1. The Atlantic World and Slavery
Chapter 18

2. Atlantic System Trade network across the Atlantic
1600s - West Indies very important because of tobacco (early) & sugar plantations (later)
Colonies characterized by:
Mercantilism & Capitalism
Joint-stock companies
Chartered companies
Slavery

3. Typical Convoys 20-60 Spanish ships carrying silver & gold
Annually – sugar ships from the West Indies & Brazil
Annually – 300 slave ships

4. Beginnings of Private Enterprise – Capitalism
Backed by banks, stock exchanges, & chartered companies
Dutch banks most secure
Amsterdam Stock Exchange greatest through 15th century
Dutch East India Company took over Indian Ocean
Dutch West India Company dominated Atlantic until very late 1600s
Royal African Company (British) controlled slave trade from African Gold Coast

5. Mercantilism Encourages Restrictions
States began creating ways to limit foreigners.
England – Navigation Acts (1660s)
France – Exclusif (1690s)
The Atlantic became Britain, France, and Portugal’s most important overseas trading area!

6. Sugar Plantations 1600 – Brazil world’s top sugar producer
Dutch West India Company
Improved efficiency
Controlled 1,000 miles of coast
Took control of slave trade in West Africa for the purpose of bringing them to Brazil
Once Brazil reclaimed by Portugal, still used Dutch methods; then these methods spread to sugar production on the islands too: considered turning point in Atlantic System

7. Sugar & Slaves
By late 1600s, enslaved Africans outnumbered Europeans 3 to 1 on the islands
Barbados – wealthiest; surpassed Brazil’s production by 1700
Early 1600s – 10,000 slaves per year
Late 1600s – 20,000 slaves per year
Late 1700s – just under 60,000 slaves per year

8. Why African Slaves? Old Theory – more suited
BUT – both Europeans & Africans died in the tropics (same mortality rate for those born there)
Old Theory – prejudice
“Slavery was not born of racism: rather, racism was the consequence of slavery.” Eric Williams
New Theory – lower cost of African labor

9. Why African Slaves? Indentured servants cheaper at first
BUT then they leave
Initial investment in slaves more, but in the long run the investment pays off more
Also as land becomes more expensive, freed indentured servants cannot afford to buy it, so they stop indenturing themselves

10. Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

13. Atlantic Circuit (Triangular Trade)
1. Europe to Africa – manufactured European goods traded for gold & slaves
2. Africa to Americas (AKA – Middle Passage)
3. Americas to Europe – plantation goods

14. Middle Passage
6-10 weeks
Mortality rate went from 23% to about 11% by the end of slave trade
Most deaths because of disease rather than mistreatment
Dysentery
Small pox

15. The Fight for Colonies
Profits from sugar drove England & France to establish more colonies
1655 – English took Jamaica from Spain
1670s – French took western half of Hispaniola from Spain (Haiti); in 1700s it became the world’s largest sugar producer

16. Effects of Sugar on the Environment
Soil exhaustion & deforestation
That’s why they would island hop
By 18th century – nearly all domesticated animals and cultivated plants in Caribbean were “Old World”
Essentially all indigenous peoples on islands were wiped out (disease)
Replaced by African population

17. Lives of Slaves 90% of pop on islands was slaves 18 hour work days
2-3% house servants
70% field laborers
Children did light labor
Elderly tended toddlers
Punishments included: flogging, confinement, mutilations, & iron muzzles

18. Lives of Slaves Cont. Poor nutrition & hard labor lowered fertility
High infant mortality rate
High miscarriage rate
Even with all of this, the main reason for death was DISEASE! –1/3 of new arrivals died

19. Majority of slaves imported rather than natural born
African religious beliefs, speech, dress, & music
Required slaves to learn colonial languages by deliberately mixing the slaves from different parts of Africa (as a way to curve rebellions)
Enforced Catholicism – combined with African religions
RESULT?