The Trans-Atlantic Slave trade - 1440-1870
The West-Central Africa region is where most of the Black slaves to the Americas came from.
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Related Downloads"The unforgotten Black Women of the slave Trade"
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First, there is little question that forced migration of black Africans to the New World was one of the great crimes against humanity in world history, which was made no better by the fact that some Africans participated with the Europeans in its rewards. The relations with the Europeans damaged African life beyond the slave trade's siphoning of humans with the introduction of firearms and ammunition into Africa, power struggles and act of retaliation among Africans increased. The
brutal roundup of captives forced others to arm themselves for protection. And to get that protection, they had to sell
humans.
The African traders sacrificed much to maintain their alliance with the Europeans. Some of their own family members,
friends, neighbors, adulterers and those in debt could be put into slavery which opened the way for vendettas. Sometimes entire families were required to follow a convicted relative into servitude.
The sad irony of blacks selling blacks never slowed the African merchant's determination to do business with Europeans since tribal distinctions meant more than racial ones. And he considered his involvement limited, failing to realize that he was an essential part of an enterprise that would make men wealthier then he could ever imagine.
But the most frightening effect was the irreparable tear in the fabric of African custom and tradition. Men, women and children were captured and pulled farther and farther away from the history and nurturing of each tribe. And they had, as far
as they could see, when landing in the Americas, no future.
In 1700 (the height of the slave trade), West and West-Central Africa had a population of about 25 million people, who lived in a complex range of kin-ordered and tributary societies along the 4,000 miles coastline, the smallest were stateless, many more were of moderate size but possessed some degree of internal stratification, and a few were big class-based states.
The Atlantic slave trade drew upon this vast catchment area for slaves, and involved a far more complex economic system within Africa than we might at first imagined.
More than one-half of all Africans who were transported to the Americas in the 18th century went to the Caribbean and almost another one-third went to Brazil. Fewer than a tenth went to Spanish America, and only six percent went to North America. They came to a world in which thousands of their predecessors were already established. In many cases, however, the newcomers were so overwhelming in numbers that they remade the society of the American territories.
This was true in North America, despite the relatively small number of Africans landed there. There were some 22,000 persons of African descent in 1700, of which no fewer than13,000 were in the Chesapeake region. By 1740 the population of slaves increase to 160,000, then doubling in the next two decades to 327,000. Natural increase played a role in the growth of course, but the speed of the arrival of slaves, to work Chesapeake County tobacco farms and then rice and indigo plantations of South Carolina, probably contributed more
The demographic of the British West Indies make a striking contrast to that of North America, however. In 1700, the West Indies had a population of some 115,000 persons of African descent to North America's 22,000. Over the next 70 years, the West Indies received a total of nearly one million Africans, and yet the total population grew by only about 315,000 persons. North America received a bit more than a one-person increase. In spite of the huge volume of the slave trade to the West Indies, there were more people of African descent in North America than in the West Indies by 1770, but far more of the West Indians were African born. The question thus beg: Who were the true barbarians?
The above facts are obviously a result of bad rates of survival and low rate of reproduction in the West Indies to require the constant restoring of plantations. African-born slaves may have been the majority, through the 18th century, in Jamaica; Around 1750 some 40 percent of the people of African descent in Jamaica spoke Coromantee (or as it is called today, Akan, of Twi) as their mother tongue. It is obvious today that the Jamaicans were able to retain much of their African culture in adopting to their New World environment. (See the "Early Culture Formation" page. for details)
The Trade
The transatlantic slave trade was for much of its long life, a governmental enterprise in the countries concerned. The Portuguese Crown set the tone by giving certain merchants licenses to trade in slaves and other "merchandise" in Africa. By 1500 the Portuguese had effectively opened up trading on 4,000 miles of the African coastline, from Senegambia to Angola, secured by a string of forts and bases. After 1510 they were followed by other European nations -- all keen to take Africans to the expanding economies of the Americas. This white presence on the West African coast had a dramatic impact on the nature of slavery within Africa itself. So voracious was the appetite for slaves that slavery was transformed and extended far into the African hinterland. Conflicts and even wars were created simply to provide slaves.
Many Europeans had borrowed money to finance their ventures and could not go home before recouping their investments. They wanted to make money, in the form of African captures, and the money was always there. So they waited for the Africans to wage war on one another; they waited for prisoners of war to be brought to them.
