The forcible removal and transportation of millions of African men and women to the Americas took place for over three centuries starting in the mid 1400’s and ending in the late 1800’s. The importation and enslavement of Africans resulted in great economic growth as well as a resettling of the American Continents. An estimated 6.5 million people came to the Western Hemisphere. 83 percent of the people arriving were African slaves. The slave trade sets the precedence for capitalism. This was because the labor of the slaves generated great wealth for businesses in America and Europe. The slave trade added to the economic development of northwestern Europe, while also creating a single Atlantic world that would include Europe, Africa, the Caribbean islands, and North and South America. In this paper I will look at the effects of the transatlantic slave trade on Africa and the Western world.
General History of Slavery
Slavery itself was a social convention that had existed for centuries. It can be found in the histories of every culture, race and religion. In fact, one of the earliest references to slavery can be found in the Code of Hammurabi written around 1760 BC where it says “the shepherd of the oppressed and of the slaves” (Curtin). Slaves were an important part of the economy of many societies. Many people became slaves as a result of war or to pay off a debt. Even though it was a social norm the owning of slaves before the fifteenth century was quite different from what it would become. First the institution of slavery prior to the transatlantic slave trade was not focused of race, but on subjugating a people after conquering them. Secondly, in many cases slaves could buy their own freedom or be freed upon their owner’s death. Finally, the treatment of slaves varied depending on the culture and their duties. In Ancient Greece and Rome, a number of slaves were educated and in many African countries slaves could marry into the owner’s family and rise in status.
Background of the Transatlantic slave trade
The Portuguese were the first to deal with the slave trade in what is referred to as the First Atlantic System. In the early stages of the slave trade which started in the middle of the fifteenth century (Anstey), Portuguese cargo ships were attempting to find a way to get around the Muslim North Africans so they were traveling down Africa’s west coast mapping out the area (White). Beginning in 1494 the Portuguese had entered into a number of agreements with various African rulers that permitted trade between their countries (Thornton and Thornton). At first the slaves that the Portuguese obtained were removed in relatively small numbers to Europe or an island off the African Coast. The Portuguese completed the first transatlantic trip to the Americas in 1526 (Weber). They became the first slave traders to the Americas when they began to transport African slaves to cultivate sugar and mine gold on Hispaniola as slaves. They were also made to drain the lakes of the Mexican plateau. This was done as a reminder of the defeat of the Aztec nation. The Portuguese would also transport slaves to various countries in Europe. Records have been found of African slaves in Europe, India, the Indian Ocean islands, Persia, The Middle East, North Africa and Russia. This lasted until 1580 when Spain and Portugal were temporarily reunited and Portugal was forbidden from being directly involved in the slave trade.
Portugal was soon joined by the Dutch, English French, and the Spanish (Klein)The Dutch and English began to attack the Portuguese ships while also raiding and plundering Africa as well. During the beginning of the slave trade. Europe was primarily interested in Senegambia. This was because the region which included Mali and Ghana was known to have large amounts of gold. Much of the early slave trade was fueled by the Europeans desire for gold. Portugal would develop political and commercial relations with present day Nigeria and Congo. Congo became a Christianized country and was destabilized by the slave trade. Nigeria restricted the influence of the Portuguese.
In the mid- seventeenth century the slave trade became even more intense. This was because of the ever growing sugar plantations as well as the introduction of various other crops to the America’s such as cocoa, coffee, cotton, indigo, rice, and tobacco (Mannix)This would result in an estimated seven million Africans being forcibly brought over the Americas from 1650-1807. The slave trade grew as entrepreneurs and slave traders became rich off the sale and labor of Africans slaves.
In 1807 Britain and America placed a ban on the importation of captives. Slave traders began bringing in slaves illegally and Africans slaves already in North America were not freed. Prior to the ban North America and Great Britain had been responsible for bringing over nearly 29 percent of the slaves to the America’s. This lasted until the 1860’s. The countries of Brazil, Cuba, and Puerto Rico were the primary destinations for African slaves because it was no longer legal to bring them into Great Britain, France, or the French Colonies in the Caribbean, North America, or many countries in South America. Despite this the number of deported Africans did not decline until the 1840’s. The vast majority of African slaves were brought over to the Americas as a result of kidnapping, raiding, and war. In fact, several wars played a crucial part in the slave trade.
