The Slave Trade and Early Exploration

Prince Henry the Navigator

  • Initiated the age of exploration in Europe.
  • Aimed to bypass Italian merchants in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Asia, as well as Moroccan traders in North Africa.
  • Encouraged Portuguese sailors to sail south around the African coast.
  • These voyages led to the discovery of trade winds that would eventually take them to the Americas.

Early Explorers

  • Bartolomeo Diaz: Sailed around Africa's southernmost point in 1488.
  • Vasco da Gama: Became the first European to link Europe and India via the oceans in 1498.
  • Prince Henry collected 20% of profits from naval explorations, known as El Quinto Real.

Portuguese Exploration and West Africa

  • The Portuguese were the first Europeans to encounter West Africans.
  • Explorations extended far south into areas like the Senegal River and Sierra Leone.
  • Initially sought gold but later traded gold, ivory, and slaves.

Slavery in West Africa Before the Portuguese

  • Slavery was present in West Africa before European contact, common in several African kingdoms.
  • The strength of African kingdoms prevented direct colonization by the Portuguese, forcing them to establish trade relationships.
  • African kingdoms were strengthened by the trade in slaves with Europe, receiving arms and guns in exchange.
  • This exchange fueled raiding, kidnapping, and enslaving in the interior of Africa.
  • Slaves were captured in the interior and marched to the coast for transport.
  • The Mali Empire and Songhai expanded their territory between the 13th and 16th centuries.
  • Timbuktu was a well-known university that attracted scholars from Europe and beyond.

Characteristics of West African Slavery

  • Slavery in West Africa was a flexible status; children did not always inherit their parents' slave status.
  • Slaves could work off their debt and gain freedom.
  • Slaves had some basic rights, including earning wealth and owning property.
  • Female slaves were highly prized for their reproductive abilities and traditional role as farmers.

European Slavery

  • The Portuguese practiced slavery on an unprecedented scale.
  • Religion and race increasingly defined a slave; non-Christians and darker-skinned people were targeted.
  • Slave status was hereditary and lifelong.

The Slave Trade Visualization

  • The lecturer mentions a graphic showing slave ships traveling from Africa to the Americas over time.
  • Starting as a trickle, it eventually becomes a torrent of ships.

The Role of Creoles

  • Portuguese traders in Africa settled along the coast and had relations with African women.
  • Their Afro-Portuguese offspring, known as Creoles, often became slave traders themselves.
  • Creoles were typically free but considered poor field hands.
  • They served as middlemen due to their insider knowledge of both European and African cultures.
  • Creoles were often distrusted by both groups.
  • They were vital in the Atlantic world and established trade networks along African river systems.
  • Definitions of the term Creole vary with time and place.
  • Some Creoles became wealthy and formed the upper class of modern West African countries.

The Middle Passage: The Triangular Trade Network

  • The Middle Passage refers to the triangular trade network involving Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
  • Leg 1: Europe to Africa: Ships departed from Europe with manufactured goods (guns, metals) to be exchanged for slaves in Africa.
  • Leg 2: Africa to the Americas: Ships loaded with slaves were sent across the Atlantic to Brazil, the West Indies, and other parts of Latin America.
  • A small percentage (5%) of slaves were shipped to what is now the United States.
  • Leg 3: The Americas to Europe: Ships transported raw materials (unknown in Europe) from Latin America back to Europe.
  • High mortality rates (5-20%) during the four to six-week voyage across the Atlantic.
    • The enslaved were chained flat on the floor, unable to sit up, to maximize the number of people that could be transported.
    • More than 600 people could be crammed onto a single ship.
  • Captives from different nations were intentionally mixed to prevent communication and rebellion.
  • Many slaves committed suicide by jumping overboard or refusing to eat.
  • Rape of female slaves was forbidden on some ships but encouraged on others.
  • Slaves who attempted to rebel faced death if caught.
  • Insurance covered slaves who died of natural causes, but also those who were thrown overboard for rebelling (created a perverse incentive for captains to kill slaves and claim rebellion).
  • There were almost 500 documented cases of slave revolts, but only 20-30 succeeded.
  • Between 10 and 12 million slaves were shipped across the Atlantic.
  • 500,000 were shipped to what is now the Mainland North America.
  • By the time of the Civil War, the slave population in the United States had grown to 4 million.

Eyewitness Account

  • Gomez Anes de Subrara, a priest, witnessed a slave ship being unloaded at a slave market: What heart could be so hard as to not be pierced with pirate feelings to see that company?
    • For some kept their heads low and their faces bathed in tears, looking upon another.
    • Others stood groaning very dollarously, looking up to the heights of heaven, fixing their eyes upon it, crying out loudly, and as as if asking for help from the father of nature, others struck their faces with the palms of their hands, throwing themselves at full length upon the ground, while others made the lamentations in the manner of a dirge after the custom of their country.