Chapter 20Africa & the Africans in the Age of the Atlantic Slave Trade

I. The Atlantic Slave TradePortugueseFactoriesEntrepots for interior trade Especially goldGenerally with local consentEl MinaMissionaries followedEspecially to Benin, KongoKing Nzinga Mvemba, KongoConverts to ChristianityMove southAngolaLuanda, 1570sMbundu peopleMozambiqueGold trade from MonomotapaFew settlersCommon European patternTrading stationsSlave trade becomes centralPortuguese Expansion and Major African Kingdoms

Climate Regions:Africa

I. The Atlantic Slave TradeA. Trend Toward Expansion1450-185012 million Africans sent across Atlantic10-11 survive 18th centuryHeight of trade80 percent of total trade during this centuryMuslim areasTrans-Saharan, Red Sea, East Africa3 million slaves traded B. Demographic PatternsSaharan tradeMostly womenAtlantic tradePrimarily young men for hard labor

I. The Atlantic Slave TradeC. Organization of the TradePortuguese dominate firstto 1630DutchSeize El Mina, 1630Rival PortugueseEnglishSlave trade from 1660sFrench18th centuryDahomey (Kingdom)Royal monopoly on flow of slavesEconomic importance?Same profits as other tradeValue tied up with plantation and mining economyDefinitely ties Africa to global economy

II. African Societies, Slavery, and the Slave TradeAfrican slave traditions changedIntensified use of slaves A. Slaving and African PoliticsWest and Central AfricaSmall, volatile statesWarfare endemicMilitary becomes importantFeeds into slave tradeEuropean influenceStates close to coast dominate

II. African Societies, Slavery, and the Slave TradeB. Asante and DahomeyAsante EmpireAkan peopleCenter at KumasiBetween the coast and Hause and Mande regions1650, Oyoko clanFirearmsCentralization, expansionOsei TutuAsanteheneDutchTrade directly with Asante

II. African Societies, Slavery, and the Slave TradeB. Asante and DahomeyBeninControls trade with Europeans, but not slave tradeDahomeyFon peoplesCenter at AbomeyFirearms by 1720sAgaja (1708-1740)ExpansionTakes port of WhydahOther developmentsDivine right kingshipAkin to European absolutismSome states limit royal powerOyo, Yoruba peoplesKing and councilArtistic achievementsEspecially Benin, the YorubaEnd up in Renaissance Europe, showing growing contact between Africa and wider world

II. African Societies, Slavery, and the Slave TradeC. East Africa and the SudanEast coastSwahili trading townsIvory, gold slaves to Middle EastZanzibarClovesInteriorLuo dynasties in great lakes areaBunyoro, BugandaMonarchiesNorthern SavannaNew IslamizationSonghay breaks up in 1500sSuccessor statesPagan Bambara of SeguMuslim Hausa states in northern NigeriaMuslim reform movements, from 1770sUsuman Dan Fodio, 1804Hausa statesNew kingdom of Sokoto

III. White Settlers and Africans in Southern AfricaBantu into southern Africa by 1500Left arid areas to Khoikhoi, SanAgriculture, pastoralismIron, copperChiefdoms commonCapetownDutch colony, 1652Estates worked by slavesWars with San, KhoikhoiBy 1760s, encounter Bantu1795, Britain occupies colony1815, possessionAfter 1834, Afrikaners push beyond boundaries

III. White Settlers and Africans in Southern AfricaA.The Mfecane and the Zulu Rise to PowerNguni people1818, Shaka creates Zulu chiefdom1828, assassinatedBeginning of mfecane, or wars of crushing and wanderingMfecanePeriod of disruption, wanderingDefeated into new areasSwazi, Lesotho

IV. The African DiasporaSlave trade in joining Africa to world economy A. Slave LivesMillions killedFamilies destroyed B. Africans in the AmericasPlantation system C. American Slave SocietiesMiscegenation

IV. The African DiasporaD. The People and Gods in ExileDynamic, creativeReligion adaptiveHaitian vodunMuslim Africans1835, BrazilMuslim Yoruba and Hausa slavesPalmares, Brazil1600s, runaway slave stateSurinameFusion culture formed by runaway slaves E. The End of the Slave Trade and the Abolition of SlaverySlave trade ended outside of AfricaCauses?Probably not economic self-interestInfluence of Enlightenment

*Slave trade proved deadly to all, but Europeans had a choice

Profitability of slave trade??? Deabte = 300%, but profitability did not remain high (18th century, 5 10% on avg in English slave trade) French & Dutch trades it was slightly lower

Profitable enough to keep merchants in it, and it contributed in some way to the expanding economy of western Europe. Major way in which Africa was linked to the increasingly integrated economy of the world*In general, African rulers did not enslave their own people, except for crimes or in other unusual circumstances; rather, they enslaved their neighbors. Expanding and centralized states often were the major suppliers of slaves to the Europeans as well as to societies in which slavery was an important institution

GUN AND SLAVE CYCLE: increased firepower allowed these states to expand over their neighbors, producing more slaves, which they traded for more guns. Result was unending warfare and the disruption of societies as the search for slaves pushed ever farther into the interior