1. Asante
Political System
•Absolute Monarch called
Asantehene
•Osei Tutu
•Centralized – elected chief
•Golden Stool of Kumasi
Economic System
•Traditionally dealt in gold
and kola nuts
•Gold allowed them to buy
slaves
•Increased power due to
slave trade – received guns
•2/3 of exports were slaves
Influence of
Europeans
•Portuguese contact with
Asante at Fort of El Mina
•Gun / slave trade
Impact of Slave Trade
•Power declined with end of slave trade in 1800s
•Use of slave trade provided rulers with great wealth and power – led to conflict with
European
•Fell to British in 1901 after a long war
2. Benin
Political System
•Absolute Monarch called
Uzama (Chief)
•Eware the Great
•Independent city-states
joined together
Economic System
•Already established before
Europeans
•Known for bronze statues
•Economy was based on
spices, ivory, and textiles
•Began to exchange slaves
for guns but tried to limit
slave trade – increased due
to European pressure and
need for weapons
Influence of
Europeans
•Increased slave trade began
to overshadow other
industry
•Guns increased Benin
power in the region
Impact of Slave Trade
•Kingdom disintegrated in 1700s as a result of civil wars and rulers’ greed over the
slave trade.
3. Congo
Political System
•Absolute Monarch called
ManiKongo (king)
•King Afonso
•Claimed Divine Right
Economic System
•Traded pottery and iron
goods
•Agriculture – corn
introduced in 1600s from
Americas
•Slave trade – for guns with
Portuguese.
Influence of
Europeans
•Christianity is spread –
King converts
• Guns for slaves impact
power of Kongo
•Portuguese interference in
political, economic,
religious concerns – Pope
Impact of Slave Trade
•Merchants offset ruling families
•Corrupting influence of slave trade
•Kingdom falls by 1800s – Divided into small states.
5. Do Now:
Few human practices have provoked such
deep and widespread outrage as the practice
of one human being enslaving another. Yet,
the institution of slavery is as old as
civilization. Why has slavery survived for
thousands of years?
Examine “A World of Slavery”
6. • The institution of slavery was present in Africa long before the arrival of
Europeans on its shores.
• Slaves were usually prisoners of war, conquered peoples, debtors
or criminals.
• In the early 19th century, caravans of 18,000 to 20,000 Africans were
brought to Cairo for resale.
A Slave
Market in
Algiers, 1684
AD
Background
7. Europeans in the Caribbean
• Native Indian populations in the Americas were forced into slavery, mining
gold and later working on sugar plantations.
• Battles, hard labor and European diseases destroyed enormous numbers
of native peoples.
Timucuan Indians
searching for gold
in Florida. Native
Americans
were the first to
endure forced labor
in the New World.
8. Increased Need for Slave Labor
The Native
Americans were
beginning to be
exterminated-due
to over working
and disease.
Colonizers in the New World found a
new source of labor...____________.the Africans
9. Forced Migration of Africans
• Africans proved to have resistance to European diseases and were
considered to be stronger workers than the Amerindians.
• A system soon developed where _______________ enslaved Africans
were sent to Spanish America by as early as 1600.
75,000 to 90,000
Africans mine and wash gold and
deliver it to a Spanish overseer
10. Investors in the Slave Trade
By 1650, most of the coastal states in Europe had possessions
in the Americas.
Graph of countries participating in the slave trade
1. Around what year was the Slave Trade at its peak?
2. Which country continued the Slave Trade the longest? Why?
11. Infamous Investors
Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal c. 1543
Encouraged by Prince Henry, the Portuguese became the
foremost navigators in their day. They were the first to
make the difficult voyage to the west coast of Africa. As
early as 1444, they brought cargoes of Africans to work
as slaves on the sugar plantations of Madeira alongside
slaves from Russia and the Balkans.
European royalty, nobility and leading merchants were the principal
supporters and benefactors of the slave trade. Europeans believed that
national power and private wealth were best built on a closed economic
system between the colonial societies and their mother country.
12. Carlos I of Spain (1504-1556)
Spain was the first to establish colonies in the
Americas. In 1516, during the reign of Carlos I,
enslaved Africans were brought to the
Caribbean for the first time.
Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603)
Elizabeth I was a major investor in the slave
trade. She sponsored a privateer, Sir John
Hawkins, to bring slaves from Africa to sell
to the Spanish colonies.
