Africa and the Africans in the Age of the Atlantic Slave Trade

Chapter 21

An Overview of Section 4-5: Africa

 Africans are forcibly removed from Africa  African culture plays an important role in the development of American civilizations  Islam consolidated its position in sub-Saharan and east Africa  Most of Africa remains independent states

Portuguese 1 st Europeans in Africa (1400s)

• Portuguese set up forts along African coast to trade (these forts were called factories) • Factories allowed them to trade w/out needing many Portuguese people there • Portugal allied w/local rulers who allowed factories in return for Portuguese products and protection

El Mina

• Most important Portuguese trading factory • Built 1482 in West African forest where gold was

Portuguese Take Over Existing Trade Routes

• For example, they traded with Mali and Songhay • Portuguese traded along the Gold Coast (specifically kingdom of Benin)

Portuguese Work to Convert African Rulers

• Nzinga Mvemba (1507-1543) = Ruler of Kongo, Portuguese converted him and entire kingdom and Mvemba tried to “Europeanize” his people

Luanda

• Portuguese factory south of Kongo • Start of Portuguese control of Angola

Not Just Slaves, But Mostly Slaves

• Portugal interested in Africa for gold, pepper, and other resources, but also slavery • Portuguese began importing slaves from Africa in 1400s • Europeans mostly got slaves by trading for them from local African rulers

Sugar Plantations = Slavery!

• Slave trade expanded greatly when Spain and Portugal established sugar plantations on islands they owned in the Atlantic and then in America • By 1600, the major form of commerce in Africa was the slave trade

• From 1450 to 1850, 12 million Africans shipped across Atlantic to Americas as slaves • Needed a lot of slaves b/c so many died and low birth rates (not as many women brought in) • 42% of all slaves went to Brazil (largest of any area in the Americas)

Demographic Patterns

• Most slaves shipped across Atlantic were men (planters in America wanted men to do work) • African societies lacked men, and populations were lower than they would have w/no slave trade • New foods from the Americas (like maize) introduced to Africa through slave trade

1. The first European nation to visit and to exploit Africa was

a) Spain b) Portugal c) France d) England

2. Portuguese missionaries were most successful on their activities in

a) Morocco b) Benin c) Ghana d) Kongo

3. The European slave trade out of Africa arose and expanded when

a) Europeans began supplying Muslim slave markets in the Middle East b) Europe conquered the coasts of West Africa c) Gold was discovered in Iberia necessitating greater numbers of laborers d) Sugar plantations were established were established on the Atlantic islands and in the Americas

4. The large numbers and high volume of Africans in the slave trade was necessary because

a) Most Africans escaped from slavery before arriving b) The mortality of slaves was high and their fertility rate was low c) African slaves were also needed on estates in Europe after the black death d) European slavers also supplied Muslim and Asian markets

5. Most slaves transported out of Africa went

a) To the Muslim states of the Red Sea b) Across the Sahara to north Africa c) Across the Atlantic to the Americas d) To Europe

6. The largest number of African slaves sent to the Americas went to

a) British and French islands of the Caribbean b) Brazil c) The slave states of the United States d) The Spanish colonies along the Pacific coast

Enter the Dutch, English, and French

• Early on, Portugal controlled slave trade, but after 1630, other Europeans got involved • Dutch, British and French got involved • The British began the Royal African Company to run their slave trade

Europeans Copy Portuguese Model

• Europeans set up factories along coast and allied with local rulers (gave gifts in return for slaves) • Indies pieces – name Spanish used for male slaves, which were valued much higher than women or children

Slaves Valuable to European Economy

• Slavery was important to European economy – slaves used on plantations in their colonies • Triangular Trade = Trade that linked Africa, America, and Europe (slaves to America; sugar, tobacco to Europe; European goods sent to Africa) –

see next slide for map

• Slave trade helped contribute to the growth of capitalism (people profited off the trade)

African Enslaved Africans

• Slavery existed in Africa before the Europeans • Africans enslaved many women, and rulers had large harems, reducing status of women • Slave trade intensified and expanded when Europeans arrived

Europeans Tap Into Existing Slave Trade

• Europeans able to gain slaves quickly b/c they were able to control already existing slave trade routes • African rulers of large, centralized states enslaved their neighbors, and traded them to Europeans

Slavery and African Politics

• Europeans set up factories (forts) along coast of Africa to trade slaves • The most powerful African states became the ones located just inside the coast which could get firearms from Europeans and use them to go inland and capture more slaves to trade to the Europeans • As result of slave trade, constant wars occurred in Africa as these states competed to gain slaves

Asante (Ashanti)

• Example of empire just inside African Coast (along the Gold Coast) that rose through the slave trade • Began in 1651 by the Oyoko clan of the Akan people • Used firearms from Europeans to capture and trade slaves to the Europeans

Dahomey

• Another example of empire just inside African coast that rose through the slave trade • Like Asante, these African societies creative in the arts (bronze-casting, woodcarving, and weaving flourished) • Best artisans worked for the rulers, and their art honored the rulers, and had religious overtones

