Amistad
Nat Turner

20. Aftermath of Slavery Implications for the Era of El Trump?
Abolition of slavery did not mean former slaves achieved freedom. WHY NOT? What is “freedom?”
Reconstruction – join me for H335 next term.
4 million freedmen (no education, no money, no land, no tools)
Freedmen’s Bureau
Sharecropping/ Tenant Farming
Implications for the Era of El Trump?