Louis XIV of France (1643-1715)
Louis XIV supplies nearly one half of the
finances needed by the French Guinea
Company to commence its African trade.
13. • The potential wealth to be
made from slavery led to the
triangular trade between
_________________________
_______________.
The Transatlantic Slave Trade
Europe, Africa and the
Americas.
• Europeans were able to
sell manufactured goods in
exchange for ____________
and luxury items.
raw materials
14. A Merchant Slaving Vessel:
The Henrietta Marie
Let’s follow the journey of
a typical slave ship…
First Stop!
London!
15. A Merchant Slaving Vessel:
The Henrietta Marie
The Henrietta Marie was typical of the numerous small merchant ships and
West Indian traders active in the Atlantic at the turn of the 18th century. In the
year 1699, the ship left the port of London on her second slaving voyage,
carrying a cargo of European manufactured goods for trade in West Africa.
16. The Port of
London
The Henrietta Mariewould start its journey inthe London, a thrivingport built on the banksof the Thames River.
jobs
dreams
•As the capital city, it
was the center of social
and economic
developments;
it was also the place to
which young people
came to learn trades,
find ____,
and fulfill their
_________.
17. Investors in the
Henrietta Marie
• The slave trading voyage was a
costly undertaking.
• It required backing of several
investors. A small stake in several
voyages was more prudent for
the investor than a large stake in
one ship.
• The problems to contend with
ranged from bad _______ to slave
revolts and payment problems.
• Some merchants did well in the
trade, while others went
bankrupt.
weather
18. A Merchant Slaving Vessel:
The Henrietta Marie
Three-masted,
square-sterned
vessel, about 60
feet long.
Small ship,capable of holding200 slaves in hercargo area.
Stepped decks, built on many levels to accommodate
the different cargoes of the transatlantic trade route.
To
Africa!
19. The Crew of a Merchant Slave Ship
Men who could not find other work often gravitated to
ports such as London where they signed on to escape
their economic problems.
Crews of slavers tended to be desperate, violent men.
20. Former slave ship master Reverend John Newton (B.1725) wrote
about the men aboard the merchant slavers:
"We are for the most part supplied with the refuse and dregs of
the nation. The prisons and glass houses supply us with large
quotas of boys impatient of their parents and masters, or
already ruined by some untimely vice and for the most part
devoid of principles."
21.
22. Benin
•When Europeans arrived in the late 15th
century, there were established states
throughout West Africa.
Arriving
in
Africa!
23. Port cities along
the coast were
controlled by
Portuguese,
Dutch, English.
• West Africa was
divided into states
with different rulers
governing different
areas.
• Some African ethnic
groups read and
wrote in Arabic,
others had strong oral
(speaking and
singing) traditions,
and religious
practices.
24. The Henrietta Marie in Africa
• The Henrietta Marie traded in the area of New Calabar,
saluting the town
with several_______, as was the custom of the day.
• African traders would often send canoes out to the
European ships arriving into slaving ports. Some of
these Africans would guide the newly arrived ships into
the rivers or harbors or ports.
guns
25. Slavery in Africa Powerful African
leaders met with
European Traders from
the Henrietta Marie.
1. If you were an African tribal leader, what would
you want in exchange for slaves? Why?
26. Slavery and War
• European _____were a popular trade item with the Africans. The coastal
rulers who had access to _____ used them to control areas further inland.
Pewter, Iron bars, glass beads, guns and other
goods were rare in Africa, where they could be
sold for much more than in England or other
European countries.
guns
guns
28. Soon Africans were rounding up slaves in groups of
one, two and three hundred for sale to the increasing
number of European vessels arriving in coastal ports.
29. Slave Catching
Raids
• Conducted mostly by
the Asante and
Dahomey tribes.
• Would attack
neighbors and catch
as many people as
possible.
• Europeans gave
Africans weapons
(mainly guns) to
capture other Africans.
30. Before Shipping
• Slaves captured or purchased in the African interior were
often held in confinement for months.
• Some of these people had been wounded in battles, and
others were exposed to smallpox, yellow fever, and other
deadly diseases.
31. • Removal of millions of African men and women from their homeland
• Economic dependence on Europe, devastating effects when trade was outlawed
• Susceptibility to European imperialism
Africa is Changed
32. Europeans were Middle Men
• Carried a cargo valued at about £827.
