Transcript Slide 1
Chapter 21 – Africa in an Era of Slave Trade Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade This is a chapter on processes and impacts What institutions were involved in the slave trade and in what order? How did technological developments contribute to the slave trade? What was the social impact of the slave trade in the Americas? In West Africa? What role did Africa have in the Columbian Exchange? Stages Portuguese established trading forts (factories); ie El Mina – gold from interior Most forts established with permission from African kings who desired trade. Portuguese and African traders (landcados) followed routes to the interior to open new markets. Missionary efforts followed – really only Benin and Kongo had any early success. King Nzinga Mvemba for trade relationship In the 1570’s Luanda and Angola were established among the Mbundu. In the Indian Ocean they established bases on Mozambique island to control gold trade from Monomotapa. Other Europeans followed Portuguese patterns and in almost all instances slavery eventually became the principal focus of relationships. Organization of Trade Before 1630 the Portuguese were the original suppliers. The Dutch then took over el Mina and became suppliers. By 1660, the English were supplying their own colonies. The French followed in the 1700’s. Each nation established forts for receiving slaves. The value of a man (Indies Piece) was calculated in currencies such as iron bars, brass rings and cowry shells. Dahomey had a royal monopoly on slave flow. The Slave Trade 1. Existed in Africa before the coming of the Europeans. 2. Portuguese replaced European slaves with Africans. Sugar cane & sugar plantations. First boatload of African slaves brought by the Spanish in 1518. 275,000 enslaved Africans exported to other countries. 3. Between 1450-1850, about 12 million Africans shipped to the Americas. Impact of technological development Slave Ship “Middle Passage” “Coffin” Position Below Deck African Captives Thrown Overboard Sharks followed the slave ships! Trend Toward Expansion Out of those slaves exported, only 10 or 11 million arrived alive. A number equal to 1/3 of that number is believed to have perished in initial raids to collect and the march from the interior to the African coast. 80% of the slaves that came, came in the 1700s = 18th century. Brazil received 40% of the slaves coming to the Americas. At the same time, there were still African slaves being traded by the Muslims around 3 million. Demographic Patterns The Muslim slave trade carried mostly women for sexual and domestic employment. The Atlantic trade forcused on young men fit for hard labor. African societies who sold slaves might keep women and children for their own uses. West African population is believed to have been half of what it would have been without the trade. Maize and Manioc helped suffering regions to recover from population losses. Relationship between cash crops, Columbian Exchange and the social impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Sugar Tobacco Okra Rice Question of Profitability First of all, the profits of the slave trade have been linked to the rise of commercial capitalism and the Industrial Revolution. Individual voyages did bring profits to merchants and ports involved, but… There were risks in the business such as loss of life by mutiny or loss of valuable property as a potential slave. Infections from dying slaves on the ships. Etc. English profitability in the late 1700’s was about 5 to 10% profit which is equal to other commercial ventures, but with more risk. Of course the labor it supplied was essential to the mining and agricultural economies that built American capitalism. The triangle trade incorporated Africa into the world economy. 5. New Patterns of World Trade African Societies Individuals who could somehow get themselves a slave could gain wealth and status for themselves and their lineage. Slaves were treated differently depending on the local system Kinship systems were normally less severe Under centralized hierarchical societies, slaves were economically and socially exploited. Slaving and African Politics Most of the states of west and central Africa were small and unstable. The continuing wars elevated the importance of the military and promoted the slave trade. Increasing centralization and hierarchy developed in the enslaving societies Those attacked reacted by augmenting selfsufficiency and antiauthoritarian ideas. A result of the presence of the Europeans along the western coast was a shift of the locus of African power. Inland states close to the coast, and therefore free from direct European influence, through access to Western firearms and other goods, became intermediaries in the trade and expanded their influence. Asante The Asante were between the Hausa and the coast. They gained access to firearms in 1650 and began centralizing and expanding Osei Tutu became asantehene – supreme civil and military leader By 1700, they were doing business directly with the Dutch. Maintained power until the 1820’s Fall of Benin, Rise of Dahomey Benin was at the height of its power when European arrived. The ruler controlled the trade with Europeans and slaves were never a primary commodity. Dahomey, however, emerged in the seventeenth century and by the 1720’s had access to firearms leading to the formation of an autocratic regime based on trading slaves. The states maintained its policies into the nineteenth century. New Form of Religion Vodun in the Caribbean Overall Effects Too much emphasis on the slave trade obscures creative processes occurring in many African states. Growing divine authority of rulers paralleled the rise of absolutism in Europe. New political forms emerged that limited the power of some monarchs. In the Yoruba state of Oyo, a council and king shared authority Art, crafts, weaving, and woodcarving flourished in many regions. Benin and Yoruba states created remarkable wood and ivory sculptures. East African Slaves Swahili trade towns had been active since the Muslim trade began; that continued. The commerce that went out of those ports included ivory, gold and slaves. Those items usually went to Middle Eastern markets. A few slaves went to European colonies. On Zanzibar and other islands, Arabs , Indians, and Swahili produced cloves with slave labor. Inland East Africa Migrants from the Upper Nile valley moved into Uganda and Kenya where they mixed with Bantu-speaking inhabitants. Strong monarchies developed in Bunyoro and Buganda. Sudan The process of Islamization entered a new phase linking it to the external slave trade. In the 16th Century Songhay broke into Bambara of Segu – pagan Hausa states of northern Nigeria – Muslim/animistic 1770’s Sudan underwent Muslim reforms New Muslim reforms in West African interior accelerated cultural and social change by the 1840’s Local slave labor also increased in agricultural and manufacturing enterprises.