C 25: Africa and the Atlantic World

Sub-Saharan Africa Swahili Coast Kingdom of Benin Mali Empire Great Zimbabwe

Key Geographic Features?

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, Lisbon 1518 – first shipment of slaves directly west to Caribbean

With increasingly greater contact with Europeans…..

Pre- contact with Europeans…..

Diet = Manioc led to population surge (34 million- 60 million)

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

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

Kingdom of Kongo Songhay Empire (Sunni Ali- Muslims) (Navy- slavery?) Ndongo (Queen Nzinga)

Slave Trade brings MASSIVE DISRUPTION • Portuguese force tribute payments on East Coast • Portuguese undermine local kings • Gender imbalance • Kinship and clans unchanged…

King Afonso I of the Kongo giving audience to the Dutch

Queen Nzinga of Ndongo with 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) Christianity and Islam increased…. Blended with indigenous faiths

READ

He is eventually decapitated…

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

Factors Factories

The Biggest Change: The African Slave Trade

1500-1800

The African Diaspora?

(cash crops/plantations) African slave trade mostly supplied

tropical Caribbean 5% went to North America

Most trans-Atlantic voyages took 5 weeks

Early on: 50% of cargo died As slavery became more profitable mortality fell to 5% Overall ¼ of all slaves 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 labor Motivated by profit

In the Americas…

How does African culture survive here?

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

Pre 17th Century = 2000 slaves left Africa annually 17th Century = 20,000 annually 18th Century = 55,000 annually

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

Effects of Slave Trade in Africa? Economic Political

Social (Syncretic Religion?)

Slave Resistance? Passive Resistance Revolts/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 Britain 1808 United States

1814 France 1817 Netherlands

1835 Spain Last documented Atlantic Slave ship = 1867 to

Cuba

ABOLITION by early 17th c Great Britain 1845 France

1865 United States 1960 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/  dangerous  3.  Olaudah  Equiano  4.  Supply  and  demand  =  supply  of  sugar            prices                                    price  of  slaves    5.  Europeans  shifted  focus  from  cash  crops  to  manufacturing  industries  6.  Made  more  sense  to  leave  Africans  in  Africa  to  harvest  raw  materials  

ABOLITION by early 17th c Great Britain 1845 France

1865 United States 1960 Angola

End of the Slave Trade Abolition of Slave Trade=

1803 Denmark 1807 Great Britain 1808 United States

1814 France 1817 Netherlands

1835 Spain Last documented Atlantic Slave ship =

1867 to Cuba

Olaudah Equiano 1745-1797)

Gibbons Hall University of VA March, 2015

William Saunders statue 19th C secretary of state UNC Chapel Hill March, 2015 Recently Removed

John C. Calhoun College Yale University

Harvard Law School Bushels of wheat symbolize funding by slave holding family

July 12, 2009