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Origins of the Atlantic Slave Trade

Origins of the Atlantic Slave Trade. African Cultures Before 1500 The Atlantic Slave Trade. African Cultures Before 1500. The Main Idea Trade was a major factor in the development of African societies south of the Sahara. Reading Focus

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Origins of the Atlantic Slave Trade

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  1. Origins of the Atlantic Slave Trade African Cultures Before 1500 The Atlantic Slave Trade

  2. African Cultures Before 1500 • The Main Idea • Trade was a major factor in the development of African societies south of the Sahara. • Reading Focus • What powerful West African trading kingdoms arose between 300 and 1500? • How did trade shape kingdoms in East Africa? • How did African society change as a result of the slave trade?

  3. West African Trading Kingdoms Trans-Sahara Trade • Despite the danger, trading caravans have crossed Sahara since ancient times. • African interior had gold and ivory; Arabs from North Africa traded salt from mines. • Great trading empires thrived in the grasslands near the Niger River. • Desert traders also brought Islam to West Africa.

  4. Ghana • Earliest West African trading state (arose around 300 C.E. ) • Located on a gold and salt route • Grew wealthy and powerful • History passed down through oral tradition • Did not convert to Islam West African Trading Kingdoms

  5. Mali • Mansa Musa most famous ruler • People of Mali were Muslims. • When Mansa Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca, the outside world knew of Mali’s wealth. West African Trading Kingdoms

  6. Songhai • This kingdom became larger than Ghana or Mali. • Askia Muhammad, most famous Songhai ruler, encouraged Muslim learning. West African Trading Kingdoms

  7. Benin West African Trading Kingdoms Coastal Kingdoms • By 1300, the settlement of Benin became a powerful state. • Grew rich from foreign trade • Famous for its brilliant artists • Farther south, the kingdom of Kongo was growing. • Thrived by trading salt and palm oil

  8. Kingdoms of East Africa Trade Important to Growth • East Africans traded with Egypt, India, and the Middle East. • East African trading ships sailed the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. • East Africa had gold, cinnamon, rhinoceros horn and tortoise shell. They also shipped enslaved Africans. • They bought porcelain, silk, and jewels from India and China. From 1500 to 1800, Africans lived under a variety of political systems, ranging from small-scale societies to expansive monarchies. Powerful kingdoms emerged in every region.

  9. Kingdoms of East Africa Arabian Influence • Arabia was a strong influence along East African coast. • Arab merchants settled in coastal cities and brought their customs and Islam. • New culture and new language (Swahili) developed in East Africa. • Trade between the coastal Swahili city-states and Indian Ocean trading partners was regulated by monsoon winds that blow in a southwesterly direction between November and March and in a northeasterly direction between April and October.

  10. African Society & the Slave Trade • African rulers were wealthy and had lavish lifestyles. • Strong families were central to African society. • People were loyal to those with the same lineage. • Men and women could be enslaved if they were captured in war, found guilty of a crime, or were in debt. • Slaves could work their way to freedom in most African societies.

  11. African Society & the Slave Trade The Atlantic Slave Trade Begins • Atlantic slave trade began in the sixteenth century as a response for the demand for cheap labor. Europeans viewed the black Africans as inferior. • Planters demanded more laborers for their plantations. • African merchants helped supply slaves to traders in exchange for the traders’ business. African rulers supplied slaves in exchange for European firearms. • Others who supplied slaves wanted to help weaken rival African leaders. • Europeans captured people during conflicts with North African Muslims. • European traders conducted slave raids and kidnappings. • The Portuguese began the slave trade, but by the 1600s the English, French, and Dutch were heavily involved, too.

  12. African Society & the Slave Trade The Portuguese in West Africa • Nature of slavery changed when Europeans arrived in Africa. • Portuguese established large-scale farms, or plantations, first in Africa, then in Caribbean islands and in the Americas; later the Spanish, British, French, and Dutch did the same. • Plantations were labor-intensive. First Native Americans were used for labor, but diseases and working conditions took a heavy toll.

  13. African Society & the Slave Trade The Impact on African Society • Atlantic slave trade continued for 400 years. • Historians estimate that 20 million Africans were sent to the Americas. • Many others were sent to other parts of the world. Many died en route. • The strongest young people were taken, the future leaders. • Slave raids discouraged people from planning for the future. • The slave trade interrupted normal political and economic development because of the loss of population. • The slave trade divided Africans from one another. • Young African men were hired by slave traders as kidnappers. • Rulers warred against their own people and neighbors in order to gain captives for the trade.

  14. The Atlantic Slave Trade Main Idea Between the 1500s and the 1800s millions of Africans were captured, shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, and sold as slaves in the Americas. • Reading Focus • Where did the Atlantic slave trade originate? • How did slavery evolve in the American colonies? • What were the consequences of the slave trade?

  15. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade African slaves were forcibly captured in raids and kidnappings in the interior of Africa and taken to the coast. After they were sold to European traders, the slaves were transported across the Atlantic to work on sugar plantations in the New World.

