1. Chapter 20: Africa and the Africans in the Age of the Atlantic Slave Trade

2. Changing Times for Sub-Saharan Africa
Continued influence of Islam and new contact with the West
Religious, political, and social change
Uneven contact=uneven changes
Diaspora (existed for years, the African Diaspora out of the continent exploded due to European and Arab demand for slaves.
New exchange of food, disease, animals, ideas
Portuguese began making treks into some parts of the interior of Africa to make contact with peoples for trading purposes.
European colonization/settlement
But most of Africa remained independent politically and culturally
Major difference from Latin America
Slavery and slave trade a by-product of rise of large kingdoms?

3. Pre-Existing Slave Trade
Trans-Saharan trade routes (Red Sea and East African) had been trading slaves for centuries throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa
Mostly women: traded as concubines for harems; domestic servants
Some men: soldiers, field workers (salt production and gold mines), caravan laborers
Europeans tapped into existing routes and supplies of slaves.
Used this to justify their own enslavement of Africans in New World
Mid 1400s: Europeans begin to utilize slaves in Europe as household servants
Other forms of servitude used by Europeans:
Indentured servitude: Required to work for a master for “X” years in exchange for journey to European colony
Impressment: Taking men, usually other sailors, into a navy by force

4. Portuguese Exploration
Portugal needed slaves for cash crop islands
Success with slaves prompts further participation by Portugal in slave trade
1441: First slaves brought to Portugal from Africa
Established outposts (factories) at El Mina, Luanda, Mozambique Island, Kilwa, Mombasa.
Also searching for gold, spices, pepper
Had to work with consent of local African rulers
Inefficient to raid for slaves; too few Portuguese, danger of venturing too far from coast, better to trade with local rulers.
Missionary efforts undertaken to convert African kingdoms
Nzinga Mvemba of Kongo made the region Christian with Portuguese support
Senegambia is where Portuguese missionaries had the most success

5. Initial Portuguese Activities
Portuguese Provided:
European commodities
Military Support
Slaves
African Rulers Provided:
Ivory
Pepper
Animal Hides
Gold

6. Portuguese Expansion and Major African Kingdoms

7. Story Time p. 221 “The Slave Trade”
Take Notes on the Slave Trade: -

8. Competition in the Slave Trade
Slave trade became increasingly important as plantations (especially sugar and tobacco) demanded constant labor.
By 1600: the slave trade predominated over all other kinds of commerce on African coast.
Portugal controlled most of African coastal slave trade until 1637 when the Dutch seized El Mina in 1637
Portuguese no longer monopolize slave trade
By 17th c., Dutch, English and French competed with the Portuguese.
Trans-Saharan slave routes continued during this period.

9. Obtaining Slaves
Slaves were usually prisoners of war or captives from African slave raids against neighboring African kingdoms or villages.
African rulers generally did not enslave their own people, but enslaved neighboring peoples.
Once Europeans traded for Africans, slaves were forced to march to trading towns, and often separated from families
25-33% died making this journey
Initially, slaves were taken from the Senegambian region, but later were taken primarily from west central Africa.
Simultaneously, over 3 million slaves were taken by Muslim traders for Trans-Saharan trade.

10. African Diaspora
Dispersion of Africans across globe; accomplished primarily by slave trade
African cultures adapt to the location in which they were placed
Retain unique African elements

12. Atlantic Slave Trade
Portuguese originally raided for slaves along the coast but realized that trade was an easier way to get more slaves.
Slave trade was important when plantations (sugar) demanded constant labor.
By 1600, the slave trade predominated over all other kinds of commerce on the African coast.
42% of all slaves went to Brazil, mortality rate was the highest
Trans-Saharan, Red Sea, and east African Slave Trade run by Muslims added another 3 million slaves to the mix
Mostly women as concubines and domestic servants
Atlantic Slave Trade was mostly men

13. Journey Across the Atlantic
: 12 million Africans shipped across the Atlantic
Highest volume traded in 18th century
1450 (raiding slaves) = 50 slaver per year
1460 (raiding slaves) = 500 slaves per year
Mortality rate on slave ships around 15-20%.
Mortality was high and fertility was low
Only way to keep large numbers of slaves in the Americas was to import more and more.