The Akan wars during the last part of the seventeenth century and the first half of the eighteenth century. the Aken wars were a fight for supremacy between a number of states in the Gold Coast vicinity. Akwamu, Akyem, Asante, Denkyira, and Fante, and groups fought for more than fifty years to have dominance in the region. The Asante would emerge as the dominant force in the mid-eighteenth century. in Nigeria the Oyo had become the dominate power by defeating the Bariba, Nupe and Yorubian states. The conflicts among numerous Gibe groups caused the rise of Dahomey and its defeat of Allada in 1724. The victors took over the port of Whydah three years later. They were then made to pay homage to the more dominant Oyo. These wars were responsible for the expatriation of more than a million Africans along Nigeria’s coast.
The Kongo civil wars which ended in 1740 after sixty years of fighting was responsible for the capture and enslavement of many people. There was also a spread of radical Islam across Africa beginning in Senegambia in the late seventeenth century. this led to two political changes. The development of the Muslim states of Futa Jallon and Futa Toro. The jihad undertaking continued into the nineteenth century. The members of the jihad movement played a part in the fall of the Oyo, when Nigeria’s war in the Hausa states caused political tensions with the Muslims. The rise in the importation of firearms helped to increase the intensity of wars. This also contributed to the increased number of people who were enslaved. The Europeans sought to gain slaves directly from battle or as political favors for being on the “right” side.
War was not the only way in which Africans were enslaved. They were also enslaved by legal and religious means and as punishments for crimes. These means resulted in people accused of witchcraft, crimes, troublemaking being enslaved. Family members would also dismiss troublesome family members from their homes by enslavement. People especially children would be held in return for payments of debts. These individuals were almost always protected from being enslaved. Despite the protections on people used as collateral. There were many collectors that put illegal demands on the debtor. Sometimes the person was taken from the community and relatives that would act to protect them. Many Africans were kidnapped and sold into slavery.
In order to protect their communities and families from the burgeon threat of being enslaved. Many African governments created policies and developed means that would limit the slave trade’s impact. The African people did the best they could to protect their families. People offered themselves in exchange for others. They tried to pay to have family members released. Africans who were taken resisted their captors by attacking ships, ports and slave depots. This was all for naught as Africa’s fragmented society, which included a number of small states that were ruled by secret societies caused it to be impossible to implement and create a form of government that could resist both slavery itself or the effects of slavery on the region.
Distinct trade routes were established and European Port and African Ports were readily utilized in the commission of the slave trade. The European ports were in Amsterdam, Bristol, Lisbon, Liverpool, London, and Nantes. In Africa the ports were Angola, Bight of Benin and the Bight of Biafra, Cabinda and Laos. At first the European countries tried to control the trade of slaves by using companies that were created under the law or royal decree. These efforts to create monopolies were not successful because they challenged by private companies and pirates. Each port had their own techniques when it came to marketing and trading. Some of these techniques included slave factories, “castles”, trading depots and forts.
Trade was bolstered by the fact that credit was often used to purchase slaves. Merchants would advance slave traders merchandise on credit for payment in captives. The commodities sent to Africa in exchange for the slaves were things that might be used as currency, such as bars of iron, cloth strips, copper jewelry, gold and silver coins. Military supplies including firearms were also bartered for slaves. These firearms were the primary factor in the Gold Coast Wars that brought about the enslavement of numerous people before allowing the Asante to rise as the political leaders of the Gold Coast region. In the minor trading posts of the upper Guinea Coast merchants accepted relatives of local officials and merchants as collateral. These pawns would later be enslaved if debts were not repaid. Many European merchants married the women of the Angola and Senegambia regions. This enabled these women to make a great amount of wealth by acting as merchants and agents themselves. There mixed race children would become intermediary merchants working along the African coast.
Slave trade was a very risky venture. The captured people could escape, commit suicide, be killed, or fall victim to a natural disaster or illness. There was also the fear of local traders reneging on their contracts by not providing the agreed upon number of slaves or by just disappearing with payment all together. The kidnapping and enslavement of millions of African people was driven by greed. The acquisition of slaves made it possible for plantation and other business owns in the Americas to make a huge profit. The slave traders also benefitted financially from the sale of slaves.
