Transcript Who were the first slaves?

Origins of slavery
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A slave is someone who is deprived of their
freedom and forced to work for someone else
without reward
◦ They are the property of the slave owner
◦ They can be bought and sold
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Slaves can be men, women, adults or children
who were born to slave parents were
considered slaves as soon as they were born.
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The earliest recorded slaves lived in
Mesopotamia (now Iraq) around 3500 BC.
Chinese rulers owned salves 3000 years ago
and when they died their slaves were killed
and buried with him to serve him in the after
life.
Slaves built the pyramids of Egypt, rowed
Greek war ships and the Romans had slaves
from all over Europe.
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In the Middle Ages European explorers
discovered Africa and the Americas.
Slavery had existed in Africa for generations
with people from sub-Saharan Africa being
taken to the Arabian countries to work.
The Europeans (English, French, Danish,
Dutch & Portuguese) saw an oppertunity to
make money taking people from Africa and
selling them into slavery in Europe and the
“New World”
During the duration of the
trans-Atlantic slave trade
St Helena
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Local African raiders attacked village after
village kidnapping men women & children.
The captured slaves were marched to the
coast being passed from one trader to
another.
Many died on the way all were terrified most
had never left their tribal area and they had
never seen the sea.
They were then locked in pens or in forts
until they were sold to the Europeans.
Voyages lasted 12 weeks or more
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Slaves were branded with hot irons like cattle
They were manacled and chained together
Packed do tightly into the dark hold that they
often could not sit down.
The hold stank as the people had to go to the
toilet, be sea sick etc where they stood.
Many caught diseases like dysentery and
smallpox.
Some committed suicide.
Millions died on the ships.
An iron was locked on
to each leg of the
slaves often linking
them together for the
whole voyage. This
stopped the people
escaping – even if the
ship sank or was
attacked by pirates
Anyone who tried to
escape was flogged.
...About 8 o’clock in the morning the Negroes
are generally brought upon deck. Their irons
being examined, a long chain, which is locked
to a ring-bolt, fixed in the deck, is run
through the rings of the shackles of the men
and then locked to another ring-bolt fixed
also in the deck. By this means fifty or sixty
and sometimes more are fastened to one
chain, in order to prevent them from rising or
endeavouring to escape...
An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa,
Alexander Falconbridge, 1788
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Slaves were pre-sold by merchants or publicly
auctioned and may be bought or sold many
times during their lives.
Families were often split up, children were
taken from their parents.
They were humiliated by having their teeth,
muscles and private parts of their bodies
publicly examined.
They were then usually branded with their
owner’s mark.
The first priority of the owner was to break the
spirit and identity of their new purchase.
 African names were replaced with European
ones.
 Made to do hard labour for long hours each
day.
 Often they were bullied and beaten
sometimes dying as a result.
 Living conditions were overcrowded and food
was limited and education was not allowed.
The type of work
 Cooking
 Cleaning
 Childcare
 Maintenance
 Cattle care
 Mining
 Milling
 Cotton picking
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Clearing land
Planting cotton,
coffee, sugar
Quarrying
Harvesting
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Slaves were chattels – they belonged to their
owner just like a cup or plate except resented
because they had to be fed!
The laws of Europe and the New World
protected the owner not the slave.
The Africans were thought of like animals (in
fact often the owners treated their animals
better).
The “Civilised Europeans” had the right to do
as they pleased with the savages.
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These are the basic principles of freedom &
justice that most people would want in their
lives.
During the 18th Century leading European
writers began to discuss human rights
Their ideas about freedom were applied to
the debate about slavery which had grown up
following a series of slave “rebellions” around
the world
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Many people and in particular the Quakers ( a
Christian movement dedicated to peace,
justice & equality) were very concerned at the
misery involved in the trades involving slaves.
Slavery was made illegal in England in 1772
and Scotland in 1778.
However it was still legal to own & trade
slaves overseas.
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William Wilberforce led the champagne for
the abolition of the Slave Trade in Parliament.
Freed slaves like Olaudah Equiano also spoke
out powerfully to politicians and the public to
help them understand what life as a slave was
like
The Slave Trade Act of 1807 ended the slave
trade in the British colonies, but the condition
of slavery was not abolished until 1833.
“As soon as ever I had arrived thus far in my
investigations of the slave trade, I confess to
you sir, so enormous, so dreadful, so
irredeemable did its wickedness appear that my
own mind was completely made up for the
abolition. A trade founded on iniquity and
carried on as it was, must be abolished, let the
policy be what it might, let the consequences be
what they would, I from this time determined
that I would never rest till I had effected its
abolition.”
William Wilberforce MP, speech to the
House of Commons 12th May 1789
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It took the American Civil War and the
addition of the 13th Amendment to the
Constitution to bring about an end to slavery
in America in 186.
In 1870 African Americans got the right to
vote
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By1673 over half the island’s population were slaves.
In 1818 following an incident where a slave owner was
fined for severely whipping a young slave girl, Governor
Hudson Lowe convened a meeting of inhabitants, urging
the abolition of slavery on the Island.