  16. Origins of the Slave Trade African Slaves Native Americans Beginnings • Millions forcibly taken to Americas • Most from coast of West Africa • Some exchanged for firearms, goods • Others kidnapped on raids by traders • Shortage of labor in Americas led to beginning of Atlantic slave trade • European planters needed workers on sugar, tobacco plantations • Planters first used Native Americans; European diseases killed millions creating a need for cheap labor • 1600s, used indentured servants • Expensive to support workers • Slavery has existed in many parts of the world • People forced into slavery came from different walks of life • Farmers, merchants, priests, soldiers, or musicians; fathers and mothers, sons and daughters.

  17. Trade Network Captured Africans became part of network called the triangular trade • First leg of triangle, ships carrying European goods to Africa to be exchanged for slaves • Second leg, Middle Passage, brought Africans to Americas to be sold • Third leg carried American products to Europe • Some slave traders from Americas sailed directly to Africa, not following triangular route

  18. The Middle Passage The Ordeal • Middle Passage, terrifying ordeal • Captive Africans chained together, forced into dark, cramped quarters below ship’s decks • Could neither sit nor stand • Journey lasted three to six weeks, 10-20 % did not survive

  19. Conditions on a Slave Ship • Chained together by their hands and feet, the slaves had little room to move. • It has been estimated that only about half of the slaves taken from Africa became effective workers in the Americas. • A large number of slaves died on the journey from diseases such as smallpox and dysentery. • Others committed suicide by refusing to eat or by jumping overboard. • Many of the slaves were crippled for life as a consequence of the way they were chained up on the ship.

  20. Slaves in the “Coffin Position” Below Deck

  21. The Middle Passage Horrific Conditions • OlaudahEquiano wrote about conditions on slave ship: • “The stench of the hold…was so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time… • “The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole scene of horror almost inconceivable.”

  22. Punishments & Disposal of the Sick, Dying, & the Dead • Slaves who refused to eat and follow orders were punished with severe and brutal beatings • Slaves who tried to revolt or cause trouble on their voyage to America were sometimes thrown overboard (last resort because meant a loss of money) • Slaves that were either sick, dying, or deceased were thrown overboard

  23. Slave Auctions • Once in the Americas, slaves were sold, by auction, to the person that bid the most money for them. • It was here that family members would find themselves split up, as a bidder may not want to buy the whole family, only the strongest, healthiest member. • Slave Auctions were advertised when it was known that a slave ship was due to arrive. • When the slave ship docked, the slaves would be taken off the ship and placed in a pen. • There they would be washed and their skin covered with grease, or sometimes tar, to make them look more healthy. • This was done so that they would fetch as much money as possible. • They would also be branded with a hot iron to identify them as slaves.

  24. Slavery in the Colonies Jobs for Slaves • Most slaves worked on plantations • Others worked in mines, in towns, in the countryside • Skilled craft workers—carpenters, metalworkers, coopers—continued crafts in Americas • Women given domestic duties • Slave traders carried captive Africans throughout the Americas • Spanish—Caribbean sugar plantations; Portuguese—Brazil; English—West Indies but also to colonies in North America. • England dominated the slave trade by end of 1600s

  25. Slaves Working in a Brazilian Sugar Mill

  26. Living Conditions • Slaves had to meet own basic needs at end of workday • Cooking, mending, tending the sick fitted in around work for slaveholder • Living conditions harsh • Physical, degrading punishment inflicted for minor offenses Slavery in the Colonies Many slaveholders lived in constant fear of rebellion by angry slaves who could no longer take harsh treatment they faced on plantations.

  27. Slaves Considered Property • Laws in Americas considered enslaved Africans to be property  slaves had no rights and no freedoms • Slaveholders controlled most conditions under which they lived • Often enslaved people endured brutal treatment, abuse • Resistance • Slaves coped with inhumane conditions many different ways • Some resisted by trying to keep cultural traditions alive • Others turned to religion for strength, hope • Some fought back by slowing work, destroying equipment, revolting • Some able to flee, establish communities of runaways

  28. Effects of the Slave Trade Effect on Africa • Effects profound in Africa • Slave raiders captured strongest young—future leaders of societies • Divided Africans one from another—some rulers waged wars to gain captives • Families deliberately split apart to break the wills of slaves • Forced labor of millions of Africans did not enrich Africa • 400 years of Atlantic slave trade devastated West African societies Cost of Slave Trade • Estimates of 15 to 20 million Africans shipped to Americas against will • Millions more sent to Europe, Asia, Middle East • Human cost enormous • Countless died in transit • Millions deprived of freedom • Descendants doomed to lives of forced servitude

  29. Economies • Forced labor of Africans did enrich other parts of world • Labor of African slaves built economies of many American colonies • Their knowledge of agriculture contributed to growth of rice industry in southern English colonies • Spread of Culture • As result of slave trade, people of African descent spread throughout Americas, Western Europe • The spreading of Africans around the world called the African Diaspora • Eventually led to spread of African culture—music, art, religion, food—throughout the Western World

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