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most profound and enduring human consequences of all of commercial ties linking early modern world in global network of exchange1500-1866took estimated 12.5 million people from African societiesshipped them across Atlantic in Middle Passagedeposited 10.7 million of them in Americas where they lived out often-brief lives as slavesabout 1.8 million (14.4%) died during the crossingcountless others perished in process of capture and transportsteeped in violence, coercion, brutalityforceful capture and repeated salebeatings and brandingschains and imprisonmentrebellions and escapeslives of enforced and unpaid laborbroken familieshumans treated as propertytransformed societieswithin Africa: disrupted some societies, strengthened others, corrupted manyelites enriched themselves, enslaved were victimized almost beyond imaginationAmericas: added African diaspora to European and Native American peoplesinjected issues of raceintroduced elements of African culturereligious ideasmusical and artistic traditionscuisineprofits of slave trade and labor of enslaved Africans enriched European and Euro-American societiespractice of slavery contributed to racial stereotypes of Europeansslavery became metaphor for social oppression different from plantation slaverywage labor for workersimperial domination for colonial peoplepatriarchy for feminists
widespread practice of owning and exchanging humansbefore 1500: Mediterranean and Indian Ocean basins were major arenas of Old World slave systems; southern Russia was source of victimsAfrican societies both practiced slavery themselves and sold slavesoperated largely within Islamic world and initiated movement of Africans beyond the continenttrans-Saharan slave trade long funneled African captives into Mediterranean slaveryEast African slave trade from at least 7th brought Africans to Middle East and Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean: slaves often assimilated into societies of owners, lost distinctive identity (unlike North America)children sometimes inherited slave status, sometimes freegender preferenceIslamic world: preference for female slaves 2:1 (domestic settings)transatlantic slave system: males 2:1 (plantation labor)not all had degraded positionssome in Islamic world gained prominent military or political statusmost premodern slaves worked in owners’ households, farms, shopssmaller numbers in large-scale agricultural or industrial enterprises
distinctiveimmense size, centrality to economies of colonial Americalots of plantation agricultureslave status inherited across generationslittle hope of eventual freedomcontradiction between slavery and social values affirming human freedom and equalitynowhere else except maybe ancient Greeceracial dimensionAtlantic slavery came to be identified wholly with Africa and “blackness”
origins of Atlantic slaveryuntil Crusades, Europeans knew nothing of sugar; relied on honey and fruitlearned sugarcane and sugar-making from Arabsestablished plantations within Mediterranean and later various islands off West Africa“modern” industry (perhaps first)huge capital investmentsubstantial technologyfactory-like discipline among workersmass market of consumersslavery as source of labor for sugar plantationsimmense difficulty and dangerlimitations attached to serf laborgeneral absence of wageworkers
Mediterranean: initially Slavic-speaking peoples from Black Sea region“Slav” became basis for “slave” in many European languages1453 (Ottoman Turks seized Constantinople): supply of Slavic slaves cut offPortuguese mariners exploring coast of West Africa for goldfound alternative source of enslaved peopleswhen sugar, later tobacco, cotton plantations took hold in Americas, Europeans already had links to West African source of supplyreligious justification: in 1452 the pope granted kings of Spain and Portugal permission to take unbelievers and reduce them into slaveryAfrica became primary source of slave labor for plantation economies of Americaslargely through process of eliminationSlavic peoples no longer availableNative Americans quickly perished from European diseasesmarginal Europeans (poor, criminals) were Christians and supposedly exemptEuropean indentured servants were expensive and temporaryagreed to work for fixed period in return for transportation, food, shelter“benefits” of Africansskilled farmerssome immunity to tropical and European diseasesnot Christiansrelatively close at handreadily available through African-operated commercial networks
relationship between slavery and European racism long debatedcontroversial view: racial stereotypes were transmitted from Muslims to Christiansfor centuries, Muslims drawn on sub-Saharan Africa as one source of slavesdeveloped a form of racismBlack people were “submissive to slavery, because Negroes have little that is essentially human and have attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals” (Ibn Khaldun, 14th-century Tunisian scholar)also could have origins in European cultureEngland: process of conquering Ireland made Irish seem rude, ignorant, beastlythese perceptions transferred to Africans enslaved on English sugar plantations in West Indiesslavery and racism soon went hand in handbetter able to tolerate brutal exploitation by imagining them as inferior race or not human
chief cause: European demand for slaves
point of sale on African coast to use on plantations in European handswithin Africa: point of capture to sale on coast was African handsEuropean demand elicited African supplyslave trade largely with Europeans waiting on coastshipsfortified settlementspurchased slaves from African merchants and political elitesEuropeans did try to exploit rivalries to obtain lowest costfirearms also may have increased warfareEuropeans generally dealt as equals with local African authoritiesalmost nowhere did they attempt outright military conquest
sought goods in exchange for slavesEuropean and Indian textilescowrie shells (widely used as money in West Africa)European metal goodsfirearms and gunpowdertobacco and alcoholvarious decorative items (like beads)connected with commerce in silver and textilesissues were resolved with negotiationprecise mix of goods African authorities desirednumber and quality of slaves to be purchasedprice of everything
for slaves, anything but a normal commercial transactionseized in interiorsold several times on the harrowing journey to coastsometimes brandedheld in squalid slave dungeons while awaiting transportationmillions of Africans underwent this over the four centuries of the slave tradenumbers varied considerably16th: fewer than 3000Portuguese were as much interested in African gold, spices, textilesAsia: became involved in transporting goods (including slaves) from one African port to another (”truck drivers”)17th: slave trade became highly competitiveBritish, French, Dutch contested Portuguese monopoly1700-1850: high pointplantation economies for Americas boomed
geographically: West and South-Central Africapresent-day Mauritania in north to Angola in southinitially focused on coastal regions, progressively penetrated into interior as demand increasedsocially: marginal groups in African societiesprisoners of warcriminalsdebtorspeople who have been “pawned”did not sell “own people”no concept of “African” identitydivided into hundreds of separate, small-scale, rival communitiescitieskingdomsmicro-statesclansvillagesthose whom they captured and sold were normally outsidersvulnerable people who lacked protection of membership in established communitysold when short-term economic or political advantage could be gainedtransatlantic slave system different from experience of enslavement elsewhere in world
made system different from other enslavementsmost ended up in Brazil or Caribbeanlabor demands of plantation economy most intensesmaller numbers in North America, mainland Spanish America, Europehorrendous journeyMiddle Passage: overall mortality rate of over 14%
about 10% of transatlantic voyages experienced major rebellion by desperate captivesresistance continued in Americassurreptitious slowdowns of workoutright rebellioncommon: fleemany joined maroon societiesfree communities of former slavesfounded in remote regionsespecially in South America and Caribbeanlargest: Palmares, Brazilmostly African descentincluded Native Americans, mestizos, renegade whitesslave owners feared wide-scale slave rebellions but they were raresmall-scale rebellions usually brutally crushedonly Haitian Revolution of 1790s that full-scale slave revolt brought lasting freedom
chief outcomeAfrica became permanent part of Atlantic worldmillions of Africans compelled to make lives in Americamade enormous impact demographically and economicallyuntil 19th: outnumbered European immigrants by 3:1 - 4:1West African societies increasingly connected to emerging European-centered world economy
Transatlantic slave system
In context
Other slave systems
Many forms
Americas
Mediterranean world and sugar
Slave populations
Racism
In practice
Control
African sellers
Slaves
Origins
Destinations
Resistance
Impact
Global linkages
Economical
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