slave trade

forms of slave labour

-forced native labour (arawaks)
-indentured labour
-enslaved African people

forced native labour

-not used to European farming methods
-many of them were still hunters/gatherers
-no immunity against European diseases
-murdered + killed through exploitation

indentured labour

-labour from 4-7 years in exchange for passage to the Americas
-common practise to send convicts & political prisoners
-many died on the journey or before their time was up
-many became managers and/or overseers in plantations

enslaved African labour

-white Europeans used the myth of race as the way t support the unethical chattel slavery and profits they make from it

Africa before the slave trade

-traded gold, salt
-scientific developments: medicine, architecture etc.
-birthplace of civilisation
-universities: Timbuktu in Mali
-development of mosque, advanced political systems(estates, monarchy) Ta Seti
-powerful kingdoms/states: Ghana

impact of slave trade on Ashanti

-controlled gold mines
-protected themselves from white enslavers by trading prisoners of war
-in exchange, they got things such as cloth, guns and alcohol
-more guns=more conflict/war

impact of ST on Dahomey

-also tried to protect themselves by "helping" white enslavers
-one of the most powerful kingdoms in Africa - aided by the guns they got
-organised raids=frequency of war

impact of ST on Africa

-improvements in farming
-culture was destroyed
-some african kingdoms became very wealthy
-africa was destroyed
-technological & economic development will stall
-communities had to relocate
-languages in africa will change/mix
-lots of land was left uncultivated
-diseases spread
-transport networks improved
-population fell dramatically

improvements in farming

-to help produce food for slave ship and enslavers (Not Africans)

culture was destroyed

manufacturing and crafts were destroyed by cheap European imports

some african kingdoms became very wealthy

making lots of money from the ST e.g the Dahomey earned £250,000 yearly in 175

africa was destroyed

due to constant wars & prisoners of war taken/sold, young people were lost

technological and economic development will stall

people abandoned businesses and tried to avoid being kidnapped

communities had to relocate

-and fight over supplies & water further inland
-many places were abandoned

languages in africa will change

because africans are moving, their languages will mix with also European languages

lots of land was left uncultivated

not enough young people able to farm the land and also increased povert

diseases will spread

-africans were moved across the continent
-also there was less food bc workers were kidnapped

transport networks improved

to move enslaved people to the coast

population fell dramatically

-due to loss of young people
-in 1850, there was 25 million people in africa when there should have been 50 million

impact of ST on Britain

-financial benefits
-population changed/grew
-military improvements
-cities developed
-employment
-access to goods

financial benefits

-britain sold slaves + plantation products which made many banks, people, insurance companies and enterprises very rich
-the government also made lots of money due to taxes

population increased

-many people moved to cities such as liverpool in order to find a job
-these cities saw a massive population increase

military improvments

-building slave ships improved military missiles design
-tax money raised increased the navy
-voyages gave navy sailors more knowledge and skills

cities developed

-cities became extremely rich
-can be seen in buildings, architecture etc.

employment

-many people had the chance to get a job in industries such as textiles, glass making, copper and iron industries, gunsmithing etc. (products needed for the trade)
-same with ship building and banking

access to goods

-being part of the trade gave Britain access to plantation products cheaper and easier
-such as sugar, tobacco and coffee

why was sugar chosen

-wanted to avoid competition in other products like NA cotton(Caribbean plantations switched exclusively to sugar to avoid competition)

-climate and and land in the west indies were suited for growing sugar (sugar was easily grown due to the soil, and 70% of enslaved people worked growing sugar)

-standards of living improved in europe (people were able to afford products such as sugar and demand will increase)

-slave labour was provided (making sugar was hard work and they had labourers to make a profit)

-technologies got more efficient & diversified (selling sugar, molasses and rum, they could get more products from producing sugar;rum,molasses)

-plantations were established and covered islands almost entirely

-white settlers had the land needed to make huge profit

-they took people out of their lands & had massive amounts of land which meant lots of sugar plantations meant more sugar=more profits

impact of ST on the Caribbean

-changes in population (native populations were wiped out, due to conflict & diseases due to the fact they weren't immune to and forced labour, by the 1800s nearly 80% of the caribbean population was black)

-landscapes are going to change + get destroyed (natives land was taken b enslavers to make plantations which destroyed the natural environment)

-caribbean culture was wiped out/changed (caribbean, african and european cultures were mixed e.g vudu, street names, people names

-rebellion occurred ( violent rebellions led by ex/enslaved people left islands dangerous eg haitian revolution)

-increased racism (racist attitudes increase- slave laws/codes were created to punish slaves)

