African Slave Trade Flashcard

The Atlantic slave trade was forged in the crucible of Europe's Commercial Revolution. The main motivator was the wealth that could be made from such an endeavor, which all European countries--from small to large--wanted to take part in.

Slavery helped sustain the sugar, coffee, and tobacco industries and in general, the entire economy, Europeans conquered the New World primarily for the exploitation of natural resources so labor was obviously needed, but they needed to find a cost-efficient way of doing this so slavery was the answer. Also, key plantation products like sugar, coffee, and cotton were not native to the New World, but some imported slaves were already familiar with the cultivation of these products. In addition, there was a large land-to-man ratio so extensive laborers were needed (land had high potential for mining and agriculture). Due to the slave trade, there was a vast amount of slaves (mostly Africans) to use to help to developed the New World both agriculturally and economically.

The Middle Passage was the voyage from Africa to the Americas. This voyage was a horrible experience characterized by cramped areas, rampant disease, hunger strikes, filth (which contributed to ultimately more deaths), and even suicide by those who couldn't tolerate the conditions any more and jumped overboard. This horrible treatment of slaves it was makes it so significant. In addition, 12.5 million slaves were transported. As a result, this large importation of slaves were responsible for European wealth in the 17th and 18th centuries. 2/3rds of the passage never made it to America. There were two kinds of packs: loose packs and tight packs. In loose packs, slaves were able to move, but in tight packs, there were so many slaves, the cargo allowed no movement between them.

In Latin America (specifically Mexico), there was a greater capacity for the importation of slaves as opposed to the islands which was a goldmine for slave traders. Also, there were people in charge of the slaves called "administrators" who kept slave records, maintained slave operation, etc... In Brazil, slaves were divided into three groups: mining, urban, and plantation. Urban slaves were able to make their own wages because of their ability to read and write. Profits were placed over church laws. There were lots of blacks on the Pacific Coast in the colonial period. Brazilian laws were also present to assist the slaves, but were difficult to be enforced. Also, slaves were forced to be baptized one year after arrival, attend confession, etc.... Also, a woman could get her freedom if she had 10 kids. In comparison with the Caribbeans, slavery was more lenient in terms of freedom. Slaves had a better chance of getting their freedom in Latin America than in the Caribbeans. There was a small number of Portuguese and Spanish settlers in the Latin colonies, as compared to Britons in the North American colonies. The Catholic Church shaped the slave experience in Latin America, distinguishing it from the slave experience in Protestant British America.

Between the 14th and 16th centuries. The Renaissance was a cultural movement encompassing intellectual development. European nations were developing while French and Spain tried to dominate it in an attempt to finding faster trade routes to trade between the Middle East. Stock joint companies and businesses were developing and the invention of the gunpowder revolutionized European warfare (knew how to place gunpowder in barrels and shoot people). Paper money and gold were utilized and the compass (developed by Portugal) helped the exploration of new places. It was always thought that the nation with the most gold in the treasury dominated the trading system (European nations were also competing to dominate the trade market).

Ghana, Mali, and Sanghay. They existed between the 7th and 16th centuries.

Village status, trading status, confederate status, and decentralized status. Villages are autonomous and were not connected to any other state; they had their own way of doing things. It is also the most common form made of various tribal groups. Villages also had a chief/king that could not act independent of of the Counsel of Elders, a group of elders that resolve disputes in the village. It is believed that the older they are, the more connections they have to ancestors.

Kinship (when a group of people are related through blood or marriage) group, polygamy/marriage, religion, and slavery

1492

Paleolithic and Neolithic periods

A civilization is the cultivation of plants and the domestication of animals. It began at 3000 BC.

A civilization needs order and law, military, cattle for clothes, food, milk, etc.. Men are considered dogmatic.

Natural resources

Egyptians

They gave up autonomy. The colonies embraced slavery (colonial legislation passed law).

Considered patriarchal and headed by men

Products (ie. yams or cattle) are systems of exchange. For example, the more herd a person had, the more wealthy the herd owner would be considered.

Inferior

They were developed because the Counsel of Elders could not resolve every single issue and dispute (too time-consuming).

Because an African is forcefully taken from their kinship group, they cannot return back to their homeland to see their family which has severe psychological and emotional consequences.

A man could have as many wives as he can afford. Usually, wives that were aware of the other wives were not offended at them. They would only get angry when more priority was shown to one wife's children than the others.

Levirate means when the husband has died or passed away, his brother can take his position and marry his wife.

It was a village state. It was a confederation of states meaning that it wasn't just one super-structure, but an aggregation of multiple autonomous villages. Also, this aggregation allows them to support each other in times of need. Also, most African states were decentralized meaning they did not have a central government (there were no national treasury for money to come to or any laws or regulations that everybody abides by.