The slave-trading system was not quite as neat, not quite as clearly defined, as Equiano described. The slave trade varied by region and trading partners, with two basic arrangements: in the "fort trades," ship captains bought slaves from other Europeans who resided in places like Cape Coast Castle on the Gold Coast (presently Ghana); in the "boat trade," carried out in the many areas where there were no forts, business was often conducted on the main deck of the slave ship after canoes had ferried cargo to and from shore. Vast reaches of coastline were unapproachable by ocean-going vessels (thanks to sandbars, reefs). There, the slave-trader, sending in their yawls, or being supplied by African canoes which expertly found their way round or over the natural obstacles. This commerce was sometimes called the "black trade" because it was controlled largely by African merchants, some representing big trading states, others on behalf of smaller groups. Sometimes the two types existed side by side.
The slave ships served the same purpose as the castle (forts) on shore, offering storage space for the slowly accumulating cargo until enough were on board to head out to the Atlantic. Like the forts, the ships had to be aware of the ever-present dangers; from the slaves from other hostile Africans and from competitors. Slave ships and forts alike had guns trained on the slaves and on the villages.
The massive river systems -- the Niger, Benue, Volta, Senegal, Gambia and the Congo, offered their own myriad slaving locations. In many places slave-trading was conducted on the beach; elsewhere, it took place in temporary shore-based settlements -- stores, offices, living quarters and a "baracoon" to store slaves. Africans arrived in coffles, i.e., tied 'by the neck with leather throngs, at about a yard distance from each other, thirty of forty on a string'.
brutal roundup of captives forced others to arm themselves for protection. And to get that protection, they had to sell
humans.
The African traders sacrificed much to maintain their alliance with the Europeans. Some of their own family members,
friends, neighbors, adulterers and those in debt could be put into slavery which opened the way for vendettas. Sometimes entire families were required to follow a convicted relative into servitude.
The sad irony of blacks selling blacks never slowed the African merchant's determination to do business with Europeans since tribal distinctions meant more than racial ones. And he considered his involvement limited, failing to realize that he was an essential part of an enterprise that would make men wealthier then he could ever imagine.
But the most frightening effect was the irreparable tear in the fabric of African custom and tradition. Men, women and children were captured and pulled farther and farther away from the history and nurturing of each tribe. And they had, as far
as they could see, when landing in the Americas, no future.
In 1700 (the height of the slave trade), West and West-Central Africa had a population of about 25 million people, who lived in a complex range of kin-ordered and tributary societies along the 4,000 miles coastline, the smallest were stateless, many more were of moderate size but possessed some degree of internal stratification, and a few were big class-based states.
The Atlantic slave trade drew upon this vast catchment area for slaves, and involved a far more complex economic system within Africa than we might at first imagined.
More than one-half of all Africans who were transported to the Americas in the 18th century went to the Caribbean and almost another one-third went to Brazil. Fewer than a tenth went to Spanish America, and only six percent went to North America. They came to a world in which thousands of their predecessors were already established. In many cases, however, the newcomers were so overwhelming in numbers that they remade the society of the American territories.
This was true in North America, despite the relatively small number of Africans landed there. There were some 22,000 persons of African descent in 1700, of which no fewer than13,000 were in the Chesapeake region. By 1740 the population of slaves increase to 160,000, then doubling in the next two decades to 327,000. Natural increase played a role in the growth of course, but the speed of the arrival of slaves, to work Chesapeake County tobacco farms and then rice and indigo plantations of South Carolina, probably contributed more
The demographic of the British West Indies make a striking contrast to that of North America, however. In 1700, the West Indies had a population of some 115,000 persons of African descent to North America's 22,000. Over the next 70 years, the West Indies received a total of nearly one million Africans, and yet the total population grew by only about 315,000 persons. North America received a bit more than a one-person increase. In spite of the huge volume of the slave trade to the West Indies, there were more people of African descent in North America than in the West Indies by 1770, but far more of the West Indians were African born. The question thus beg: Who were the true barbarians?
The above facts are obviously a result of bad rates of survival and low rate of reproduction in the West Indies to require the constant restoring of plantations. African-born slaves may have been the majority, through the 18th century, in Jamaica; Around 1750 some 40 percent of the people of African descent in Jamaica spoke Coromantee (or as it is called today, Akan, of Twi) as their mother tongue. It is obvious today that the Jamaicans were able to retain much of their African culture in adopting to their New World environment. (See the "Early Culture Formation" page. for details)
The Trade
The transatlantic slave trade was for much of its long life, a governmental enterprise in the countries concerned. The Portuguese Crown set the tone by giving certain merchants licenses to trade in slaves and other "merchandise" in Africa. By 1500 the Portuguese had effectively opened up trading on 4,000 miles of the African coastline, from Senegambia to Angola, secured by a string of forts and bases. After 1510 they were followed by other European nations -- all keen to take Africans to the expanding economies of the Americas. This white presence on the West African coast had a dramatic impact on the nature of slavery within Africa itself. So voracious was the appetite for slaves that slavery was transformed and extended far into the African hinterland. Conflicts and even wars were created simply to provide slaves.
