Slavery, Blackness, and the Congo: Turning Points in the Atlantic Slave Trade

Vocabulary flashcards covering key turning points, figures, and concepts from the lecture on the origins of slavery, the Congo, abolitionists, and the transatlantic slave trade.

Fall of Constantinople (1453)

The Ottoman capture of Constantinople, its renaming to Istanbul, and the closing of Europe’s chief slave market—pushing European slave demand toward Atlantic routes.

Atlantic slave trade emergence

Shift of slave trafficking from the Eastern Mediterranean to West Africa and the Atlantic, led by European powers (notably Portugal) with rising maritime power.

Madeira, Canary Islands, São Tomé

Atlantic island centers where sugar plantations were established and enslaved Africans began laboring to produce sugar.

Sugar plantations

Plantations specialized for sugar production; their growth depended on enslaved labor and helped drive the early global economy.

Alfonso I of Congo (Nzinga Mbemba)

King who allied with the Portuguese, converted to Catholicism to cement ties, and attempted to curb slave raids with port inspections, though the Congo eventually fragmented under pressure.

Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita (Donna Beatriz Kempovita)

Congolese prophet (1704–1706) who proclaimed Jesus as African, led an abolitionist movement, briefly captured Imbanza Congo, and was executed as a heretic in 1706.

Black Liberation Theology

A theological view that black liberation is central to the gospel; Beatriz Vita’s abolitionist message is seen as an early precursor to this tradition.

Kotuna Otova Kuguwano

Ghanaian noble kidnapped as a child; enslaved in Barbados; gained freedom in Britain in the 1770s; authored Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evils of Slavery and argued against African tainting of the slave trade by buyers.

Olaudah Equiano (Elada Equiano)

Enslaved person born in what is now Benin (1745); author of The Interesting Narrative; gained literacy aboard ships, bought his freedom, and showcased enslaved agency and skill.

Arawaks

Indigenous Caribbean people who resisted enslavement; their destruction helped open the Caribbean to African slave labor.

Brazil abolition (1888)

Brazil, the last nation to outlaw slavery, ended chattel slavery in 1888.

European-African power dynamics in the slave trade

The Atlantic slave market depended on African allies and coercive tactics; power relations were asymmetrical, often involving force and bribery.

Portuguese–Dutch competition in Congo

Proxy wars between European powers (Portuguese and Dutch) that destabilized Congo, splintered the kingdom, and destroyed its capital.

Africans as abolitionists

Africans themselves led abolitionist efforts; early abolitionists include figures like Dona Beatriz Vita and Kotuna Kuguwano, demonstrating resistance within Africa.

Tribute to curb slave raids

The Portuguese demanded tribute (metals, goods) to stop slave kidnappings, illustrating the coercive economics underpinning the slave trade.