The slave trade also referred to as the Transatlantic Slave Trade or Triangular Trade linked the economies of three continents. There were an estimated 30 million people who were forcibly taken from their homes and communities and sold into slavery. The process of slave trading occurred in three steps (1) ships left Europe to go to Africa carrying a large number of goods that were to be exchanged for slaves. When they arrived they proceeded to trade their wares for captives. (2) Afterwards the slaves would be transported to the Americas in what is referred to as the Middle Passage to be sold (3) Finally, the slave traders would bring back to Europe commodities that were produced by the slaves.
The first part of the journey from Africa to The Americas was referred to as the “Middle Passage” this term has since become synonymous with the suffering of African men, women and children on the trip. There are over 30,000 documented accounts of transplanting Africans to the Americas. The Middle Passage could take as long as three months to arrive to their destination. Ships that were regulated to only hold 350 people were carrying more than 800. The people were branded and stripped naked during the trip. They were then forced to remain crammed lying down in rows in spaces that were too small to roll over. They laid chained in their own filth in the darkness of the bowel of the sweltering ships. The only time they were freed from their “spaces” were when they were forced to dance in order to prevent their limbs from atrophying from the lack of use.
Many attempted to starve themselves, but would be forced to eat by the crew breaking their teeth force feeding, torturing them hot coals or whippings. Besides the beating and mental abuse that the slaves were subjected to, they had their identities stripped from them. They were no longer individuals with rights, but commodities that could be used as the crew pleased. This led to many women, girls and boys being raped by the crew.
Despite all of the captives being from Africa, many had nothing in common. They were from different regions and spoke a number of different languages. Many found themselves creating new friendships in order to deal with their ordeal. These friendships led to revolts and other types of resistance. Ottobah Cugoano a captive described the attempted revolt organized on the ship that took him from the Gold Coast to Grenada: "when we found ourselves at last taken away, death was more preferable than life; and a plan was concerted amongst us, that we might burn and blow up the ship, and to perish all together in the flames . . . . It was the women and boys which were to burn the ship, with the approbation and groans of the rest; though that was prevented, the discovery was likewise a cruel bloody scene" ("NBCC | The Transatlantic Slave Trade").
Scholars find themselves debating the effect that the institution of slavery had on Africa itself. Some argue that the African countries were affected very little by the slave trade due to the wealth that they gained from it themselves. Others felt that slavery farther weakened the already delicate African societies and economies. It was later decided that the slave trade did have some economic benefits, while still having a negative impact on Africa. This is because while selling or trading slaves for commodities would bring short term wealth to the ruler and the region. It ultimately stymied the growth of the region because the people who would have been instrumental in initiating growth and change within the region were gone. This is because Africa lost a significant amount of its male population to slavery. This on top of the increased in weapons brought about a number of wars between various African countries which further destabilized the continent. This led to socio and economic weakness that allowed for farther exploitation by colonization.
Works cited
Anstey, Roger. The Atlantic Slave Trade And British Abolition, 1760-1810. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1975. Print.
Berlin, Ira. "The Discovery Of The Americas And The Transatlantic Slave Trade | The Gilder Lehrman Institute Of American History". Gilderlehrman.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 5 Apr. 2016.
Curtin, Philip D. The Atlantic Slave Trade. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969. Print.
Klein, Herbert S. The Atlantic Slave Trade. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Print.
Mannix, Daniel P. Black Cargoes. New York: Viking Press, 1962. Print.
"NBCC | The Transatlantic Slave Trade". Nbccongress.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 5 Apr. 2016.
"The Economics Of Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade". visionaryfoundation. N.p., 2014. Web. 5 Apr. 2016.
Thornton, John K, and John K Thornton. Africa And Africans In The Making Of The Atlantic World, 1400-1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Print.
"Transatlantic Slave Trade | United Nations Educational, Scientific And Cultural Organization". Unesco.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 5 Apr. 2016.
Weber, Greta. "Shipwreck Shines Light On Historic Shift In Slave Trade". News.nationalgeographic.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 7 Apr. 2016.
White, Deborah Gray. Freedom On My Mind. [Place of publication not identified]: Bedford Bks St Martin'S, 2012. Print.
