1. Dr. Afxendiou AP World History 9 Sachem North High School
Chapter 20: Africa and the Africans in the Age of the Atlantic Slave Trade
Dr. Afxendiou
AP World History 9
Sachem North High School

2. Slave Exports from Africa, 1500-1900 (in 1000)
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
Total
Red Sea
200 (17)
200 (7)
200 (3)
450 (8)
1050 (6)
Trans-Sahara
550 (47)
700 (24)
700 (9)
1200 (22)
3150
(19)
East Africa and Indian Ocean
100 (9)
100 (4)
400 (5)
442 (8)
1042 (6)
Trans-Atlantic
325 (28)
1868 (65)
6133 (83)
3330 (61)
11, 656
(69)
16,898

4. Estimated Slave Imports into the Americas by Importing Region, 1519-1866
Region and Country
Slaves
Brazil
3,902,000
British Caribbean
2,238,200
Spanish America
1,267,800
French Caribbean
1,092,600
Guianas
403,700
British North America
361,100
Dutch Caribbean
129,700
Danish Caribbean
73,100
9,468,200

5. THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE
Origins of the trans-Atlantic Slave
Trade begins with the Age of Exploration – the Portuguese, not Columbus
Portuguese explore west coast of Africa, looking for Asia
Most forts were established with the approval of African authorities desiring trade benefits
The Portuguese continued southward to Mozambique Island
Adopted from Barbara Anderson, African Studies Center, UNC-Chapel Hill

6. European Invasion and Occupation of the Americas
1441 Portuguese in
West Africa
1492 Columbus
1498 Vasco de Gama
1500 Cabral to Brazil
1542 only African slaves
in Spanish colonies

8. Why did the Europeans need slaves?

9. WHY DID THE EUROPEANS NEED SLAVES?
Sugar, tobacco, gold and silver
MINING AND CASH CROP PRODUCTION
The development of sugar plantations on the Portuguese and Spanish Atlantic islands and their subsequent extension to the Americas was a main reason for slavery.

10. SLAVE EXPORTS FROM AFRICA
, %
,868,
,133, **
,330,
Total ,698,000
**This is also the century that most Americans can trace their African ancestors to.

11. Triangular trade–Commercial pattern linking Africa, Americas & Europe; slaves from Africa went to the New World; American agricultural products went to Europe; European goods went to Africa

13. Explain the function of the Middle Passage.

14. THE MIDDLE PASSAGE 1450-1850 18th century
12 million Africans sent across Atlantic
10-11 survive
18th century
Height of trade
80 percent of total trade during this century
Primarily young men for hard labor
The continued high volume was necessary because of high slave mortality and low fertility

15. Slave Ship Interior
Middle Passage –slave voyage from Africa to the Americas; a deadly and traumatic experience

16. “Coffin” Position: Onboard a Slave Ship

17. Who else was involved in the slave trade with Africa historically?

18. Other slave
trades existed under
Muslim control -
Trans-Saharan, Red
Sea, East Africa
3 million slaves
traded
Saharan trade -
mostly women

19. WITH THE SLAVE TRADE
Missionary efforts followed the initial Portuguese slave activities, particularly to the powerful states of Benin and the Kongo (Congo)
Other Europeans followed Portuguese patterns by creating trading stations through agreement with Africans

20. Who were the major European players in the West African Slave trade?

21. Organization of the Trade
Portuguese dominate first
to 1630
Dutch
Seize El Mina, 1630
Rival Portuguese
English
Slave trade from 1660s
French
18th century
Dahomey(Kingdom)
Royal monopoly on flow of slaves

22. AFRICAN SOCIETIES, SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE
Slavery has existed in both complex and simpler societies from the earliest times
Africans did not sell their own people to the Europeans – they sold prisoners of war and other outsiders

23. Identify an African state involved in the slave trade and explain their involvement

24. AFRICAN STATES
Asante and Dahomey most important states that developed during the slave trade era
THE GOLD COAST

25. ASANTE (ASHANTI) Akan people Empire made up of 20 small states
Matrilineal clans
After 1650 they gained firearms which gave them an advantage over other groups
They created a centralized political system around the asantehene
Militarism increased and they began conquest of their area – expansion of empire
By 1700 the Dutch are trading with Asante empire
Control of gold producing zones and a constant supply of prisoners to be sold for slaves allowed the Asante to maintain power until the 1820s.