Many Europeans had borrowed money to finance their ventures and could not go home before recouping their investments. They wanted to make money, in the form of African captures, and the money was always there. So they waited for the Africans to wage war on one another; they waited for prisoners of war to be brought to them.
The slave-trading system was not quite as neat, not quite as clearly defined, as Equiano described. The slave trade varied by region and trading partners, with two basic arrangements: in the "fort trades," ship captains bought slaves from other Europeans who resided in places like Cape Coast Castle on the Gold Coast (presently Ghana); in the "boat trade," carried out in the many areas where there were no forts, business was often conducted on the main deck of the slave ship after canoes had ferried cargo to and from shore. Vast reaches of coastline were unapproachable by ocean-going vessels (thanks to sandbars, reefs). There, the slave-trader, sending in their yawls, or being supplied by African canoes which expertly found their way round or over the natural obstacles. This commerce was sometimes called the "black trade" because it was controlled largely by African merchants, some representing big trading states, others on behalf of smaller groups. Sometimes the two types existed side by side.
The slave ships served the same purpose as the castle (forts) on shore, offering storage space for the slowly accumulating cargo until enough were on board to head out to the Atlantic. Like the forts, the ships had to be aware of the ever-present dangers; from the slaves from other hostile Africans and from competitors. Slave ships and forts alike had guns trained on the slaves and on the villages.
The massive river systems -- the Niger, Benue, Volta, Senegal, Gambia and the Congo, offered their own myriad slaving locations. In many places slave-trading was conducted on the beach; elsewhere, it took place in temporary shore-based settlements -- stores, offices, living quarters and a "baracoon" to store slaves. Africans arrived in coffles, i.e., tied 'by the neck with leather throngs, at about a yard distance from each other, thirty of forty on a string'.
Shore to Ship
Raiding Villages
Barracoon with thatched roof; captured slaves inside, guards outside; several persons being whipped.
African slaves being herded to the coast - by other Africans
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Maneuvering the river with captives
Open-ended barracoon
Taken to ships by canoe
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Europeans had to pay levies and taxes, or offer gifts and commodities to the men who controlled the slaves. In their turn, these African traders had to deal with their own suppliers of humanity from the interior. And so it continued, each link in this long and tortuous chain secured the next negotiant by the appropriate price, commodity or barter. On occasions whites would go along, in certain parts of the interior, to assist with the raids. However deep the trade penetrated into the interior (it took Equiano "six or seven months after I had been kidnapped" to reach the coast), and however diffused the material goods and monies made available on the coast, there came a final point where Africans were seized and enslaved.
At certain crucial periods, warfare was the obvious and most efficient form of gathering slaves. At first, the trade was dominated by the kingdom of Allada before it had shifted to the kingdom of Whydah to the west. The Kingdom of Dahomey having conquered both Allada and Whydah in the 1720s became the dominant supplier of slaves to the Europeans at a crucial period of the slave trade. Dahomey had been transformed from a small coastal state into a powerful, centralized and military kingdom controlling huge reaches of the interior slave trade. Its army was refashioned to execute slave raids.
The exotic goods and produce which Europeans were able to offer became the currency and exchanged throughout the slave-trading regions of Africa. Africans were especially keen to acquire firearms. The export of arms to Africa was a massive business. Guns encouraged the bellicose expansion (and presumably enhanced the self-confidence) of Africans involved in the slave trade. Guns gave strength to a state or a group (providing its neighbors did not also have them), and could tilt the balance of power in a region.
At certain crucial periods, warfare was the obvious and most efficient form of gathering slaves. At first, the trade was dominated by the kingdom of Allada before it had shifted to the kingdom of Whydah to the west. The Kingdom of Dahomey having conquered both Allada and Whydah in the 1720s became the dominant supplier of slaves to the Europeans at a crucial period of the slave trade. Dahomey had been transformed from a small coastal state into a powerful, centralized and military kingdom controlling huge reaches of the interior slave trade. Its army was refashioned to execute slave raids.
The exotic goods and produce which Europeans were able to offer became the currency and exchanged throughout the slave-trading regions of Africa. Africans were especially keen to acquire firearms. The export of arms to Africa was a massive business. Guns encouraged the bellicose expansion (and presumably enhanced the self-confidence) of Africans involved in the slave trade. Guns gave strength to a state or a group (providing its neighbors did not also have them), and could tilt the balance of power in a region.
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King Alvare of the Congo who provided slaves to the Portuguese (c. 1680).
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King Tegesibu of Dahomey fortunes based on the slave trade being visited by the Governor of Cape Coast Castle..
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The King of Benin (c. 1686) whose ancestors refused to sell men; but his descendants sold everyone.
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