4. European Background
• Portuguese started African slave trade in
1441
• First Africans in Hispanola in 1505
• 1450-1850 ~12 million Africans sent to
Americas
5. Why Africans?
• No written language , many languages
• Native Americans dying off
• Some degree of disease resistance
• No muskets and gunpowder
• Africans participated in trade by enslaving others,
selling debtors and criminals, and kidnapping
• Skilled workers
– Knew how to extract precious ore from mines
– Familiar with soils and crops
• Not familiar with the land—making escape
less likely
6. How to Get Slaves?
• TRADE!
– Africans traded slaves for manufactured goods
like clothe, silk, guns, pots, and copper
• African Kingdoms (Ashanti) gained wealth
and power from the trade
– States sold POW (method of deportation)
– Participated to defend themselves
• African “entrepreneurs” Middle Men
– Kidnapping
7. Capture
• The original capture of slaves was almost always violent.
• As European demand grew, African chieftains organized
raiding parties to seize individuals from neighboring societies.
• Others launched wars specifically for the purpose of
capturing slaves.
8.
9. • What does this picture tell you?
– Europeans did not penetrate the African interior
– Guns
March to the Coast
12. What role did geography play in the
Triangle of Trade?
13. Portuguese Slave Trade
• The Portuguese
population was too
small to provide a
large number of
colonists.
• The sugar
plantations required
a large labor force.
• Slaves filled this
demand. Europeans and Africans
Meet to Trade
14.
15. Slave Trade and Sugar
• Portuguese crop
growers extended
the use of slave
labor to South
America.
• Because of this,
Brazil would
eventually become
the wealthiest of the
sugar-producing
lands in the western
hemisphere.
17. Plantations
• After crossing the Atlantic, most African
slaves went to plantations in the tropical or
subtropical regions of the western
hemisphere.
• The first was established by the Spanish on
Hispaniola in 1516.
• Originally the predominant crop was sugar. In
addition to sugar, plantations produced crops
like tobacco, indigo, and cotton.
• In the 1530s Portuguese began organizing
plantations in Brazil, and Brazil became the
world’s leading supplier of sugar.
18. Plantations
• All were
designed to
export
commercial
crops for profit.
• Relied almost
exclusively on
large amounts of
slave labor
supervised by
small numbers of
European or
Euro-American
managers.
Brazilian sugar mill in the 1830s
19. As the major European powers of Portugal, Britain, France, and the
Netherlands looked for ways to exploit the fertile lands of the New
World, they looked to Africa for a steady supply of labor. Soon,
African slaves had become absolutely vital to the cultivation of sugar,
tobacco, cotton, and rice plantations.
As European demand for sugar began to increase, plantations began to
spring up throughout Brazil and the Caribbean. Sugar cultivation
created a huge demand for slave labor from Africa. Many plantations
produced additional crops such as indigo, rice, tobacco, and
coffee.
20. Justification
• Slavery made development of the New
World profitable
• Native American slaves died of diseases,
escaped easily
• African tribes
needed weapons
and supplies
from Europe
21. Slavery Expands
• In 1518, the first shipment of slaves went
directly from West Africa to the Caribbean
where the slaves worked on sugar
plantations.
• By the 1520s, the Spanish had introduced
slaves to Mexico, Peru, and Central America
where they worked as farmers and miners.
• By the early 17th century, the British had
introduced slaves to North America.
32. Correcting Misconceptions
Africans sold their brothers and sisters into
slavery
There was no one African identity
Africa is a BIG place—many different ethnic
groups
35. Europeans began the
Atlantic slave trade in
the 1500s. Their
colonies in the
Americas needed
labor to work on large
plantations. European
traders sold enslaved
Africans to colonists.
Families were split
up, and many people
died. By the time the
slave trade ended in
the 1800s, millions of
Africans had been
taken from their
homes.
IMPACT ON WEST AFRICA
36. Impact of Slave Trade on the Americas
•Cultural Diffusion –
--The slave trade spread ideas
and goods between cultures (cultural diffusion).
--Europeans brought new weapons to Africa.