-economy will suffer ( islands became too reliant on sugar-barbados exported 93% sugar and so if the price of sugar fell then the islands economy suffered)

slave factories

-were slaves were held before being sent on a ship to the americas
-coastal locations
-conditions were very poor
-could be kept there for months at a time
-could hold around 1000 slaves at a time
-in 1770s, it is estimates 45% of slaves died while waiting in factories

slave factory conditions

-slaves were shackled
-crammed in the castles dark poorly ventilated dungeons with no space to lie down and very little light
-without water + sanitation, the floor full of human waste & many captives fell seriously ill malaria
-men + women separated
-captors raped the women
-confinement cells-small pitch black cell space for prisoners who revolted

prepared for transport

-inspected by ships doctor & had to be healthy enough
-enslavers paid more for young men
-slaves were branded with initials of the ships owner

middle passage

-africa-->america
-6-8 weeks
-crew had much better living conditions and kept order + control captives, commonly used whips to ensure orders were followed
-diseases spread easily, sick captives were thrown overboard to prevent further spread

middle passage living conditions

-shackles, closely packed together, hot, feces, sick, blood
-held below deck
-men & women kept separate
-women are subjected to sexual abuse and rape

middle passage daily routine

-regularly taken above deck and forced to dance for exercise or for crew entertainment
-not brought up until no land can be seen
-given daily portions of food:couldn't digest european food
-fed twice a day + given half a litre of water

selling slaves

-aim to get best price possible
-better quality slave=higher price
-range between £25 to £300
-prime meat=strong, healthy slave or "unspoilt"
-refuse=weaker and less strong
-unsold slaves were left to die
-used tar to cover injuries
-hairdye to make appear younger
-oil to look more muscular
-soap to look clean

preparation for sale

-better fed to make them look fitter + healthier
-inspected by doctor/vet
-trusted slaves may also have looked over them
-often inspected naked in public
-humiliating experience

scramble auction

-poorer quality slaves sold at fixed price
-happened at the port + chaotic
-buyers just grabbed the one they wanted

auction

-slaves were displayed
-sold to highest bidder

bozal slaves

a slave recently brought to a colony from africa

field hands

-worked in fields of tobacco, sugar, coffee and cotton plantations
-duties; spreading manure, ploughing soil, harvesting crop
-work long hours with hardly any breaks
-boost morale by singing

over seer

-manager/supervisor (white european) who watched over the slaves to ensure enough work was being done
-ordered and carried out punishments

driver

-sometimes a trusted slave
-whipped slaves if they stopped working or if over seer decided they weren't working hard enough

slave life expectancy post arrival

7-9 years

house slave duties

-cooking
-cleaning
-servant
-nanny
-butler
-blacksmith
-coach driver
-waiter
-carpenter
-handyman

how were house slaves treated

-mostly fed better, trained, educated, kept cleaner, given better clothing
-some had greater freedom; carpenter, blacksmith
-had to work whenever master called them (on call)
-closely watched
-punishment common
-female slaves could not turn away any unwanted sexual abuse made by their master

mulatto

slave with a white father

day in the life-home

-field hands usually had sunday off
-weren't allowed to marry but encouraged to have children
-some were allowed to marry as it encouraged loyalty & prevented slaves running away due to commitment
-slaves often took any extra crops/animals they had to local markets to sell
-used their small amount of money from this to buy furniture/freedom

day in the life-work

-dawn:get up and begin work
-breakfast:brought to slaves working in the field
-lunch:consisted of the food slaves brought into the fields with them
-sunset:stop field work and move onto any other tasks to be done

why would slaves be punished

-show who's boss
-make them work harder
-stop them escaping
-break spirits
-stop revolts
-gain respect
-for insolence to the owner/overseer
-theft
-not working fast enough

non physical punishments

-called "uncle" "boy" or "missy"
-could be sent from the house to fields to work
-could be sold at any time
-separated from family at any time

physical punishments

-branding
-tied to whipping post
-iron muzzle/necklace
-iron collar for escapees
-flogged or whipped; bullwhip, cat o' nine tails
-hanging/amputation
-beaten
-tied to stocks in baking heat

resistance

-rebellion
-steal from owner
-damage machinery
-pretend to be sick
-work as slowly as possible
-terminate pregnancy/kill newborn
-poison owner
-arson
-murder
-run away
-keeping culture/traditions alive (words, music, beliefs)

why was resistance difficult

-large rewards offered by owners
-easy to spot; branding, skin colour, lack of legal papers
-owners use bounty hunters & blood hounds to track down escapees
-many west indies islands are quite small which made it hard to hide
-many had little knowledge of life outside the plantation
-not allowed any form of weapon which meant they had only basic tools to defend themselves against guns
-fear of punishment-the brutality/violence of punishments made it difficult for slaves to risk resisting
-fear of retribution against family

