BLaST IU 17 November 18 & 19, 2010BLaST IU 17 November 18 & 19, 2010

A presentation by Kevin T. Brady, Ph.D.

Geographic and Economic Causes

of Large Scale Slavery

Geography Causes

Isolated Peoples

The Slavs

TraditionsTraditions

Western Europe

• Rome

• Occident

• Non-Centralized

• Interaction

Eastern Europe

• Byzantium

• Orient

• Centralized

• Isolation

Slavery is an Historical Norm

The most continuously productive sources of slaves in human history:

The Dalmatian Coast

The Dalmatian Coast

The Dalmatian Coast

Dubrovnik was the Western Bastion

Western Europe and the Middle East took slaves from the Dalmatian Coast for six centuries.

This slave trade was abolished in 1418

Dubrovnik was the Western Bastion for the Slave Trade

Centuries before the

African slave trade,

Turkish raiders took

hundreds of

thousands of Russians

as Slaves.

Slavs were so widely sold into bondage, the word SLAV

becomes the word for SLAVE in many Western European languages.

It also becomes the word for SLAVE in ARABIC.

SLAV = SLAVE

It was cheaper to send grain from Russia to the Dalmatian

Coast along the Dnieper River and the Black Sea, through the Dardanelles and into the Adriatic then it was to

take grain from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik.

Dnieper River to Dalmatia

•SarajevoSarajevoToTo

•DubrovnikDubrovnik

There is a big escarpment a few miles in from the Adriatic Sea.

Grooves within the mountains leave the Slavs isolated.

Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire

Slavery in

AFRICA

Africa Has A Smooth Coastline

Especially, Sub-Saharan Africa: Very few harbors for Ocean-Going Vessels

Very Little Trade – Isolated Villages

• There’s a lack of Navigable Rivers or Streams

• Escarpments and Rift Valleys

• Most of Africa is on a plateau

Rivers of Africa

Rivers of Europe

North American Rivers

Africa has a shorter coastline than Europe.

• It has the shortest coastline of all continents.

• It has a lack of indentations for natural harbors.

• The rivers produce large, shallow mouths full of sand.

• Ocean-going vehicles are unable to enter rivers.

• They must anchor far from the coast and row ashore.

Thin Coastal Plain (20 miles)

Then an Escarpment

There are no major port cities in Africa throughout history; thus,

no great trading cities lasted over time.

Roman ships couldn’t even sail up the Nile because it was too shallow.

Tsetse Fly

Kills most of the beasts of burden that would help with long and difficult

transportation. The beasts’ manure would also serve as fertilizer and help

farmers produce a surplus to sell.

Most things do not hold value during long transportation. Only certain things can hold value as they are transported to the coast; thus, they become

Africa’s greatest exports:

•Through Nigeria, slaves on the Slave CoastSlave Coast

•Through Ghana, gold on the Gold CoastGold Coast

•Through Corte Ivories, ivory on the Ivory Ivory CoastCoast

Islamic Slave Traders

• Like in Dubrovnik, Arab and Turkish slave traders would purchase slaves to sell throughout Arabia and the Ottoman Empire.

• 14 Million Africans were taken to Moslem regions and sold.• Most were young women who were sold into harems.• Enslaved men were turned into eunuchs and would guard the

women.• Many Africans were taken by Moslem slave traders in the

west as Moslems encroached further south into sub-Saharan Africa.

Transatlantic Slavery

• After slavery had died out in western Europe, Europeans perceived a need for cheap labor.

• They began to purchase slaves in Africa and transport them to the Caribbean and Brazilian sugar plantations.

• Most of the enslaved Africans were male.• Their life expectancy was 5 years in the sugar plantations.• This was a major reason for the continued slave trade.• There was very little reproduction under such harsh, brutal

conditions.

Geography and Transportation Costs

• Lead to Large-scale slavery in Africa.• At any given time there were more enslaved

men and woman in Africa than there were enslaved Africans outside of Africa.

• Isolated peoples were always in danger of falling victim to raiders.

• It’s difficult to interact with others to form defensive alliances.

AIHE © 2010