Natural resources

The West African empires had gold, location (located in corners of Sahara desert), water, ore, etc...

622 AD

Long distance trading routes

Salt and gold

The Middle Ages were between the 7th and 14th centuries. The first part of the Middle Ages, between 600 and 900 AD, were known as the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages were characterized by no form of achievement (whether it be literary, scholar, etc...), no centralization, nothing. While Western Europe was in the Dark Ages, the center of learning was in West Africa.

Ghana started to trade gold and ivory with Europe for European-manufactured goods. Africans knew gold was valuable, but they had so much of it, it wasn't a concern. In African society, gold was not a medium of exchange or money, but given as gifts and such. In order to exchange with the Middle East, one would have to convert to Islam (by peaceful coercion). The king of Ghana let them build Muslim towns next to Ghana in order to regulate trading. Ghana was sophisticated by Arabs. The king never adopted to Islam.

The people of Ghana enjoyed prosperity until droughts caused soil erosion which caused decreased food productivity. Ghana first appears as a confederacy of settlements on grasslands of the Senegal and Niger rivers. Even though Ghana was the first great empire, towns were breaking away. The capital of Ghana was Kumbi Saleh, a major commercial center during the 9th century. By the beginning of the 10th century, Ghana had a native part and an Arab section. Slowly, it's people began adopting Islam. By the 11th century, Ghana had a large army and a profitable trade across the Sahara desert. It is also received salt, wheat, fruit, etc... from Muslim countries for ivory and gold. The king of Ghana was Tunka-Menin and he imposed taxes and collected tributes. Most public offices were hereditary (including the position of king) and Ghana's social order was stratified. In the 11th century, Ghana started suffering economic decline because of the droughts and was placed in a vulnerable position for conquerors.

Every Muslim is supposed to go to Mecca on a hijra. Muslims are also required to read the Quran in Arabic.

Mali emerged as a power in 1235, but the core of it's political organization dates back to the beginning of the 7th century.The king of Mali was Mansa Musa and enjoyed displaying the strength of his empire to the Muslim world. It was said that he gave away so much gold, he caused its devaluation in Egypt. He was a devout Muslim. It had a bureaucratic government and offered much prestige to the world. He forced the people to learn Arabic; the people were mainly agricultural, but a lot were also involved in diff crafts and mining. Mansa Musa was responsible for a well-organized political state including the discipline of provincial governors, the excellent condition of public finance, the respect given to decisions of justice and the authority of the sovereign, etc... Massa's successor, Suleiman, enjoyed the flourishing economy, the sound international trade relations, and an expansive government covering hundreds of miles from the Atlantic to Lake Chad belonging to Mali before its disintegration.

African chiefs had control over West Africa's economy; Muslims never had control of West Africa.

Scholarship means "birth of science." Major cities of Africa were considered major cities of learning. People would actually move from Eastern Europe to West Africa.

Songhay was at it's economic height in the 14th and 15th centuries. In the 16th century, it began to lose trading markets. Songhay once held the largest territorial empire and benifitted much from the Indian Ocean and West Europe trades. Between the 10th and 13th centuries, Gao, a region in Songhay, was an important center of trade between the surrounding hinterland and the trans-Sahara and a political center. During the reign of Askia Muhammad, he devoted his energies to solidifying his empire, making his people prosperous, and encouraging learning. Gao, Walata, and Jenne were the intellectual centers. Armies of slaves and prisoners of wars engaged in farming and commerce. He also assigned carefully chosen governors, called fari, to rule over subdivisions of the empire used appointed chiefs, or noi, to administer provinces and large cities. Economically, banking and credit were improved, scales were inspected, and trades were encouraged with other countries (so traders from Europe and Asia would visit Gao).

In 1492, Christopher Columbus tried to sell the idea of further exploration to the monarchs. He would share his discovery with the investor. Columbus convinces Queen Isabella to support his project. Columbus also discovered the New World in 1492 in an attempt to find the fastest route to India.

They were in search of economic opportunities and made trading relations with people on the coast.

Portugese already started exploring Africa before Christopher Columbus set sail to Africa (he did it in the 14th century). European countries love sugar as a commodity The Portugese realized in order to increase money, they needed to increase the # of laborers since the more sugar cane grown, the more money made and Portugal possessed the technology to process it. So Portugal raids Africa and takes slaves. These slaves (who called also marry Portugese women with no bans and created shops) worked in the fields to cultivate European-desired commodities and this was known as the plantaion system. The Portugese were the first people to start this kind of system.

Silver mines, coffee, and tea plantations. They tried utilizing Native Americans, but to no avail.

