The Atlantic System The systems of trade connecting Africa, Europe, and the Americas

Triangular Trade Stage One: Goods to Africa In the first stage, merchants shipped cotton goods (bought from India), weapons, and manufactured goods to Africa in exchange for slaves or gold. Africans vying for power (Dahomey, Asante) used guns and luxury items to compel and cajole their way to larger territorial conquests

Stage Two: The Middle Passage Africans were taken across the Atlantic to the Americas and sold. Plantocracy rested on slave trade to manufacture sugar for growing consumption. Majority to Brazil, Caribbean

Middle Passage Conditions Pick 5 Slaves while on board were burned with hot irons and put in cuffs. Disease easily spread. Food was nasty Women were raped There was very little headroom. There were about 300 to 400 people packed in a tiny area. Not much room to breathe. Some slaves tried to kill themselves by starving themselves but were then force fed. Middle Passage Conditions

Stage Three: Goods to Europe Merchants sent the plantations’ products to Europe, where they were used to buy manufactured products to be sold in Africa. Europe’s sea power allowed them to be the prime movers in the trading systems of the world, yielding dynamic economies and leading to sea- based Empires and power (eg: 1600s - Dutch, s - British)

Sugar, Slaves, and the Modern Economy Johann Zoffany, “Dido and Lady Elizabeth Murray,” 1799

Step One: Desire It was fashionable in Europe to drink coffee, tea, and cocoa. Sugar makes these items yummy Demand was high…what might happen because of this? Production was difficult and labor intensive In Africa, empire-builders needed luxury goods and guns to fulfill their goals CONTRAST: –Asante confederation built on domination of gold and wars yielding prisoners. –Benin tried to limit and control trade – mostly products, not people. Sugar

African Captives

Step Two: Fill the need Africans engaged in wars to build their territories Wars yielded POWs POWs sold to get more guns, lux. goods Tiny elite (plantocracy) could afford huge tracts of land and slaves to work them Huge fortunes were made What might the winning parties do to continue the system?

Slave Ship Plan

Step Three: Continue the cycle Tea and coffee drinking become institutions. What kinds of activities/places support this institution? Consumption spreads from elite downward. WHY? Demand grows. The system continued.

Slave Master Brands

Step Four: Decline With what problems, inherent in slavery, would people across the globe take issue? What might slaves eventually do? Why would this be a major problem? –Abolitionist movement & Christianity, English Common Law prohibitions (Abolished slave trade: 1808; Slavery: 1834) –Haitian Revolution, loss of money, deemed too risky

Slave, early 19c

Because of these two issues, what do you envision happening over time? What will shortly take place in England, that might make the use of compelled human slavery redundant? –New sources of sugar found (sugar beet grown in Europe); physical buying of people and slavery declined and indentured servitude rises (from China and Japan) –Industrial Revolution; production mechanized Step Four: Decline

Abolitionist Symbol, 1800s, “Am I not a Man and a Brother?”

The Amistad (Not the real deal but this is what it looked like)

Article: Slavery and Human Society

Roundtable Discussion 1.I will place you into groups of four. 2.Choose a policeman (keeps the group on task), a time-keeper (duh), a facilitator (focuses the group), and a reader. 3.You will have several questions to discuss after the reader goes over the article with your group, 3 minutes for each question. 4.Jot notes at the bottom of your paper to record ideas. 5.Be ready for group discussion.

Question One What has been the role of race in the history of slavery? How are our conceptions of slavery based on the slavery practiced in the Atlantic system?

Question Two Why has slavery been considered “natural” or “necessary” by people throughout history? To what extent do you agree/disagree?

Question Three It has been stated that, “African slave trade was one of the first truly international trades.” True or false in your opinion…why?

Question Four Why did Africa become the leading source of slaves in the early modern economy?

Question Five To what extent do you think systems of slavery still exist today? What examples can you think of? Or, was the world rid of slavery with the onset of the Industrial Revolution?