1. Slavery and Slaving in Nineteenth Century Africa
J. W. Buel, Heroes of the Dark Continent (New York, 1890), p. 66.
GR, from map at Beit-al-Ajaib, Zanzibar
Slavery and Slaving in Nineteenth Century Africa
HI177 | A History of Africa since 1800
Term 1 | Week 3 | Dr Sacha Hepburn

2. Defining Slavery (and Freedom)
Slavery = diverse
Slaves ‘occupied a wide range of roles and positions in African states and societies’ (Stilwell)
Related to other forms of forced/coerced labour: indentured servitude, serfdom
Debate: freedom and slavery as oppositional or on a spectrum of dependency?

3. Slave Systems in Africa
Trans-Saharan trade
East African trade
Transatlantic trade
Domestic slavery/household slavery
Common features: trade in men, women and children; hereditary status of slaves; violence

4. Slave Trades Out of Africa

5. The Transatlantic Trade
David and Charles Livingstone, Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries; and of the Discovery of the Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, (London, 1865), facing p. 356.

6. Role of African Slave States
Key states:
Senegambia
Sierra Leone
Gold Coast
Dahomey, Yoruba
Niger Delta (Bight of Benin)
Angola
Slave trading and predation 
Impact of European demand
Sarah Tucker, Abbeokuta; or, sunrise within the tropics: an outline of the origin and progress of the Yoruba mission (London, 1853), facing p. 66.

7. Major coastal regions from which captives left Africa, 1500-1900

8. Volume and direction of the Transatlantic Trade

9. The Transatlantic Trade in Numbers
Period
Total persons transported
81,000
338,000
1,876,000
6,495,000
4,027,000
Total
12,817,000
P. E. Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery (New York, 2012), p. 19.

10. Domestic Slavery
John Hanning Speke, Journey of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile (New York, 1869), p. 117.

11. Domestic Slavery
David and Charles Livingstone, Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries; and of the Discovery of the Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, (London, 1865; reprinted New York, 1866), p. 499.

12. Impacts of Slavery on African Societies
Political/economic
Easiest impacts to determine?
Fusion of economic and political power = mercantilism
Disintegration of powerful states, though not entirely result of slave trade
Social/demographic
Domestic/household slavery helped African households and societies to increase numbers
But devastating impact of Transatlantic trade
Increased slavery within Africa as result of Transatlantic trade, particularly female slavery

13. Abolition 1802: Denmark declares its trade illegal
1807: Britain and America outlaw the slave trade
1810: British begin detaining slave ships of other nations
Mid-1840s-1851: Cuba and Brazil take action
But expansion of slaveholding in Africa

14. Email me: s.hepburn@warwick.ac.uk Come to my office hours:
Questions?
me:
Come to my office hours:
Monday 3-4pm and Friday 11am-12pm
H3.31, third floor humanities