slave codes

-laws relating to slavery and enslaved people
-often tightened in response to resistance or rebellion

e.g -St Christopher-any white or free person finding a slave off their owners plantation without a pass, may whip them

reasons for abolition

-trade led to costly wars
-press publicity, tactics of abolitionists & various court cases showed how brutal + violent the trade was and made people aware of it
-led to deaths of thousands of British sailors and sinking of ships
-caused pain, suffering, death of tens of thousands of people
-immoral and against the bible teachings
-ex slaves wrote autobiographies about how brutal the trade was (olaudah equiano)
- economical reasons-having slaves was not good business + too expensive (adam smith)
-new machinery made slavery an out of date method of production
-was corrupt w/ insurance companies paying out fortunes unnecessarily
-was stopping growth of british industries & creation of jobs
-british trade in far east/india became more profitable for producing goods like sugar/cotton cheaper
-zong massacre shocked the country

william wilberforce

-very wealthy businessman
-1780 became an MP
-powerful speeches in parliament persuading MPs to end slavery
-gave energy to campaign & shamed MPs who were involved
in the trade and those who did nothing
-used his wealth + influence to end the trade
-organised fundraisers, petitions, travels country giving speeches
-powerful friends like PM william pitt

abolitionist methods/tactics

-published pamphlets and books about the cruelty of the trade
-created slave free shops only selling goods not picked by slaves
-gather evidence & eyewitness accounts
-held public meetings throughout the country
-gave demonstrations + invited ex slaves to speak out about their experiences
-petitions
-wilberforce brought the issue to parliament & gave powerful speeches
-created merchandise (protest medallion)

arguments for the slave trade WEALTHY MPS AND MAYORS

-plantation owners, merchants, MPs were powerful & wealthy enough to bribe other MPs to support them
-cities relied on the trade & any talk of abolition was quickly argued by MPs in parliament
-gave speeches that argued against every one of Wilberforce's bills
-claimed it would put thousands of workers out of job and ruin their cities

arguments for the slave trade RESOURCES

-UK heavily relied on ST & was the reason why the UK was a global superpower
-estimated that over £70 million was made from the ST + ppl warned there would be no replacement of that income if slavery was abolished
-access to cheap goods & products was one of the main benefits from the ST
-nearly everybody benefited from slave produced products like sugar + tobacco
-claimed that Britain would no longer get access to these products/price would increase so much the working class could not afford them

arguments for the slave trade FOREIGN

-french revolution (1789) scared rulers all over the world that the working class could overthrow them
-britain became involved in a war with france & bc france abolished slavery, any abolitionist became known as unpatriotic + anti british which slowed the movement
-britain argued that ending slavery would result in the death of thousands of whites on their islands like Jamaica so it had to stay in place (Haitian revolution)

arguments for the slave trade SOMEBODY ELSE

-was argued that ending ST in UK would not actually benefit africa at all
-if british ships stopped trading + purchasing slaves, other countries other countries would continue in our place & it would only be them that benefited
-estimated that UK made 2/3 of the overall profit from slavery which would simply move to other countries if they stopped

eventual reasons for the end of the trade ABOLITIONISTS IN PARLIAMENT

-wilberforce

eventual reasons for the end of the trade DECLINE IN IMPORTANCE OF SUGAR

-ST had become less important
-world over-supply of sugar, much easier to get & british merchants had difficulties re exporting it
-sugar became less valuable (previously it had only been caribbean sugar but now grown in other places)
-sugar could be sourced at a lower cost & without use of slavery from other british colonies like india
-sugar boycott proved people could survive without slave sugar

sugar boycott

-1791-anti-slavery supporters produced a pamphlet encouraging ppl to boycott sugar produced by slaves.
-aim to hit at ppl who profited from producing sugar
-1792-estimated 400,000 ppl in britain were boycotting slave produced sugar
-campaign largely led by women, first real instance of them involving themselves in politics
-grocers reported sugar sales to be dropping by over 1/3, plantation owners were becoming concerned b drop in sales

eventual reasons for the end of the trade ABOLITIONISTS OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT

-work of thomas clarkson & sons of africa began to educate public & open their eyes to the horrors of the trade
-public opinion began to turn
-anti slavery message was both widespread and deep seated
-abolition became an election issue
-pressure put on those standing for parliament to declare their position on the issue
-voters began to choose abolitionist candidates
-down to public awareness campaign of abolitionists