The Slave Trade

1
The Slave Trade Slavery in the Americas

• Africans in the Americas
• Michael Conniff Thomas Davis
• (St. Martins Press 1994)

2
Introduction
Slave-Based Economies established Demand for
African labor World-wide Trading Networks Sugar,
Tobacco, Cacao, Precious Metals, Rice, Coffee
Cotton Advanced International Capitalism Experimen
tal New Societies Mass Migrations and
Contact Multiracial Apartheid System Coercive
Arrangement
3
Africans
Most Valuable Productive
Most Restricted Abusive
Slavery
4
Variation of Experience
Africanization vs. Accommodation
Depended mostly on Population Demographic
Variable Berlin Parish
5
Caribbean Brazil
Three Quarters of all Africans to
America Genetic Cultural Influences Reconstitut
ion of Groups Columbian Exchange ingenion/engenho
Social Organization Mediated interaction
Legitimated System
6
Spanish Colonies
Slaves allied more with Whites than
Natives Interaction Manumission Castas
Mestizo, Zambos, Mulattoes Creolization
7
British N. America
Four Major Regional Patterns Chesapeake-Tobacco Mi
ddle Colonies-Mixed Use New England-General
purpose but proportion population different Low
Country-Rice Variations within Region Generations
Urban Rural Berlin Parish
8
Watersheds (2)
1680-1720 Slavery surpasses Indenture Color
becomes the measure of bondage 1775-1783 First
Emancipation Settled Slavery in South Key to
Civil War Berlins Concept but differs in Detail
9
Urban experience
More Opportunity Creolization Manumission Modern
Labor Still could be Brutal obrajes
10
Multiple Factors
Economic, Spatial, Ecological HumidPlantation Near
Equator Crop Market Diminished Quality of Life
of One but not the Other Basic Human Needs Not
Met Ease of Replacement Overcrowding Discipline
11
Humid Low-Land
Plantation Near Equator Crop Market Diminished
Quality of Life of One but not the Other Basic
Human Needs Not Met Ease of Replacement Overcrowdi
ng Discipline
12
Medium High Altitude
Mining Overseeing Amerindian Other Services
Defense
13
Geography Arrival
Capture in Africa Middle Passage Transshipment
Multiple Migrations Physiological Psychological
Trauma
14
Geography Resistance
Maroon Communities Jamaica, Brazil US
15
Geography Diaspora
Psychological Distance Separation
16
Things of Focus for Part II
Caribbean Brazil to be compared to North
America Cultural, Political, Geographical
Demographic Characteristics Varying
Experiences Most deplorable LEGACY of RACISM