East Africa and the Sudan

• East coast of Africa (Swahili Coast) not as much affected by trans-Atlantic slave trade • States continued commerce in Indian Ocean, though now Portuguese and Ottomans involved • Majority of slaves from east coast sent to Arabia and Middle East

The Interior of East Africa

• Not as much known about this region at the time b/c had little contact with outside world • Movement to spread Islam occurred beginning in 1770s along northern savanna • Fulani = pastoral people of western Sudan who established an Islamic state

7. The slave trade out of Africa was controlled by

a) African trading guilds b) European slave traders and African rulers working jointly c) Muslim traders d) The Europeans, especially the Dutch and Portuguese

8. Which of these statements about slavery in Africa is a FACT?

a) African societies did not practice chattel slavery b) The Europeans introduced slavery as an important institution c) Most African slaves could attain their freedom d) The European slave trade tapped into preexisting routes

Southern Africa

• Dutch East India Company established colony at Cape of Good Hope in 1652 (called Cape Colony) • Dutch settlers (known as Boers or Afrikaners) began building large plantations using slave labor

Bantu v. Dutch

• The majority of Africans who lived in South Africa were Bantu people, organized into several small kingdoms • The Boers (Dutch) began expanding further north past the Orange River, taking them in contact with the Bantu people

Enter the British

• 1815 - British got control of Cape Colony from Dutch • Tried to stop the fights b/t Boers and Bantu • 1834 - British outlawed slavery and restricted amount of land Boers could have (to make peace with Africans)

The Boers Respond to British Policies

• Great Trek (1834) = Boers responded to British policies by moving further north where they established several autonomous Boer states • But that took them into a region where the Bantu peoples were having deadly civil wars

The Bantu Wars and Rise of the Zulu

• Bantu wars known as the Mfecane • Kingdom of Zulu, led by Shaka, were the big winners of these wars and emerged as main power in southern Africa

South Africa a Mess

• Southern Africa was in great turmoil as Africans were fighting off Zulu expansion, and the Boers (Dutch settler), with their superior weapons, continued to control much land

The African Diaspora (Dispersal)

• Africa was drawn into world economy through the slave trade • Africa imported European firearms, Indian textiles, and American tobacco, in return for gold, ivory, and slaves

A Slave’s Life

• Slave conditions brutal - 1/3 of slaves died along the way to wherever they were being sent • Middle Passage = slave voyage from Africa to America in horrible conditions • Despite being transplanted, Africans kept culture (languages, beliefs, art) and brought it to America

Africans in America

• Most slaves brought to the Americas to work on plantations, though performed other labor also

American Slave Societies

• American slaves each had distinct culture (based on where they came from in Africa) though had some similarities • Social hierarchy based on race: whites at top and lighter skinned slaves higher than dark skinned • 2 groups of slaves emerged: - Salt water slaves = African born - Creole slaves = American born

Slaves in America

• Caribbean = Saltwater slaves; high mortality rates led to need for more slaves to be imported; slaves actually made up majority of population b/c Indians had died out and not many Europeans settled in Caribbean • Southern Colonies of North America = Creole slaves

Slave Problems

• Work conditions were exhausting and most had short life span • African slaves tried to preserve families, but was difficult b/c not many women slaves, and families were often separated

African Keep Culture While Adapting

• Africans brought to America kept much of their culture, while adapting to their new surroundings • Converted to Christianity, but kept their old religious ideas and practices too

Slave Resistance

• There were many examples of slave resistance and rebellions in the Americas • Suriname = Former Dutch colony in South America where runaway slaves were able to maintain independence and crush all those sent to capture them

Africa at End of Slave Trade

• The end of the Atlantic slave trade came b/c of changes in Europe and the Americas • England played big role in ending the slave trade, ending the British slave trade in 1807, and pressuring other nations to do the same • Full end to slavery in the Americas came in 1888 when Brazil abolished slavery

Impact of Slave trade

• The slave trade drew Africa into the world commercial system with various results • In some areas, the outcome was the formation of more centralized kingdoms. • Coercive labor patterns continued to rule in Africa, even after slave trade abolished.

9. All American slave societies recognized hierarchical distinctions based on

a) Religious affiliations b) Ownership of property c) Usefulness of skills performed d) Color of skin – the lighter the skin, the higher the status

Cultural Views

• From 1400s to 1800s, Europeans looked to Africa as source of slave labor for plantations • African people got European manufactured goods (especially firearms) in return for slaves • Slave trade finally ended in the early 1800s • The impact of the slave trade varied over time and from one African society to another • Some African kingdoms escaped slavery's tentacles because they actively resisted or their lands were distant from the major slave ports • Other societies flourished during the early modern times and benefited economically from the slave trade.

Negative Interaction

• On whole, however, Africa suffered serious losses, both demographically and socially • Atlantic slave trade deprived African societies of 16 million individuals, and perhaps another 5 million consumed by the continuing Islamic slave trade during the early modern era • The slave trade also distorted sex ratios, since most exported slaves were males • By the 1700s, some African states responded to this sexual imbalance through polygamy, changes in subsistence patterns and changes in gendered economic roles