At first, all children born of a slave woman after Christmas
Day 1818 were to be free, but considered as apprentices
until the age of 18.
Masters also had to enforce the attendance of these freeborn children at church and Sunday schools.
The complete emancipation from slavery eventually
happened in 1832 when the East India Company
purchased the freedom of the last 614 slaves in private
ownership.
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St Helena was used as landing place for slaves who
were captured by the Royal Navy during the
suppression of the slave trade in the mid 19th
century.
In a 30 year period, around 26,000 freed slaves were
brought to the island after being rescued from slave
traders.
However, the horrifying conditions aboard the ships
meant that many did not survive their journey even
after they had been freed.
It is estimated that at least 5,000 people died and
were buried on the island.
Slaves brought to the island were put in internment
camps and those who were to remain, became paid
servants and labourers.
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Slavery still affects the lives of over 27 million
people world wide today
That is more today than in 300 years of
trans-Atlantic slavery
These present day evils take many forms
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From 2006-2008, an archaeological
excavation was conducted at Rupert’s
The dig found 325 individuals from single,
multiple and mass graves.
Most were placed in shallow graves without
coffins
◦ only five had burial containers and these were all
young people
◦ Some were tiny babies
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Analysis shows that 83 per cent of the bodies
were those of children, teenagers or young
adults.
It is thought that many on arrival of
dehydration, dysentery and smallpox that
they had developed before being freed.
Scurvy was widespread on the skeletons.
Several showed indications of violence.
Two older children appear to have been shot.
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Despite its horrific nature, the archaeology that
these were people from a rich culture, with a
strong sense of ethnic and personal identity.
There were numerous examples of dental
modifications, achieved by chipping or carving
of the front teeth.
A few had items of jewellery (beads and
bracelets), despite the physical ‘stripping
process’ that would have taken place after their
capture, prior to embarkation on the slave ships
“Studies of slavery usually deal with
unimaginable numbers, work on an
impersonal level, and, in so doing, overlook
the individual victims. In Rupert’s Valley,
however, the archaeology brings us (quite
literally) face-to-face with the human
consequences of the slave trade.”
Dr Andrew Pearson who carried out the dig on
the Rupert’s Valley site
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No slavery still exists all over the world in
many different forms
Over 27 million people are estimated to
farced to live a life of servitude TODAY
That is more than the total number of slaves
taken from Africa in 300 years
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People become bonded labourers by taking or
being tricked into taking a loan for a very small
amount of money. To repay the debt, many are
forced to work long hours, 7 days a week, up
to 365 days a year. They receive basic food and
shelter as 'payment' for their work, but may
never pay off the loan, which can be passed
down for generations. It has been calculated
that the number of debt bondage slaves was
18.1 million at the end of 2006
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Early and forced marriage affects women
and girls who are married without choice
and are forced into lives of servitude. They
are often beaten by their husbands, his
other wives and their mother-in-law.
Girls who fight back or run away are often
killed by their fathers or brothers to protect
the family honor.
UK police recorded at least 2,823 so-called
honour attacks last year, figures from 39
out of 52 forces show.
A freedom of information request by the Iranian and Kurdish
Women's Rights Organisation (Ikwro) revealed that nearly 500
of these were in London.
Among the 12 forces also able to provide figures from 2009,
there was an overall 47% rise in such incidents.
'Mutilations'
Such attacks can include acid attacks, abduction, mutilations,
beatings and in some cases, murder.
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Forced labour affects people who are
illegally recruited by individuals,
governments or political parties and forced
to work - usually under threat of violence
or other penalties.
The International Labour Organization (ILO)
estimates that at least 12.3 million people
are victims of forced labour worldwide
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Trafficking involves the transport and/or
trade of people; women, children and men
from one area to another for the purpose of
forcing them into slavery conditions.
They may be forced into
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Prostitution
Sweat shop labour
Drug/arms smuggling
Fighting in wars as conscripts
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The Worst forms of child labour affects an
estimated 126 million children (as defined by
ILO) around the world in work that is harmful
to their health and welfare
The ILO also estimates there were 153 million
child labourers aged 5-14 worldwide in 2008.
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Almost 14% of children are working illegally in the eyes of
international law. In sub-Saharan Africa, this proportion rises
to 25%.
Countries with a particularly high incidence of child labour
include Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Yemen.
The global total includes 115 million children under 18
engaged in hazardous work, such as handling chemicals,
carrying heavy loads, mining, quarrying or enduring long
hours.
Almost 70% of child labour is unpaid work within extended
family networks.
Most occurs in developing countries, with about 60% of child
workers engaged in agriculture and fisheries. Other
occupations include domestic service, factory production and
backstreet workshops.
The most distressing category of child labour relates to those
children caught up in criminal activities such as prostitution,
military enrolment, slavery (such as bonded labour), or
trafficking (which involves the removal of a child from its home,
often involving deception and payment, for a wide range of
exploitative purposes).