C 25: Africa and the Atlantic World

Ming Dynasty 1368-1644Kangxi 1661-1722Qianlong 1736-1795

Sub-Saharan AfricaSwahili CoastKingdom of BeninMali EmpireGreat Zimbabwe

Key GeographicFeatures?

Pre-15th Century?

TRADE ITEMS??Changes/ Continuities?

• Built states based on kinship groups (Bantu speakers)• Matrilineal (Queen Nzinga r. 1623-1663, Ndongo (Angola)• Traded with Muslim merchants (in N Africa and SW Asia)• Maintained local traditional religious practices

• Regional kingdoms replaced imperial states of west Africa, such as the Songhay empire (Sunni Ali)

• Swahili City states fell under Portuguese control• Extension of trade networks led to formation of regional kingdoms in central Africa and south Africa• Slave trade : GENDER RATIOS?(Portuguese traders brought textiles, weapons, advisors and artisans to Kongo: Portuguese merchants took copper, ivory and slaves-1441- first slaves to Europe (12)By 1460 = 500 slaves/ year to Azores, Canary Is, Lisbon1518 – first shipment of slaves directly west to Caribbean

With increasingly greater contact with Europeans…..

Pre- contact with Europeans…..

Diet =Manioc led topopulation surge (34 million- 60 million)

WHY did the imperialstates fall? Has to do with trade…….

South Africa: Dutch Boers(Afrikaners) 1652/ wars w Zulu tribe: establish

apartheid system

Kingdom of KongoSonghay Empire(Sunni Ali- Muslims)(Navy- slavery?)

Ndongo (Queen Nzinga)

King Afonso I of the Kongogiving audience to the Dutch

Queen Nzinga of Ndongowith Portuguese governors

Ndongo grew from small

chiefdom to kingdom due to direct trade•Interest in Christianity (King Alfonso of Kongo: Letter to Portugal?)( Dona Beatriz of Kongo? St. Anthony-Portuguese patron saint) ) and Islam increased

READ

Compare and Contrast: Slavery in Africa and Muslim World/Europe BEFOREAtlantic Slave Trade

AFRICA MUSLIM WORLD/ EUROPE

Compare and Contrast: Slavery in Africa and Muslim World/Europe

AFRICA MUSLIM WORLD/ EUROPE

Slaves were war captives, criminals or expelled from clans

Slaves were form of personal investment, heritable property, means of acquiring wealth- often purchased to enlarge their family

(Songhay did not trust nobility- preferred slaves in positions of authority)

Wealth came not from private ownership of land, but of ownership of labor to make the land productive

Slaves were often assimilated into kin groups- purchased to enlarge their families

No chattal slavery

Islamic slave trade well established pre 15th Century (between 8-12th C as many as 10 million Africans sold into Islamic slave trade)

Portuguese learned they could steal slaves rather than purchase them beginning 1441…)

Slaves as pure commodities = Triangular (Atlantic)

Slave Trade

The Middle

Passage

FactorsFactories

The Biggest Change:The African Slave Trade

1500-1800

The African

Diaspora?

(cash crops/plantations)African slave trade mostly supplied

tropical Caribbean5% went to North America

Most trans-Atlanticvoyages took 5 weeks

Early on: 50% of cargo died

As slavery became more profitable mortality fell to 5%

Overall ¼ of all saves died en route

Coffin Position

“Tight Packers”Vs.

“Loose Packers”

Brazilian Sugar Mill: “Engenhos”

Compare and Contrast: Slavery in Caribbean,North America and Latin America

CARIBBEAN NORTH AMERICA

Slaves unable to sustain their numbers by natural means (diseases/ yellow fever/ malaria/ low standard of nutrition and health

Mostly male slaves

½ of imported African slaves went to Caribbean (1/3 to Brazil)

Strong support here (S) for slave families(especially when the price of a new slave from Africa rose dramatically)

Imported female slaves as well as male

(according to Catholic church) owners not allowed to work their slaves on Sunday

Catholic slaves were married in the church

Slaves were encouraged to read and write

Enjoyed a relatively higher level of esteem

LATIN AMERICA

ALL: Experienced slave revolts (passive/ insurrection)specialized in some form of agricultural crop in demand which required intensive laborMotivated by profit

In the Americas…

IMPACT of Slave Trade: involuntary migration of 12 million/ 4 million died en route

Pre 17th Century = 2000 slaves left Africa annually17th Century = 20,000 annually18th Century = 55,000 annually

1780s = 88,000 annually, sometimes 100,000

Effects of Slave Trade in Africa?EconomicPolitical

Social (Syncretic Religion?)

Slave Resistance?Passive ResistanceRevolts/Maroons

Role of Enlightenment/ American Revolution/ Abolitionists?

(Saint Dominique 1793)(Gabriel Prosser 1800)(Denmark Vesey 1822)(Nat Turner 1831)

End of the Slave Trade

Abolition of Slave Trade=1803 Denmark

1807 Great Britain1808 United States

1814 France1817 Netherlands

1835 SpainLast documented Atlantic Slave ship = 1867 to

Cuba

ABOLITION

by early 17th c Great Britain1845 France

1865 United States1960 Angola

Olaudah Equiano

The African

Diaspora?

(cash crops/plantations)

African slave trade mostly supplied

tropical Caribbean

5% went to North America

Spread of African culture/language/music

WHY ABOLITION?

The slave trade ended because:

1. American and French Revolutions/ Enlightenment Ideals = suggestion of universal human right to freedom and equality

2. Frequent slave revolts = not profitable/ dangerous3. Olaudah Equiano4. Supply and demand = supply of sugar prices price of slaves 5. Europeans shifted focus from cash crops to manufacturing industries6. Made more sense to leave Africans in Africa to harvest raw materials

ABOLITION

by early 17th c Great Britain1845 France

1865 United States1960 Angola

End of the Slave Trade

Abolition of Slave Trade=1803 Denmark

1807 Great Britain1808 United States

1814 France1817 Netherlands

1835 SpainLast documented Atlantic Slave ship =

1867 to Cuba

Olaudah Equiano 1745-1797)

Do We Apologize

for Slavery??

The slavery era was a tragic time in U.S.

history and in our company's history," J.P.

Morgan said in a statement. The company

apologized to the African-American

community, to the descendants of slaves and

to the public. It also announced the creation of

a $5 million scholarship program for black

students from Louisiana to attend college in

their home state. (2004)

North Carolina Senate

Passes Slavery Apology

In a still chamber, North Carolina senators Thursday

approved a resolution apologizing for slavery as

one after another discussed how a conflict central to the

American experience reverberates in their lives.

(2007)

In July 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives issued an unprecedented apology to black Americans for the institution of slavery, and the subsequent Jim Crow laws that for years discriminated against blacks as second-class citizens in American society.

Seeking More Than Apologies

for Slavery: Activists Hope

Firms' Disclosure of Ties Will

Lead to Reparations

Wachovia revealed on June

1 2005 that one of the banks

put hundreds of slaves to

work on railroads and

another accepted more than

100 more as collateral on

defaulted loans in the

1800s. Wachovia, one of the

nation's largest banks, was

required by the city of

Chicago to investigate its

past to participate in the

redevelopment of a housing

project on the city's South

Side.

Reparations??

July 12, 2009

Post- 15th Century Trade Routes?European Contact beginning in the 15th century?