Slavery and Colonization

World CulturesAfrica Unit

What is racism?

Racism is prejudice or discrimination based on the belief that race is the primary factor in determining human traits and abilities.

Racism includes the belief that genetic or inherited differences produce the inherent superiority or inferiority of one race over another.

Transatlantic Slave Trade

Over the course of more than three and a half centuries, the forcible transportation in bondage of at least twelve million men, women, and children from their African homelands to the Americas changed forever the face and character of the modern world.

The slave trade was brutal and horrific, and the enslavement of Africans was cruel, exploitative, and dehumanizing. Together, they represent one of the longest and most sustained assaults on the very life, integrity, and dignity of human beings in history.

Roots of the African Slave TradeMajor groups involved

– African Kings• Sold for guns, ammunition, booze, etc. • Myth of no such thing as “Africans selling Africans”

– Associated with a rival tribe

– Europeans• Slave traders bought slaves for goods

How did it begin?

Mid 15th Century

Why only the exterior?• European traders and

explorers only interacted with African coastal tribes

WHY???? • Interior was difficult to

navigate, too many tropical illnesses (malaria) The slave trade was closely linked to the

Europeans' insatiable hunger for gold, and the arrival of the Portuguese on the " Gold Coast"

(Ghana) in the 1470s tapped these inland sources.

For the first one hundred years, captives in small numbers were transported to Europe. By the close of the fifteenth century, 10 percent of the population of Lisbon, Portugal, then one of the largest cities in Europe, was of African origin.

“Black” Gold for Sale!

Elmina Castle in Ghana Portuguese Slave Fort

Cape Coast Castle

West Africa

Americas Discovered

IMPACT OF TRADE1. Introduced slavery and

established a culture of slavery being ok

2. Provided labor in Americas to make them profitable

3. European countries gain political and economic advantages over other competing nations

4. Christianity is spread

The African Slave Trade

Trans Atlantic Slave Trade

Different captives– Young men– Capable of doing

hard manual labor– Average life span

on a plantation was 5 years

– Usually dead by 25 years old

In addition to practical matters of economics and politics, the new imperialism was motivated by cultural attitudes.

• European imperialists felt superior

• Humanity should be divided into distinct peoples and races

• Claimed biological differences existed between races

• Racist view—people of European descent superior to people of African, Asian descent

Cultural Motives• Europeans believed rule in

Africa justified

• Teaching Africans “good” government

• Some imperialists believed actions noble, their “duty” to educate those considered inferior

• Referred to their influence in Africa as “the white man’s burden,” after poem by Rudyard Kipling

Rule Justified

Cultural Motives

In the 1880s, driven by economic, political and cultural motives, Europeans began to compete for additional territory in Africa.

• Africa, huge continent, rugged terrain; travel, control difficult

• 1800s, scientific advances made travel, control in Africa easier

Scientific Advances

• Discovery of drug quinine helped Europeans protect selves against malaria

• Automatic machine gun created strong military advantage

Protection

• Development of telegraphs, railroads, steamships helped Europeans overcome problems of communication, travel

New Developments

European Claims in Africa

Notice of Slave

Auctions

Notice of Slave

Auctions

Slave Auction in the Slave Auction in the

Southern U. S.Southern U. S.Slave Auction in the Slave Auction in the

Southern U. S.Southern U. S.

Inspection and SaleInspection and Sale

Slave Master BrandsSlave Master Brands

Does slavery exist anywhere

in the world today?

Select Four Articles• “Argentine mom seeks daughter forced into prostitution”• “The Black Market in Human Beings”• “Slavery Thrives in Modern World”• “Modern Slavery”• “Today’s Hidden Slave Trade”• “Slavery in our Times”• “Abolitionists take on Slavery – Online”• “Facts about Human Trafficking”• “Our original sin: Slavery in America keeps taking on new

guises”