Slavery and Slaving in Nineteenth Century Africa

J. W. Buel, Heroes of the Dark Continent (New York, 1890), p. 66. GR, from map at Beit-al-Ajaib, Zanzibar Slavery and Slaving in Nineteenth Century Africa HI177 | A History of Africa since 1800 Term 1 | Week 2 | Dr Sacha Hepburn

Lecture Structure • Defining Slavery (and Freedom) • Slave Systems in Africa • External Trades (focus of lecture) • Internal Trades (focus of seminar) • Slave Trades Out of Africa • The Transatlantic Trade • Abolition and its Impacts on African Societies

Defining Slavery (and Freedom) • Slavery has taken a range of forms in Africa and more widely • Slaves ‘occupied a wide range of roles and positions in African states and societies’ (Stilwell) • Related to other forms of forced/coerced labour, e.g. indentured servitude, serfdom • Debate: freedom and slavery as oppositional (Lovejoy, Meillassoux, Stilwell) or on a spectrum of dependency (Miers and Kopytoff)?

Slave Systems in Africa • External trades: • Transatlantic • Trans-Saharan • Indian Ocean • Internal practices : • Political slavery (use of slave in government/military) • Productive slavery (use of slaves in production) • Domestic slavery (use of slaves within households) • Variety of treatment: violence common but not universal, assimilation into households and kinship groups possible • Common features across practices: • Trade in men, women and children; slaves produced through violence; hereditary status of slavery; saleablility

Slave Trades Out of Africa http://www.slavevoyages.org/assessment/intro-maps

The Transatlantic Trade David and Charles Livingstone, Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries; and of the Discovery of the Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, 1858-1864 (London, 1865), facing p. 356.

The Transatlantic Trade: Role of African Slave States • Key states: • Senegambia • Sierra Leone • Gold Coast • Dahomey, Yoruba • Niger Delta (Bight of Benin) • Angola • Slave trading and predation • Impact of European demand Sarah Tucker, Abbeokuta; or, sunrise within the tropics: an outline of the origin and progress of the Yoruba mission (London, 1853), facing p. 66.

The Transatlantic Trade:Volume & Direction http://www.slavevoyages.org/assessment/intro-maps

The Transatlantic Trade in Numbers P. E. Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery (New York, 2012), p. 19.

Abolition • 1802: Denmark declares its trade illegal • 1807: Britain and America outlaw the slave trade • 1810: British begin detaining slave ships of other nations • Mid-1840s-1851: Cuba and Brazil take action • But expansion of slaveholding in Africa http://www.slavevoyages.org/resources/images/category/Slaves/7

Impacts of Slavery on African Societies • Political/economic • Easiest impacts to determine? • Fusion of economic and political power = mercantilism • Disintegration of powerful states, though not entirely result of slave trade • Social/demographic • Internal African trade helped African households and societies to increase numbers • But devastating impact of Transatlantic trade • Increased slavery within Africa as result of Transatlantic trade, particularly female slavery (focus of seminars)

Questions? Email: s.hepburn@warwick.ac.uk Office hours in H3.14: Monday 3-4pm and Tuesday 3-4pm, or by appointment

Slavery and Slaving in Nineteenth Century Africa

Slavery and Slaving in Nineteenth Century Africa

Presentation Transcript

Medicine in the Nineteenth Century

The Nineteenth Century

Nineteenth-Century Theatre

Surgery in the Nineteenth Century

The Nineteenth Century

Nineteenth-Century Symphony

Nineteenth Century II

Nineteenth Century Harbors:

Nineteenth Century Imperialism: Africa

Slavery in Africa:

The Nineteenth Century

Nineteenth Century Imperialism: Africa

The Nineteenth Century

Nineteenth-Century Science

NINETEENTH CENTURY IDEAS

Nineteenth Century - Isms

Women in Nineteenth Century France

The Nineteenth Century

Nineteenth Century Jeopardy

Medicine in the Nineteenth Century

Slavery and Slaving in Nineteenth Century Africa