Chapter 2

Middle Passage

Iron Tools West Africans were making iron tools long before Europeans arrived in Africa.

I. European Exploration ~ Colonization (Section 1)

Western European countries expand during 15th century because they . . . – Explore, conquer, and colonize– Trade

• Eastern markets of India, China, and Japan• New World

– Demand for laborers led to Atlantic slave trade!

II. The Slave Trade in Africa

Been around for a LONG time! African kingdoms and Islamic nations conduct

brisk commerce– Not race based (as it will be in America)– West African slave trade dealt mainly in women

and children (to serve as concubines and servants)

III. The Origins of the Atlantic Slave Trade

In 15th century, slaves used as domestic servants on Iberian Peninsula (Spain/Portugal)

Slaves purchased from African traders– Portugal and Spain dominated slave trade in 16th

century (1500s)– Dutch dominated 17th century (1600s)– English dominated 18th century (1700s) – think

Roots and the Lord Ligonier ship

Although the overwhelming majority of Africans who were caught up in the Atlantic slave trade went to the Americas, a few reached Europe. This sixteenth-century drawing by German artist Albrecht Dürer depicts Katharina, a servant of a Portuguese official who lived in Antwerp.

SOURCE: Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), “Portrait of the Moorish Woman Katharina.” Drawing. Uffizi Florence, Italy. Photograph © Foto Marburg/Art

Resource, NY

Katharina

IV. Growth of the Atlantic Slave Trade High demand for labor in 16th century to

work in– Spanish gold and silver mines– Portuguese sugar plantations– Tobacco, rice and indigo

Estimated Annual Export of Slaves from Western Africa to the Americas, 1500-1700

Estimated Slave Imports by Destination, 1451-1870

Growth of the Atlantic Slave Trade (cont.) Slavery was harsher in the Americas,

because it was– Based on race– Mostly males

• Believed to be stronger for labor– Focused on agricultural work– Known as “Chattel” (a type of slavery) where the

slaves lost rights as human beings

Growth of the Atlantic Slave Trade (cont.) Triangle trade and profits

– Slave, tobacco, and sugar profits funded Industrial Revolution

– See Map of Triangle Trade

Triangle Trade: Who Gets What?

Triangular trade

V. The African-American Ordeal: Capture to Destination

Slavery: byproduct of war between the West African kingdoms

European traders provided firearms to West Africans – they did not instigate fighting

The African-American Ordeal: Capture to Destination (cont.)

High mortality rate– Exhaustion, suicide, murder– Endured long, forced marches to the coast

Factories (fortified structures) served as – Headquarters for the traders– Warehouses for the trade goods– Pens or dungeons for captives/slaves

Factories: This one from the Gulf of Guinea (modern Nigeria)

From Thomas Astley, A New and General Collection of Voyages, 1746 Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Cape Coast Castle (Ghana)

President Obama’s Trip to Cape Coast Castle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gm

Doon_yC0&feature=related

CNN w/ Anderson Cooper

The Crossing (Middle Passage)

40 to 180 days to reach the Caribbean Pirates attacked Spanish ships Frightening experience for all who

sailed

“The Slavers” (slave ships)

Small and narrow ships Two slaves per ship-tonnage formula Most captains were “tight packers”

– Ignored formula in the name of profits

From the Collection: The Atlantic Slave Trade and Life in the AmericasJames S. Handler and Michael L. Tuite Jr.(c) 2006 Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and University of Virginia

Slaves were forced to spend the voyage sitting on deck of the ship Wildfire

The Slavers (cont.)

“Many slaves became seasick or developed diarrhoea (sic). Unable to move because they were chained into their positions, the slave's deck became a stinking mass of human waste. Slaves who had developed sores where their chains had rubbed their skin, had festering wounds often with maggots eating away their flesh.”

http://www.historyonthenet.com/Slave_Trade/middle_passage.htm

The Slavers (cont.)

