HIS 102 Western Civ II, slides from class on 09/09/2015

1. The Transatlantic Slave Trade
HIS 102 Western Civilization II
Kara Heitz

2. Questions:
• How did European expansion and colonization
effect indigenous peoples and their cultures in
the Americas?
• What were the main features of the African slave
trade, and what effects did the slave trade have
on African societies?
• How did the wealth generated by the Caribbean
slave plantation system impact British society?

3. European Voyages of Exploration
• Begins in late 1400s
• Establishes significant
European contact and
trade with rest of world
• Beginnings of European
colonies, empires, and
European- dominated
world economy

5. Motivations for Exploration
Columbus landing on Hispaniola, Dec. 6, 1492
and greeted by Arawak Indians
- By Theodore De Bry (1594)
• Profits from trade with Asia
• European demand for spices
and silk
• Gold and other precious
metals
• Conversion of non-
Christians
• Stories of fantastic lands
• Political changes in Europe
• State centralization
centralized
• Resources to sponsor
voyages
• Competition between
European states
• New ship & sailing
technologies
• New map knowledge

6. European Colonies in 1550

7. European Colonies in 1660

8. European Colonies in 1800

9. • How did European expansion and colonization
effect indigenous peoples and their cultures in
the Americas?

11. Origins of the Slave Trade
• Slavery prior to Transatlantic Slave Trade
• Portuguese establish first
– 1526: first ship taking African slaves to Americas
– British, Dutch, French also become slave traders
– Role of local African elites
• Discovery of Americas and establishment of sugarcane plantations =
huge demand for slave labor
• Part of Triangle Trade
– Middle passage
• Effects on West African societies

12. Transatlantic Triangle Trade

13. Middle Passage

14. Growth of the Slave Trade
• 1500-1860: 10-15 million people taken from
Africa to the Americas as slaves
– 1500s-1600s: 21% of total crossed
– 1700s: 50%
– 1800s: 29%
• Even after Britain and the US ban the slave trade in 1808
• Big demand for slaves in the Americas
– Huge profits from crops using slave labor (sugar,
tobacco, coffee, cotton, cocoa)
– High death rate of slaves (middle passage, diseases,
overwork)

17. Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, 1450-1900

18. Countries and regions in the
Atlantic World where slave
voyages were organized, by
share of captives carried off
from Africa
- Slave voyages were organized and
left from all major Atlantic ports
at some point over the nearly
four centuries of the trans-
Atlantic slave trade.
- Vessels from the largest seven
ports carried off almost three-
quarters of all captives
- Brazil (Portugal before
1822): Rio de Janeiro, Bahia,
and Pernambuco
- Great Britain: Liverpool,
London, and Bristol
- France: Nantes

19. Slavery and the Global Economy
• Initial development of global capitalist
economy (late 1400s-1700s)
• Mercantilism
• Colonies and Mercantilism
• Slavery and wealth

20. Case Study: British Caribbean Colonies

21. Sugar plantations using slave
labor in the British Caribbean

22. Harvesting and
processing sugar on
plantations

23. Punishments
and Bondage
for Slaves

24. Ottley’s
Plantation
Inn, St. Kitts -
a former 17th
century sugar
plantation

25. • How did the slave trade and the use of slave
labor in British colonies help make Britain
wealthy?

26. West India Docks in London (c. early 1800s)

27. London Docklands (2015)

28. British Wealth from Slavery
• HUGE profits from commodities produced by
slaves
• Shipping infrastructure
• International financial networks
• Connection to industrialization
• What British people profited?
– Slave ship owners, slave traders, plantation
owners, factory owners, bankers
– Ordinary people (jobs, cheaper goods)

29. • How did the wealth generated by the
Caribbean slave plantation system impact
British society?

30. 'A Family of Three at Tea', attributed to Richard Collins.
Great Britain, ca. 1727.

31. Emancipation & Compensation
– 1772: Slavery made illegal in mainland Britain
– 1807: Britain abolishes the slave trade
– 1833: Britain abolishes slavery in its colonies
• Compensation paid to 46,000 slave owners for around
800,000 slaves
– Only 3,000 slave owners lived in Britain, but they owned
50% of slaves in the empire
– Over 40% of claimants were women
• £20 million in total paid out (modern equivalent £17
billion, or $26 billion)
– Largest government pay out in British history

33. Legacies of British Slave Ownership Project
• https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/
• Range of people who were slave owners. From
very wealthy to middle classes

34. Small Group Work
• Who is this person?
• How many slaves did they own? How much
did they receive in compensation for those
slaves?
• How did this money affected their lives, the
lives of their heirs, and British society overall?
• How do you think this person viewed the
enslavement of people of African descent in
the British Caribbean?

35. Discussion Questions:
• What is the purpose of making this data
publically available?
• Why do you think people search the database
for family connections?
• What purpose does this database have in
Britain society in the present day?
• What would the impact of a similar database
be in the United States?