26. BENIN Also in West Africa
1516 the ruler, the oba, limited the slave trade
Trade with Europeans centered on pepper, textiles and ivory
Revived in 18th century under pressure but it was never the primary source of income for the state.

27. DAHOMEY Emerged as a power in the 17th century
Access to firearms in 1720s allowed rulers to create a brutal regime based on the slave trade.
Slave trade controlled by the royal court
Armies used to raid for captives for slave market
Continued the slave trade into the 19th century

28. EAST AFRICA AND THE SUDAN
Swahili trading towns – send ivory, gold and slaves to the Middle East
Luo dynasties develop in the great lakes area
New Islamization in the northern savanna area – Sufi movements affect region

29. WHITE SETTLERS AND AFRICANS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
16th Century- Bantu-speaking peoples occupied eastern regions of southern Africa.
Agriculture, herding, work with iron and copper
1652- Cape of Good Hope established as a Dutch colony for ships sailing to Asia
Depended on slave labor brought from Asia, Indonesia but then used African labor
Competition and warfare with indigenous Africans
By 1800: 17,000 settlers, 26, slaves

30. Mfecane and Zulu Rise to Power
1795- Great Britain seized Cape Colony
1815- Under formal British control
Nguni people: occupied lands in southern and eastern Africa
Shaka Zulu: Nguni leader and military tactician who began African unification process in 1818
New military and political organization (organized by lineage and age)
Absorbed and destroyed neighbors

31. Mfecane and Zulu Rise to Power
Mfecane- “wars of crushing and wandering,” whole southern continent thrown into turmoil
Zulu Wars of 1870’s: Zulu power crushed by Great Britain

32. African Diaspora
African Diaspora: dispersion of Africans across the globe; accomplished primarily by the slave trade and introduction of Africans into world economy
Slavery meant destruction of villages, capture in war, forced march to trading town, separation from family (1/3 died in this journey)

33. American Slave Societies
Comprised of African-born saltwater slaves (black) and Creole slaves (American-born descendants, some of whom were mulattos as result of sexual exploitation of slave women and other racial mixings)
Hierarchy of slaves by slaveholders (Creoles and mulattos given more opportunities to acquire skilled jobs, such as house-hold servants)
Some African nobles and religious leaders still exercised authority within African community
Compositions of slave-based societies

34. The People and Gods in Exile
Family formation was difficult for slaves
Families may be separated at any time
Male to female ratio sometimes 3:1
Religion - continuity and adaptation
Conversion to Catholicism by Spaniards and Portuguese
African religion did not die out and continued despite attempts by slave owners to suppress them
Often Christianity and African religions were fused

35. The People and Gods in Exile
Resistance and rebellion
Palmares: runaway slave kingdom in 17th c. Brazil that resisted Portuguese and Dutch attempts to destroy it for 100 years
Suriname: large numbers of slaves ran off in this plantation colony in 18th c. and waged war against captors

36. What brought about the end of the slave trade?

37. The End of the Slave Trade and the Abolition of Slavery
End of Atlantic slave trade and abolition of slavery around 19th century
Economic, political and religious changes are occurring in Europe and the colonies
Opponents of slavery and brutality of trade appeared into the mid-18th century
Appearing in relation to Enlightenment thinkers
Now seen as backward and Immoral, symbol of inhumanity and cruelty

38. The End of the Slave Trade and the Abolition of Slavery
1807- British slave trade was abolished with help of abolitionists like John Wesley and William Wilberforce
1888- Brazilian slave trade was abolished