• £4 per slave: Brought 206 slaves to Jamaica.
• 190 slaves were recorded sold at Port Royal
Not Welcomed Inland! Did convert somekingdoms toChristianity (Kongo)
Forbidden to alter
African politics
33. Transporting the “Cargo”
•The men, women and children were shackled and confined to the
stifling cargo holds below deck.
•After securing her cargo, the Henrietta Marie would have brought
food and water aboard for the long voyage to the West Indies
known as the _________________.
To the
Americas!
Middle Passage
34. • Trek from Africa to the Americas lasted 35-60 days
Middle Passage
35. The “Cargo”
• By 1654, some 8,000-10,000 Africans each year were
undergoing the Middle Passage.
•By 1750, the annual number stabilized at 60,000-70,000.
36. The Middle Passage
“If the Atlantic were to dry up it would reveal a scattered
pathway of human bones marking the various routes of the
Middle Passage.”
• About 9 to 15million Africanswent on voyage:• 3 to 5 millionperished beforethey even reachedthe Americas.
37. • The mortality rate averaged between 13 and 33 percent
of the slaves and the crew.
Dangers of Middle Passage
Scurvy DysenteryGangrene Dehydration
Suicide Disease Malnutrition
38. The Atlantic Slave Trade
“But what heart could be so hard as to not be pierced
with piteous feelings to see that company?”
~Eyewitness to a Portuguese slave unloading
1. Despite the inhumane
treatment of the African
people, why did the slave
trade continue until the
19th
Century?
39. Profitability
“No commerce in the world produces as
many advantages as that of the slave
trade.”
~Colbert, Frenchman
Some believe the slave trade was the major reason for the
rise of commercial capitalism and the Industrial
Revolution.
40. Selling Slaves in the Caribbean
• With the first sighting of land, the captain of the Henrietta Marie would have
ordered slaves on deck in small groups for fresh air and grooming To improve
their appearance for sale.
•Men were shaved, sores were dressed, and rations were improved as
they approached their destination of Jamaica on May 18, 1700,
indicating that she spent almost fourteen weeks on the Middle Passage.
41. A Lucrative Business
The slaves were most likely auctioned off in groups, with prices
ranging between £12 -£18 each, depending on the sex, age and
condition of the individual.
42. Get Your Workers Here!
• Sold to the
highest
bidder
• Slaves-
washed and
greased with
tar or lard
• Judged by
condition
– Muscle
– Teeth
– Scratches
43. • As early as 1522, the first
notable slave revolt broke
out in the Spanish colony
of Hispaniola (now Haiti).
•In the Caribbean they were known as "Maroons" and
lived in the hills, using guerrilla warfare to _____
other slaves and steal necessary arms and equipment.
free
Rebellions in the Caribbean
• Enslaved Africans never accepted
their fate, and rebellions continued
for the next 300 years until the
abolition of plantation slavery.
• Many Africans escaped slavery
and banded together to form new
communities.
44. Indentured Servants
• White indentured servants were another exploited group of people
who, in return for their passage to the Americas or the Caribbean,
agreed to work for their sponsor.
• Indentured servants were at the mercy of their master: they were
unpaid and had to do whatever they were told.
• They were bound to their master for a set period of time,
_________________, after which they were set free, and could
expect to receive a small tract of land from their master.
usually five years
45. The European
Sweet Tooth
• Most Europeans had never
tasted sugar before the
economic successes
of the transatlantic trade
made the Caribbean product
readily available.
• England was a major
consumer as early as 1660.
For a century and a half,
sugar remained the most
valuable and largest import,
overtaken only by
_______ in the 1820s.cotton
46. The Henrietta Marie
•The profits from the sale of slaves enabled the Henrietta Marie to
load West Indian goods for her voyage home to England.
• Sugar was the main commodity and cargo entries reveal that she
was carrying 81 hogsheads (large barrels) of muscovado sugar.
Back to!
London!
48. THE END
“The world would benefit f this part of our history
could be told in such a way that those chains of the
past, those shackles that physically bound us
together, against our wills, could in the telling
become…ironically, a positive connecting line to all
of us living inside or outside the continent of Africa.”
~Historian Tom Feelings