14. Journey Across the Atlantic, cont.
Cargo sizes varied; sometimes as high as 800 slaves in one ship
Middle Passage (slave voyage to America) was traumatic
Slaves were taken, branded by hot irons, shackled, abused throughout journey
Slave ships were dirty, unsanitary; many suffered from poor hygiene, dysentery, disease
Extreme anxiety, illness, suicide, resistance
When supplies ran low, the weakest slaves were thrown overboard

15. Demographic Impact on West Africa
New crops (maize and manioc) help bolster population
Huge Drain on male population
Men were better suited for sugar plantations
Women and children kept in Africa as domestic slaves (to keep up potential slaves)
Atlantic Slave Trade = men
Trans Saharan = women
Portugal controlled most of the African coastal trade until 1630
Dutch seized El Mina in 1637, and became a major contributor.
Eventually English and French joined in slave trade

16. Profitability of Trade
Triangular Trade: made emerging capitalism central to Atlantic world
European manufactured goods (esp. guns) traded to Africans for slaves
Slaves transported from Africa to Americas (Middle Passage)
Slaves produce sugar, tobacco, molasses, rum; goods are traded to Europe
Royal African Company
English wanted their own source of slaves for growing plantations in Caribbean colonies
Establish trade forts in Africa to obtain slaves

18. Plantations Plantations became the focus of African slave life
Atlantic slaves were mostly men and used for plantation labor.
Sugar plantations in Brazil and Caribbean
Cotton and tobacco fields in British North America
Slaves performed many occupations: shop helpers, street vendors, household servants

19. American Slave Societies
Terminology
Saltwater slaves (African-born)
Creole slaves (American-born descendants of African slaves)
Some were mulattos as result of sexual exploitation of slave women
Hierarchy of slaves created by slave-owners
Creoles and mulattos given more opportunities to acquire skilled jobs, such as house-hold servants
Family formation was difficult for slaves as families may be separated at any time
Male to female ratio sometimes 3:1

20. Religion and Rebellions
African Religion in the Americas
Conversion to Christianity by Europeans
African religions continued despite attempts by slave owners to suppress them
Often Christianity and African religions (including Islam) were fused
Some African nobles and religious leaders still exercised authority within African community
Rebellions
Palmares, : runaway slave kingdom in Brazil that resisted Portuguese and Dutch attempts to destroy it for 100 years
Suriname: plantation colony where large numbers of slaves ran off in 18th c. and waged war against captors

21. Effects of Slave Trade on Africa
Endless wars between African kingdoms and tribes promoted the importance of weaponry  sale of captive Africans was a way to obtain European gunnery
Most powerful African communities quickly became those who were willing to trade slaves with Europeans
Obtained in exchange: firearms, iron, horses, cloth, tobacco
Result: Gun and Slave Cycle
Increase firepower allowed African states to expand over neighbors, producing more slaves, which they traded for European guns
Result: unending warfare and disruption of societies through slave trade
Europeans intensified African enslavement that had already existed.

