Atlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans

8/7/2019 Atlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans

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Atlantic Trade in Enslaved

Africans


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When enslaved Africans were introduced on theplantations in the Caribbean there alreadyexisted systems of enslavement in Africa

Slavery probably existed from the time mansettled in large groups

Between 100 to 900BC slave societies existed inNorth Africa where the Arabs transferred theirsystem of enslavement to societies in North

Africa


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As Islam spread to West Africa so too did thetrade in enslaved persons

Thus organised trade in human cargo developedbetween West African societies and Arab states.

When the Portuguese, Spanish and later Dutchrequired enslaved labour, they were alreadyaware that there was the possibility of tappinginto that Trans Sahara trade.


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Trans Saharan Trade Routes


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The Portuguese, being in such close proximity toAfrica, logically became the first Europeans toconsistently import enslaved African labour.

This trade was spearheaded by the Henry TheNavigator.

By 1482 the Portuguese had built the fort atElmina (in Ghana) which facilitated the TransAtlantic trade in enslaved Africans


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Elmina Castle, 1668


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STRUCTURE OF THE TRADE IN

ENSLAVED AFRICANS & THE

EXPERIENCES OF THE ENSLAVED


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The Trans Atlantic Trade in enslaved Africans wasnot the first form of enslavement

It differed qualitatively from the other systems

The first distinction is that the other systems ofenslavement were not synonymous with a

certain race, ethnicity, religion.

When Africans came across the Atlantic, theywere the only group enslaved.


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Enslaved persons in the Cbean were enslaved for life andthis status was transferred to their children

Only in exceptional cases did enslaved persons in the

Cbean not spend their entire lives enslaved

Enslaved people in the Caribbean were considered chattel;they were the property of an individual who could passthem on in a will, or sell with other household items

The cultivation of sugar was partly responsible for thedifference in the structure of the slave system thatdeveloped in across the Atlantic.


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Structure of Trade in Enslaved

Africans The slave trade was very well organised

There were three main areas of the organisation:

Sourcing prospective slaves from the interior

Coastal arrangements

The Middle Passage


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Stage 1 The Interior


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Africans and Europeans acted as middlemen

They sourced prospective slaves from among prisoners of war

individuals who were already enslaved

those persons who were indebted

by raiding villages and kidnapping

creating criminals


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Stage 2 The Coast

Slave Market on West Coast of Africa


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Africans were taken to the coast

The trek to the coast required the support of kings andchiefs through whose territories the trek was made

At the coast there were forts established by Europeans,each headed by an agent/factor

Captured persons were battered for textiles, iron bars,utensils, tobacco, alcohol

The forts were used to house the enslaved until a shiparrived


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When a ship was contracted the captives wereprepared; they were medically examined, brandedand shackled

The ships arrived with goods and it was necessary toconvert them for shipping the human cargo

Spaces of apprx 5 feet were created for eachindividual

Some ships carried as many as 700 captives


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THE CAPTION READS: PLAN SHEWING THE STOWAGE OF 130 ADDITIONAL

SLAVES ROUND THE WINGS OR SIDES OF THE LOWER DECK BY MEANS OF

PLATFORMS OR SHELVES (IN THE MANNER OF GALLERIES IN A CHURCH) THE

SLAVES STOWED ON THE SHELVESAND BELOW THEM HAVE ONLY A HEIGHT OFTWO FEET 7 INCHES BETWEEN THE BEAMS AND THE FAR LESS UNDER THE

BEAMS


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Stage 2 The Middle Passage

The Middle Passage was one leg of the TriangularTrade: From the coast of West Africa across the

Atlantic to the Caribbean


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The Middle Passage was a horrific journeyacross the Atlantic

The journey lasted between 5 weeks and 3months

The captives were fed rice, millet, cornmeal,yam, manioc/plantains and water


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The captives were fed rice, millet, cornmeal,yam, manioc/plantains and water

They were made to jump on deck as a meansof exercise with the whip as a threat

Captives were kept below deck and allowedout 3 times a day to be fed and exercise


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Below Deck


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Overcrowded Lower Deck

In order that the largest possible cargo might be carried, the African captives werewedged horizontally, chained to low-lying platforms stacked in tiers, with an average

individual space allotment of6 feet by 16 inches wide (183 by 41 cm). Unable to standerect or turn over, many slaves died in this position.


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From the time of their capture, the captivesresisted

During the Middle Passage some

Committed suicide

Revolted/mutinied

Engaged in hunger strikes


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Attempted Mutiny


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Difficult to estimate the deaths

Death rate

20% during early period 17th to early 18th century

5% between the late 18th and early 19th century

Even the deaths among the crew was high: Ofthe slave-ship crews that embarked fromLiverpool in 1787, less than half returned alive.


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Even the death rate among the crew was high

There is much debate over the actualnumbers of captives that made the crossing

P. Curtin (1969): 8 million over apprx 360 yrs

J. Inikori (1976): 15 million Patrick Manning*(1998): 12 million

transported; 10.5 million arriving alive in theAmericas

* The historian and NOT the PM of Tdad & Tobago

Atlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans

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