The Slave Trade and Africa

The Slave Trade and Africa By: Gaby Pavia , Ben Osborne, Daisha Holton, and Jack Kim

Central Question • How did slave trade affect the economy, politics, and society in Africa and what was the general consensus on slave trade overall?

Economic Changes • By Jack Kim

Slaves and the Economy • Average of two slaves • Slaves were transported • Merchants and alliances • 12.5 million lost, 20% • Female slaves more valued

Goods and Commodities • Silver and sugar • Slaves were goods • Slave routes as profit • Sugar cane into alcohol • Tobacco and cotton gin

African Slaves and America • Many different industries • Industries regional • Slaves were “imports” • Grew because of slaves • Debt in Africa

Political Changes • By: Daisha Holton

Slave Supplying Polities • Political leaders and merchant’s participation in the Slave Trade • Royal warriors and African merchants • African Leaders feud to get share of profit. • Civil wars • Used firearms and gunpowder • Enhanced their ability to capture slaves • Brave Leaders • Queen Nzinga (1583-1663) • Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita (1684-1706)

Queen Nzinga (1583-1663) • Nzinga fought against the Portuguese and their expanding slave trade in Central Africa. • Nzinga Meeting with Portuguese Governor Joao Corria de Sousa, 1622

Dona Beatriz Kimp Vita • Claimed to be a spirit of Saint Anthony of Padua • July 2, 1706 she was burned.

West African Kingdoms • Wealth from slave trade allowed the to get more weapons which help extend political control • Oyo Empire • Present-day Nigeria • Prospered from access to main trade routes to local markets • Asante State • Present-day Ghana • Prospered from gold

Africa’s Downfall.. • Royal families acquired European goods • Became depopulated in West Africa • Power of warrior class increased

Social Changes • By : Gaby Pavia

Pawnship : the use of human pawns • Ekype: a secret male society • Enforced payments of promised slave deliveries • It was a powerful institution by the middle of the 18th century • Slave ports along the African Coast became huge • Highest rates of slave mortality occurred on the African side of shipping

Slave Gender Imbalance • Most Atlantic slaves were adult men, only 1/3 were woman • The imbalance in the gender ratios made it difficult for slaves to reproduce in most place • In the New World, the males outnumbered the females • In slave-supplying regions of Africa it was the opposite • Woman greatly outnumbered the men

Polygyny - allowed men to take more than one wife • In some states like in Dahomey women were able to assert their own power • Queen Mother ( Koijilo ) - the most powerful and wealthy woman in the court • Was believed to have powers of divination • Hwanjile ( 1740-1797) - was the most dynamic queen mother

African Tribe • Anlo - Ewe • Some of their earlier settlements were along to coast of Africa • Keta • The location of their settlement allowed easy access for slave traders • Folklore, myths and songs were created to remind them of the terrible slave trade. • Later migrated inward

Visuals , maps , graphs • By : Ben Osbourne

Primary Sources …..

OlaudahEquiano • Olaudah Equiano, was captured and sold as a slave in the kingdom of Benin in Africa. He wrote about his experiences in The Life of Olaudah Equiano the African in 1789… • The first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast, was the sea, and a slave ship, which was then riding at anchor, and waiting for its cargo … I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me. I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a greeting in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life; so that, with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat… and, on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands, and laid me across, I think, the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely. The white people looked and acted, as I thought, in so savage a manner; for I had never seen among my people such instances of brutal cruelty. The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. The air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died. The wretched situation was again aggravated by the chains, now unsupportable, and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable.

ThomasPhillips • Thomas Phillips, a slave-ship captain, wrote an account of his activities in A Journal of a Voyage in 1746… • I have been informed that some commanders have cut off the legs or arms of the most willful slaves, to terrify the rest, for they believe that, if they lose a member, they cannot return home again: I was advised by some of my officers to do the same, but I could not be persuaded to entertain the least thought of it, much less to put in practice such barbarity and cruelty to poor creatures who, excepting their want of Christianity and true religion (their misfortune more than fault), are as much the works of God's hands, and no doubt as dear to him as ourselves.

Why do you think the African slaves conditions are so bad? • Why do you think the slaves were often met with cruelty from the sailors? • Are the European sailors, African slave traders, or someone else to blame for the atrocities committed to the slaves. • Back then Slavery was wide spread, so can we say that societies in general are evil?

Bibliography • Queen Nzinga ." Blacks Past. Humanities Washington, 2007-2009. Web. 24 Oct. 2010. <http://www.blackpast.org/?q=gah/queen-nzinga-1583-1663>. Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Emory University, 2009. Web. 20 Oct.2010.<http://slavevoyages.org/tast/index.faces>. • Dodson, Howard. "How Slavery Helped Build A World Economy." Nationall Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2010.<http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003 /01/0131_030203_jubilee2.html>. • "Slavery and the American Economy." Nathaniel Turner. N.p., n.d.Web.21Oct.2010.<http://www.nathanielturner.com/ slaveryandtheamericaneconomy.htm>. • Tignor, Robert, et al. Worlds Together Worlds Apart. New York: W.W Norton & Company , n.d. Print. • "African People and Culture ." The Africa Guide. N.p., 1996. Web. 19 Oct. 2010. <http://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/index.htm>.

The Slave Trade and Africa