22. Asante and Dahomey
Two major empires rose to prominence in the Slave Trade period.
Asante: dominant state on Gold Coast
20 small states
Access to firearms
Osei Tutu: supreme civil and religious leader
Controlled gold-producing zones (1/3 of total trade) and traded slaves (2/3 of total trade)
Dominant slave trading state of Gold Coast until 1820s
Dahomey
Gain access to firearms in 1720s: creates autocratic and brutal political regime based on obtainment of slaves to trade to Europeans
Over 1.8 million slaves exported

23. East Africa
Swahili trading cities continued commerce in Indian Ocean, adjusting to military presence of Portuguese and Ottoman Turks
Plantation colonies quickly established along eastern coast of Africa and on Indian Ocean islands
Trade brought ivory, gold, slaves for harems and households of Arabia
By 19th century slaves made up 50% of the population
Process of Islamization continues across Western Sudan
In some societies, Islam is still confined to upper classes
Other communities see Islam accepted at all levels
By 1840’s new political units were created

24. White Settlers and Africans in Southern Africa
16th c.: Bantu-speaking peoples occupied eastern regions of southern Africa.
Agriculture, herding, work with iron and copper
1652: Cape of Good Hope established as a Dutch colony for ships sailing to Asia
Initially dependent on slave labor brought from Asia but quickly turn towards African labor
Competition and warfare with indigenous Africans
By 1800: 17,000 settlers, 26,000 slaves
White Settlers and Africans in Southern Africa

25. The Zulu Kingdom 1795: Great Britain seized Cape Colony from Dutch
Shaka Zulu (rules ): Nguni leader of Zulu Kingdom who began African unification process in 1818
Militaristic kingdom; absorbed neighbors to build resistance against British
Mfecane ( ): period of chaos amongst indigenous African communities in southern Africa; multiple civil wars and chaos between tribes
Anglo-Zulu Wars of 1879: Battle between British Empire and Zulu Kingdom
Despite some Zulu wins (Isandlwana), the war resulted in a British victory and the end of the Zulu Kingdom’s independence

26. The Abolition of Slavery
Economic, political and religious changes are occurring in Europe and the colonies that prompt changes in attitudes towards slavery.
Opponents of slavery and brutality of trade appeared into the mid-18th century.
Response to Enlightenment thinkers
Slavery seen as backward, immoral, inhumane, cruel
1807: British slave trade was abolished
Abolitionists: John Wesley and William Wilberforce
1865: U.S. abolishes slavery with 13th Amendment
1888: Brazilian slave trade was abolished

27. Compare and Contrast European encounters in Africa and Latin America
Economic
Political
Social
Slavery in Brazil and the British North American colonies

28. Change and Continuity Over Time
How Europeans and the slave trade changed Africa
Political structures
Demography
Economics / trade

29. PRACTICE: In the beginning of the Early Modern Age, the relationship between Europeans and Africa and Africans was
Often one of relative equality in which no one power was dominant
One of mutual respect
An inferior status with Europeans pre-dominating
Dominated by superior European technology
Contentious and led to constant warfare

30. In the beginning of the Early Modern Age, the relationship between Europeans and Africa and Africans was
A -Often one of relative equality in which no one power was dominant
As conquest and exploitation progressed, the relationship deteriorated from its original state of equality.

31. The slave trade out of Africa was controlled by
African trading guilds
Key African forest kingdoms such as Benin, Oyo, Ashante, and Kongo
European slave traders and African rulers working jointly
Muslim traders
The Europeans, especially the Dutch and Portuguese

32. The slave trade out of Africa was controlled by
C - European slave traders and African rulers working jointly
While Africans rulers were responsible for supplying slaves, they linked with Europeans along the coast who transported the slaves.

33. The trans-Atlantic slave trade differed from the trans-Saharan slave trade to the Muslim world in that
The trans-Atlantic was less brutal than the trans-Saharan slave trade
The trans-Saharan slave trade included women for domestic work as s concubines
The Atlantic route transported whole families to the Americas, whereas the trans-Saharan trade broke up families
The trade to the Muslim world ended before the trans-Atlantic trade began.
More people were transported across the Sharar than across the Atlantic.

34. The trans-Atlantic slave trade differed from the trans-Saharan slave trade to the Muslim world in that
B – The chief difference was in the gdnder makeup of the slaves, and in the kind of work for which slaves were destined. A and E state the opposite of the truth, both trades broke up families.