Worlds entangled: Africa and Atlantic Worlds

1. Worlds entangled:Africa and Atlantic Worlds “…They resemble us, but in appearance are the colour of pumpkin-porridge… .They are rude of manners and without any graces or refinement.” organized, dynamic societies dynamic prior to arrival of Europeans respond to Europeans in a variety of ways accommodation adoption/adaptation resistance societies, cultures, economies stressed

2. Mercantilismchangingtheworldyour goods, your ships, your ports In Europe: new commercial class of people rethinking governance Abroad: they are moving goods people money they have to make ‘sense’ of what they are doing they are responded to in a variety of ways

3. The Triangular Trade The scale: 12 men in 1441 1460s - 500 slaves py 1520 - 2,000 py 17C – 20 000 py 18C – 80 000 py 1. European manufactured goods (esp. firearms) sent to Africa 2. African slaves purchased and sent to Americas 3. Cash crops purchased in Americas and returned to Europe

4. Five minutes Names of five people

5. Foundation and Nature of the Slave Trade • all societies have had slaves: • practice of slaving in the continent dates to antiquity • war captives • criminals • people expelled from clans • indebted; kidnappings • qualitatively distinct from Asian, European slavery • no private property • therefore wealth defined by human labor potential, not land • slaves often assimilated into owner’s clan • non-permanent status: slave in society, not slave society

6. Characterizing contact with early-modern Europe Swahili decline in East Africa • Vasco da Gama • Kilwa forced to pay tribute • by 1505 Portuguese gunships dominated Swahili ports Kingdom of Kongo • contact beginning 1483 • King NzingaMbemba (Alfonso I) • Christian convert • trade • local power relations

7. Slave Raiding in Kongo Portuguese perspective: • Portuguese attempt raiding themselves • weapons trade • dealt with authorities outside Kongo • destabilize regional relations Perspective on the ground • Kongo king appealed to slow trade • relations deteriorate, Portuguese attack Kongo • improved slave market develops in the south

8. Outside Kongo“equal with Portugal on her death” The Kingdom of Ndongo (Angola) • Ndongo gains wealth and independence from Kongo • resists Portuguese control • Queen Nzinga (r. 1623-1663) Strategies of resistance: • alliance with Dutch • decline of Ndongo power after her death • connectedness • armed resistance

9. Horrific Social/Political Impact On African regions: variable resist Rwanda, Bugunda, Masai, benefitDahomey, Oyo, Asante peoples increased violence in existing regional conflicts

10. Horrific Social/Political Impact total pop. grows due to crops like manioc or casava but deplete regional populations distorted sex ratios result increased polygamy ♀ acting in traditionally ♂ roles ethnocentrism in modern contact

11. The Middle Passage Africa → → Americas Historical amnesia and memory: • ‘new’ histories – 1960s • i.e. Teaching industrial revolution • pop. histories ‘Roots’ Amistad(Spielberg; 1997)

12. The Resisting Violence Project presents: A panel discussion on sexual violence in our community. With four speakers from different backgrounds and different experiences with the topic, this event aims to raise awareness about sexual violence and what can be done to end it. Thursday 15 November, 7pm Schwartz 156

13. The Middle Passage The middle passage • mortality high – between 25% and 30% died • be careful, not a numbers game While watching 1. note Portuguese systems of control • note all the varied modes of resistance

14. Britons understanding their involvement in slaving OlaudahEquiano b. Essaka, Nigeria, 1745 captured at 11; shipped to Barbados and then Virginia owned by: tobacco plantation owner a lieutenant in the English navy (fought against French) shipwright saved £40 to buy his own freedom (1768) 1787 involved in government provisioning of Sierra Leone published ‘Narrative of a Life’ m. in Britain with two daughters d. 1797 he says this is wrong and we can change it

15. Rethinking slaving Wedgewood • Evangelicals and reform political outsiders; barred from education industrialists linked (1st policy groups) imperative to act on faith and change this world Clapham Sect • Legal reform Lord Mansfield - Somersett Case (1772) habeus corpus case of the ‘Zong’ (1781) • Parliament 1807 ban on importation of slaves 1833 Slavery Abolition Act HUGE debate – why??

16. Sierra Leonea Nova Scotia connection • efforts of British philanthropists and missionaries • Granville Sharpe (1787) – society to find place in Africa to settle freed slaves • Why? large, volatile communities in Liverpool, Nova Scotia and, introduce ‘civilized’, Christian blacks as models for the rest of Africa • by 1800 fractious – no clear leadership nor stability – British role i.e. SPCK in Canada, not for black settlers British administered but, center for trade and evangelical activity *** Read: Lawrence Hill, the Book of Negros***

17. End of the Slave Trade Abolition: Denmark 1803 Great Britain 1807 United States 1808 France 1814 Netherlands 1817 Spain 1845 In places, possession of slaves remained legal – and clandestine trade continued to at least 1867 Emancipation: British colonies 1833 French 1848 U.S. 1865 Brazil 1888 Saudi Arabia/Angola 1960s

18. Social and Political Impact In Britain: women started to be respectable radicals increased popular participation in public life gender mattered in defining ‘civilization’ but also: ethnocentrism And finally: History: understand why vs. Journalism: judge the past Instead, change the present recognize/acknowledge your privilege buy ethical chocolate/CLEAN clothes “Slavery is fundamentally a means of denying outsiders the rights and privileges of a particular society so that they can be exploited for economic, political and/or social purposes”

19. British start to re-think slaving John Newton (1733-1807) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxgO94XLFbo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_tb2KKjUpM