The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

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The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

• U.S. History 1A
• Homestead High

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Lesson Description

• Lets take a trip back into the history of the
  trans-Atlantic, Mediterranean, and India Ocean
  slave trades to uncover surprising and shocking
  facts about the era.
• Through re-enactments, written eyewitness
  accounts and expert insight, you will witness
  African slaves stage a successful mutiny aboard
  the infamous Amistad.
• Historical texts and lecture will provide you
  with information about slavery in the Americas
  and the origins of racism.

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Vocabulary

• Abolitionist a person who advocated that the
  institution of slavery be done away with.
• Avaricious Greedy for money.
• Commandeer To take possession of by force.
• Commerce The buying and selling of commodities
  (goods services) trade.
• Mutiny The willful refusal to obey authority a
  revolt against ones superiors.
• Slaver A ship or person engaged in transporting
  slaves

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Vocabulary Cont.

• Concubine
• Maize
• Cassava
• Racism
• Inferior
• Derogatory
• Racism

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Pre-viewing Questions

• What was the Middle Passage?
• What were the three major items used by European
  traders as payment for slaves?
• Discuss the common practices aboard a typical
  slave ship bound for the middle passage.

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Some answers for pre-view

• The middle passage was the route followed by
  slave ships across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa
  to the Americas.
• Gunpowder, brandy, and seashells were the three
  major items used by European traders as payment.

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Movie Clips Introduction Slave Ship
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African slavery slavery in the Americas

• African slavery was more like European serfdom.
  It was harsh servitude, but they still had
  rights.
• African slavery was used by Europeans to justify
  the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

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Africa why here?

• Not the only source of slaves Slavs, Caucasus,
  Balkans, Mediterranean Europe, indentures
• Geography Old World accessibility iron
  agriculture disease immunities
• Market logic (?)
• Low population (uneven)
• Desire for imported goods (see below)
• Alternative exports GOLD, ivory, tropical
  hardwoods

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Impact on Africa

• New Atlantic food crops maize, cassava, peanuts
• Local use of slaves
• Land/population ratios (wealth in people)
• Military (slave raiding)
• Legitimate trade production and transport
• Import goods
• Luxury consumer goods cloth, beads
• Weapons HORSES, sword blades, armor, GUNS
• Currency cowry shells
• Tools machetes, iron bars

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African Slavery

• Lacked two elements that slavery in the Americas
  had.
• The desire for massive profits that comes from
  agribusiness.
• Reducing the slave to less than human status
  based solely on race (ethnicity).

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Slavery in the Colonies

• Why didnt colonists enslave the Indians?
• How does the answer of the above question explain
  the choice to import black slaves?

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where whites and blacks found themselves with
common problems, common work, common enemy in
their master, they behaved toward one another as
equals. (Zinn, 1997, p. 27)

• What were the problems that blacks and whites
  (indentured servants poor) shared?
• What was the work blacks and whites did?
• Was it the same?
• Did they work together?
• How did the master treat his indentured
  servant?
• Had did the master treat his slave?
• To what degree was the treatment the same?

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Historical Forces

• What were the historical forces that caused white
  plantation owners to choose black slaves as their
  labor source?
• Was it a decision to make a profit, or were
  Englishmen forced to do it?
• Would have the Powhatans have accepted wages to
  labor in the fields of the plantation owners?
• Does that constitute a historical force?

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Trans-Atlantic Trade Route

• One of the most profitable business in the world.
• Lasted approximately 400 years.
• 39,000 voyages from Africa to the Americas
  (South, Central North America)
• Largest forced migration

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Chronology and Numbersall somewhat approximate

• Atlantic
• 1450-1860 11-12 million
• Mediterranean
• 700-1900 6-7 million
• Indian Ocean (and Red Sea)
• 800-1900 2-3 million

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Economics Mediterranean

• Domestic service
• concubinage
• eunuchsA eunuch is a castrated man the term
  usually refers to those castrated in order to
  perform a specific social function, as was common
  in many societies of the past. The earliest
  records for intentional castration to produce
  eunuchs are from the Sumerian cities of Lagash in
  the 21st century BC citation needed. Over the
  millennia since, they have performed a wide
  variety of functions in many different cultures
  such as courtiers or equivalent domestics, treble
  singers, religious specialists, government
  officials, military commanders, and guardians of
  women or harem servants.
• Military service
• agriculture (Sahara, Nile Valley)