Crowded, unsanitary conditions– Slaves rode on planks 66” x 15”

• only 20”– 25” of headroom

– Males chained together in pairs – Kept apart from women and children– High mortality rates

• One-third perish between capture and embarkation

A Slave’s Story

Olaudah Equiano– Writes autobiography of his

capture/voyage Conditions Suicides Smells Feedings

A Slave’s Story – Olaudah Equiano

Autobiography capture/voyage: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African

A Slave’s Story – Olaudah Equiano Describes horrific conditions Noted African suicides

– Nets up along boat edge to limit attempts– Felt more suicides would have occurred if

nets were absent

A Slave’s Story – Olaudah Equiano Smells

– Human waste– Unwashed bodies

Feedings

A Captain’s Story

John Newton

– Evangelical Christian

– Slaver captain

– Anglican priest• Repentance• Amazing Grace

A Captain’s Story – John Newton

Indentured servant on a slave ship

Becomes a Slaver Captain

A Captain’s Story – John Newton

Is “born again” as an Evangelical Christian following a rough, stormy trip

Poor health causes retirement – becomes an Anglican (Episcopalian) priest

A Captain’s Story – John Newton

Realizes horrors of slavery and seeks repentance.

Ends up writing the hymn, Amazing Grace

Provisions for the Middle Passage Slaves fed twice per day

– Poor and insufficient diet• Vegetable pulps, stews, and fruits • Denied meat or fish• Ten people eating from one bucket• Unwashed hands spread disease• Malnutrition, weakness, depression, death

Sanitation, Disease, and Death High before 1750

– Poor sanitation• No germ theory prior to early 20th century• Malaria, yellow fever, smallpox, dysentery

Sanitation, Disease, and Death

After 1750– Faster ships– Hygiene and diet better understood– Early forms of smallpox vaccinations

Resistance and Revolt at Sea

Uprisings were common– Most rebellions before sailing– Some preferred death to bondage– Justification for harsh treatment by slavers

Cruelty

Middle passage horrors exaggerated– Historian Eric Williams says that stories

were influenced by those who hoped to end slavery

Cultural context– Misunderstanding of each other’s culture

(not that they tried to understand each other!!!!!!!!)

Cruelty Exceptional cruelties

– Slaves had half the space allowed indentured servants and convicts

Cruelty

Exceptional cruelties– Slaves had half the space allowed

indentured servants and convicts– Slavery was only suitable for non-Christians– Brutal treatment by crew members

BECAUSE AFRICANS WERE NOT SEEN AS EQUAL TO WESTERN EUROPEANS, THESE CRUELTIES WERE SOCIALLY ACCEPTED AT THIS TIME

African Women on Slave Ships

African women worth half the price of African men in the Caribbean markets

Fewer of them on the boat and they were not as valuable

Separated from male slaves made women easier targets

VI. Landing and Sale in the West Indies Pre-sale

– Bathed and exercised– Bodies oiled to conceal blemishes and

bruises– Hemp plugs used to block the bloody

discharge of dysentary GOAL: Get the most $$ from the sale

of the product = slaves

VI. Landing and Sale in the West Indies

VII. Seasoning (following Sale in West Indies) To modify behavior and attitude In preparation for resale to North

American planters

VII. Seasoning (cont.)

Creoles– Slaves born in the Americas

– Worth three times price of unseasoned Africans – Instructed New Africans

Old Africans – Had lived in the Americas for some time– Also instructed New Africans

New Africans (a.k.a.: “Salt-Water Negroes” or “Guinea-Birds”)– Goal: Make them more like Creoles

When is a slave seasoned?

? ? ? ?

VIII. The End of the Journey

Survival (Slaves have survived) – One-third died in first three years in West

Indies• Men died at a greater rate than women

Have adapted to new foods of the West Indies/Americas

VIII. The End of the Journey

Have learned a new language– Creole dialect well enough to obey

commands

They are no longer suicidal– Africans retained culture despite the

hardships and cruel treatment– Created bonds with shipmates that

replaced blood kinship (like an extended family)

IX. The Ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade

Cruelties help end Atlantic slave trade

– English abolitionists

IX. The Ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade Cruelties help end Atlantic slave trade

– English abolitionists• Moral crusade and economy less dependent on slave

trade• Great Britain bans Atlantic slave trade in 1807 • Patrols African coast to enforce

– United States Congress outlaws slave trade in 1808

IX. The Ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade An ironic twist!

– Guinea and western central African kingdoms opposed the banning of the slave trade

– Their economies were dependent on the trade!

X. Conclusion

Nine to eleven million Africans brought to the Americas during three centuries of trade– Millions more died– Most arrived between 1701 and 1810– Only 600,000 reached the British colonies

of North America