--Africans brought part of their culture (like music
food, traditions, Language) to the Americas.
Editor's Notes
Slavery was a normal part of Africa’s history dating back before the Pharaohs of Egypt. Remember Moses leading the Jews out of slavery?
Slavery was a natural part of African society
In West Africa, the system of slavery resembled European feudalism
Slaves were used to increase production and population of a region = more power
Seen more as a resource, rather than a trade commodity
Generally, slaves were well treated
While low in hierarchy, active contributor to kingdom or community
Some held high positions with significant responsibility
Accepted by and lived with non-slaves in family settings
Portugal began exploring and trading along the African coast hundreds of years before Columbus sailed to the Americas.
Picture: Cape Coast Castle, W. Africa
Recognition Network: Use of color and bold text to emphasis main ideas.
“Africans became enslaved mainly through four ways:
first, criminals sold by the chiefs as punishment;
secondly, free Africans obtained from raids by African and a few European gangs;
thirdly, domestic slaves resold, and
fourthly; prisoners of war."
(Adu Boahen (University of Ghana).
Illustrations use to show the Brutality of chaining Africans together and marching them to the slave holding cells on the coast—Affective b/c it seeks to evoke an emotional response within students.
This was a slave holding fort.
Africans on the West Coast because the destination of the slaves was in the West. Had the European powers built colonies in Asia or Australia that needed slave labor, the slaves would have come from the East Coast region.
Triangular Trade
The triangular trade demonstrates how people were reduced to commodities to be sold. Goods such as metal, cloth, beads and guns went from Britain to Africa, enslaved Africans went to America and the Caribbean, and raw products such as sugar, tobacco and cotton came back to Britain.
Show the picture of the sugar nippers.
One of the reasons the trade lasted for so long was because it was incredibly profitable. The British appeared to have an insatiable appetite for luxury goods from the Caribbean, especially sugar and this demand fuelled supply.
Before the twentieth century, sugar came in cones from which chunks would be nipped off and used to sweeten the bitter taste of coffee, chocolate and tea. What people consumed in one part of the world altered forever the lives of those from other parts of the world.
Brazilians still speak Portuguese not Spanish.
With the arrival of the Europeans the demand for slaves in the Americas increased significantly.
As disease reduced the native populations in Spanish conquered territories, the Spanish began relying on imported slaves from Africa.
The British colonies in North America received only 4% of the total slaves from Africa. Brazil and the West Indies- received about 80% combined.
Why is the population of African Americans higher in the US than it is these other places?
European products (cloth, firearms) were sent to the coast of Africa for slaves
Slaves were carried to the Americas (Middle Passage)
Sugar, Tobacco, and other goods were than carried to Europe
European products (cloth, firearms) were sent to the coast of Africa for slaves to begin the triangle trade again
Slaves were taken from the holding forts, Chained together in pairs with leg-irons and carried to the ships. Once aboard they were branded with a red-hot iron, like cattle, to show who owned them and their clothes removed.
Chained in darkness and filth, seasickness and disease were rife. The heat in the hold could be over 30°c and the slaves would have no access to toilets or washing facilities. So foul was the smell of slave ships that other vessels took care to steer well away from them. In such conditions disease spread, and many slaves died.
Many slave captains were notorious for their cruelty. The actual voyage could take from 6 weeks to three months. It has been estimated that between 9-11 million people were taken from Africa by European traders and landed alive on the other side of the Atlantic. But 1½ million Africans are buried in the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas. It was reported that schools of sharks would follow the ships waiting for their next meal.
Chained in darkness and filth, seasickness and disease were rife. The heat in the hold could be over 30°c and the slaves would have no access to toilets or washing facilities. So foul was the smell of slave ships that other vessels took care to steer well away from them. In such conditions disease spread, and many slaves died.
The slave owners wanted big men that could work hard. The ship captains kept bringing them what they wanted. What effect did this have on African Society, culture, and economy?
Wall street gets its name from the fact that it was here where slaves were put on the block to be sold. Neighboring businesses did not approve of the slave trade convinced the city to build a wall around the street so passerby's would not have to witness what was happening.