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Economics Indian Ocean

• Domestic
• Military (Yemen, Gulf, India-Habshi)
• Agriculture (Gulf Zenj rebellion Basra
  869883)
• Pearl Fishing (Gulf)
• Dhow (sailing craft) crews

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Economics 1. Atlantic

• Plantation system
• SUGAR, coffee, rice, indigo, tobacco cotton
• Mediterranean Western Africa to New World,
  Caribbean Brazil
• Triangular trade ( India)
• Navigation Middle Passage

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Receiving zones New World U.S. vs.
Brazil/Caribbean

• U.S.
• under 10 of slave trade, high population, less
  explicitly African cultural impact
• Brazil/Caribbean
• 90 of slaves lower population (Brazil
  mulatto category), very explicit African
  culture
• Why different demographic patterns?
• Sugar vs. other labor/climate regimes (2/3 male
  imports)
• acculturation (?)

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Oxum Bahia (Brazil)
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Santeria Altar Havana
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Receiving zones Islamic World

• Generally less visible
• Demography of migrations numbers, intensity,
  gender, disease/climate
• Demography of deployment domestic vs. labor
  projects

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The capture, transport, sale and eventual escape

• How would you feel if you were in Singbehs
  situation?
• In 10-15 sentences write a journal entry for
  Singbeh on his capture, transport, and sale to a
  plantation owner.

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Singbeh starts a revolt on the slave ship Amistad

• Do you think that Singbeh made the right
  decision?
• Explain your answer in 5-7 sentences.

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The Middle Passage

• _______ of slaves were brought to the U.S.?
• Compare and contrast the philosophies of tight
  packers and loose packers.

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The Cruel Irony of Slave Ship Names

• Irony (noun) the opposite of the literal
  meaning.
• In Spanish Amistad means Friendship
• What is the irony in naming a slave ship Amistad?

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Death Rates of Slaves Prior to and During Passage

• What does prior mean as used in the title of this
  slide?
• What were the death rates of slaves before
  passage?
• What were the death rates of slaves during
  passage?

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The Story of Olaudah Equiano

• Why do you think Olaudah became a slave trader?
  Do you think that he was justified in becoming a
  slaver? Explain in 5-7 sentences.

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European Participation in the Slave Trade

• Explain reasons why Africans participated in the
  enslavement of their own people.

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Discussion Questions

• What were the common conditions and practices
  aboard a slave ship bound for The Americas?
• Analyze and interpret the statement Slaves
  became more valuable than gold.

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Bibliography
Austen, Ralph A. African Economic History
Internal Development and External Dependency
(London James Currey, 1987). Austen, Ralph
A., The Trans-Saharan World Africas Great
Desert as a Highway of Commerce and Civilization
(NY Oxford, forthcoming) Clarence-Smith,
William Gervase (ed.). The Economics of the
Indian Ocean Slave Trade in the Nineteenth
Century (London Cass, 1989) Curtin, P. Rise
and Fall of the Plantation Complex (Cambridge,
Cambridge U. Press, 1998). Fenoaltea, Stefano.
"Europe in the African Mirror The Slave Trade
and the Rise of Feudalism," Rivista di storia
economica XV, no. 2 (August 1999),
123-165. Gomez, Michael. Reversing Sail a
History of the African Diaspora  Cambridge
Cambridge U. Press, 2005. Hunwick, John O. and
Eve Trout Powell. The African Diaspora in the
Mediterranean Lands of Islam. Princeton M.
Wiener, 2002. Savage, Elizabeth (ed.), The Human
Commodity Perspectives on the Trans-Saharan
Slave Trade (London Cass, 1992). Thornton,
John. Africa and Africans in the Making of the
Atlantic World (ambrdieP Cambridge U.
Press,1998) William and Mary Quarterly, LVIII,
1 (2001) New Perspectives on the Atlantic Save
Trade