Slaves had no personage, no family, etc... once imported. Servants were used as badge of status. In terms of trading, slavery was nothing unusual. Slavery was justified by falsely claiming those enslaved were inferior.

The Triangular Trade was a system of trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas that began from the 16th century onward. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, cargo of the trade were not just goods, but people as well. Between the 17th and 18th centuries, the Triangular trade expanded and became known as the transatlantic slave trade because of the large amount of cargo which were slaves.

1807

Indentured servants are people who voluntarily sold themselves into bondage for a certain period of time. At the end of their service, they were given land, tools, etc... or their debt was paid off.

The Spanish, French, Dutch, and Europeans explored these areas (especially North America). Their purpose was to set up trading relationships with people on the coast of the continent.

Europeans once thought if you cross the Atlantic, there will be monsters that will will eat you alive.

Slaves were allowed to marry, less restraints. Slaves came from conquered enemies (also known as prisoners of wars). Someone could voluntarily submit themselves into slavery if they're in debt. African leaders did not consider the mistreatment of their people when they sold them. Ivory, ostrich feathers, etc... were traded for guns.

In South America, there were silver mines, coffee, cash crops, etc... Mainland America (which was in North America) grew beans, crops, etc... There was also a demand for sugar in the Caribbeans and tobacco in the Americas. Africa traded gold and ivory.

Africans were easily more identifiable than Native Americans because of their skin color. In addition, Europeans heard American stories of deaths due to disease from Native American attacks.

Between the 16th and 17th centuries

Capitalism is the economic system involving the exchange of profits of services in a "supply and demand" economy. Entrepreneurs invested money in the New World.

Stop-off points are ports in the Americas where slaves were dropped off. These ports would be in Argentina, Peru, Chile, etc... in South America. Some were taken to mainland America. Stop-off points were the means to ensuring a permanent labor force in the New World.

When one is 6-7 yrs old, they do work typical of men (like in a farming community, they would learn how to farm). By 12-15, they went through manhood training to officially become a man. They couldn't have a wife or children until manhood training was completed and they were established. It was thought of like this: how could one support a family if one wasn't established? The purpose of manhood training was to provide for his family and increase relations with the family. Typical characteristics of a man were providing, defending, protecting, lack of fear, and not showing emotion. For example, when Kunta came back to Juffure after his manhood training and the women were greeting him happily, he initially did not smile or speak. Also, when he was speaking with his brother, Lamin told Kunta his goats are big and have kids, but Kunta showed little reaction. Manhood training also meant demanding respect from others as seen when Binta (Kunta's mother) helps him move into his hut given to him by his father, Omoro, who also greeted him with mutual respect and looking at him as an equal. This concept of having a lack of fear is exemplified when the kintago was speaking to the boys going through manhood training; he said if men were to return to the village, they must have no fear for a fearful person is a weak person and jeopardizes his family, village, and tribe.

The Caribbeans were the first area in the New World to have a plantation system because of sugar and served as a model for slavery in Mainland America. Slaves were sent to the farms at daybreak. They only had 30 mins for breakfast and two hours of lighter chores during the hottest part of the day. Pregnant women worked even until childbirth and were lashed if they were found caring for their newborn. At the time, Spain claimed the Caribbean islands bc of the pope's decision in 1493 and other explorations then later lost it in the 17th century. Generally, there was little food and severe punishment was administered in response to the many revolts. Also, in terms of population, blacks outweighed whites. This led to the establishment of slave codes which were rules and regulations to prevent slaves from running away. For example, slaves could not carry any weapons or leave the plantation without a pass or hit a white Christian (or else that person would be whipped). There was also communities consisting of run-away slaves called Maroon communities in order to live their life in peace (esp. apparent in Jamaica).

Copper working, iron smelting, artistry, commerce, and early state formation were all aspects of life in West Europe prior to the Europeans.African craftsmen would use diff methods to transform copper into sculptures, accessories, etc... reflecting a culture that appreciates body adornment. Certain villages were known for fishing; others for metallurgy; and others for weapons and lifestyles. Commerce was also conducted between African merchants and Muslim traders giving them opportunity to wear accessories not native to West Africa like gold beads. Slavery was also existent before European influence and similar to slavery of the Muslim world (more humane than European-induced slavery). Slavery was relevant in many capacities such as household servants, agricultural laborers, miners, porters, craftsmen, etc...

In the British colonies, slaves could not enter any kind of binding agreement, thus marriage in a legal sense was not an option. Permission of the owner was the only prerequisite for an equivalent of a marital relationship between two slaves. Some slaveholders even encouraged slaves to be religious and attend church regularly. The British colonies generally did not encourage the idea of slaves learning how to read or write, some discouraged it, and others actually forbade it.