Comprehensive Notes on the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Britain's Role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade

• Investigation into different groups involved in the slave trade and its impact.
• Focus on Britain's role, West African kingdoms, the trade triangle, and the lives of slaves.
• Consideration of who benefited from the slave trade and how.
• Learning Objectives:
  • Understand the importance of the transatlantic slave trade in Britain's growing wealth and power (16th-19th centuries).
  • Consider how historians use different types of evidence when studying the transatlantic slave trade.
• Key Term: Transatlantic slave trade - forced movement of 12-15 million Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas and West Indies between the 16th and 19th centuries.
• By the late 18th century, Britain dominated global trade, leading to great wealth and the transformation of British towns and cities like Liverpool, Bristol, and London.

Liverpool's Growth and Key Figures

• Source A: A picture of Liverpool in 1771 showing the importance of trade to the city.
• Sir Thomas Johnson (1664-1728):
  • Known as 'the founder of modern Liverpool'.
  • Imported sugar and tobacco.
  • Established salt mines in Cheshire.
  • Created Liverpool's wet dock, leading to its growth as a port.
  • Knighted by Queen Anne in 1708.
• Foster Cunliffe (1682-1758):
  • From one of Liverpool's most influential families.
  • Imported tobacco, sugar, and rum.
  • Had shares in 26 ships.
  • Mayor of Liverpool three times.
• Bryan Blundell (1675-1756):
  • Successful Liverpool merchant.
  • Twice Mayor of Liverpool.
  • Built The Blue Coat School for orphans.
  • Gave one-tenth of his earnings to support the poor.
• Sir Hardman Earle (1792-1877):
  • From a well-known merchant family.
  • Imported raw cotton for Lancashire mills.
  • Director of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
  • Knighted by Queen Victoria.
• Figure 4.1: Liverpool's successful businessmen who contributed to the city's development but were involved in the transatlantic slave trade.
• The wealth generated from the slave trade was invested in banking, industry, global trade, and urban development in Britain.
• The transatlantic slave trade significantly contributed to Britain's wealth.

Scale and Impact of British Involvement

• Britain's Thirteen Colonies in North America: Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia used slave labor, particularly in the southern colonies. These colonies declared independence in 1775 and became the United States.
• Other European nations (Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, France) also participated in the transatlantic slave trade, but Britain became the dominant slave-trading nation.
• British ships transported approximately 3.25 million Africans across the Atlantic between the 17th and 19th centuries.
• Figure 4.2: Map showing slavery in British American and West Indian colonies around 1750, including numbers of slaves and main crops (sugar, tobacco, cotton, rice).
• Slaves were taken to British colonies to work on plantations, producing goods that were then exported to Europe for profit.
• These statistics do not reveal the suffering and tragedy brought to the lives of the enslaved people.
• Key Terms:
  • The Thirteen Colonies: British colonies established in North America between 1607 and 1732.
  • Colony: An area of land settled and controlled by people from another country.
  • Plantation: A large farm or estate where one main crop is grown.

Historical Evidence and Sources

• Historians use different types of sources to study slavery:
  • Anti-slavery campaign publications from the 1790s.
  • Accounts published by former slaves.
  • Business accounts of plantation owners and slave traders.
  • Colonial office records: imports and exports (including slaves).
  • Ships' log books: cargoes, origins, and destinations.
  • Journals and diaries of slave traders and plantation owners.
  • Newspapers: advertisements for the sale of slaves, auctions, and information on runaway slaves.
  • Legal records: wills and insurance records (slaves as property).
  • Artefacts: objects from plantations.

West African Kingdoms Before the Slave Trade

• Learning Objectives:
  • Learn about life in West Africa before the transatlantic slave trade.
  • Consider the impact the transatlantic slave trade had on West Africa.
  • Understand how evidence can be gained by cross-referencing different sources.
• One of the largest man-made structures was built in the Kingdom of Benin: walls of Benin, interconnected earth mounds, about 16,000 km long.
• Before exploring the transatlantic slave trade, it's important to understand life in West African kingdoms before European traders arrived in the 15th century.

Case Study 1: The Kingdom of Benin

• The Kingdom of Benin was a highly developed kingdom in Africa (present-day Nigeria) from the 15th to 19th century.
• Early explorers described Benin City as well-organized, clean, free from crime, and with happy residents.
• Ruled by a king (Oba) with an organized system of government, guilds, and law courts.
• The kingdom became wealthy through trade, known for gold and bronze, skilled metalworkers, and trade in ivory, cotton cloth, and slaves with Africans, Arabs, and Europeans.
• Source A: Engraving of Benin City, 1686, showing the king with musicians and horsemen, based on descriptions from European travelers.
• Source B: Adapted from Olaudah Equiano's description of life in the Kingdom of Benin from The Interesting Narrative (1789):
  • Nation of dancers, musicians, and poets with simple manners and few luxuries.
  • Women wore golden ornaments.
  • Strict hygiene practices.
  • Houses surrounded by moats or fences, accommodating family and slaves.
  • Rich and fruitful land producing a variety of vegetables.
  • Everyone contributes to farming, so there are no beggars.
  • Cheerfulness and friendliness were characteristics of the nation.

Case Study 2: The Songhai Empire

• The Songhai Empire was centered on Gao (present-day Mali).
• Major cities (Gao and Timbuktu) were on the River Niger, providing water for farming and fish.
• The River Niger was a major trade route connecting to Benin City and the ocean (Figure 4.4).
• Gold, copper, ivory, and slaves were transported along the river, then transferred to camels across the Sahara to North Africa, Europe, and Asia.
• In return, Songhai traders received salt, pottery, glass, silk, perfumes, and spices.
• Arabic, Italian, and Jewish merchants lived within the Songhai Empire.
• Culture flourished under Songhai rule. An Islamic empire encouraged research and study.
• Timbuktu became a center of religion and learning.
• Source C: Description of Timbuktu from Leo Africanus's Descriptions of Africa (1526):
  • Houses made of clay with thatched roofs.
  • Temple of stone and mortar, and a large palace.
  • Numerous artisans, merchants, and weavers of cotton cloth.
  • Fabrics were imported from Europe.
  • Rich inhabitants.
  • Abundant grain and animals.
  • The king had a rich treasure of coins and gold ingots, with a magnificent and well-organized royal court.
  • About 3,000 horsemen and numerous foot-soldiers.
  • Judges, teachers, and priests appointed by the king, who respected learning.
  • Many hand-written books were sold, with more profit from books than other merchandise.
  • People were peaceful and walked about the city in the evening playing musical instruments and dancing.
  • Citizens had many slaves.
• Figure 4.5: The vicious cycle created in Africa.

Impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade on Africa

• Slavery and slave trading existed in Africa long before Europeans but the transatlantic slave trade transformed it.
• Europeans bought slaves from African rulers and traders (captives of war or kidnapped individuals).
• Captives were marched to the coast and imprisoned in barracoons or stone forts built by European traders.
• Ship captains gave gifts and paid taxes to African leaders before exchanging goods for slaves.
• As demand grew, African slave traders became more active and aggressive, increasing the scale and violence of the slave trade.
• Europeans traded guns for slaves, leading to more war and more slaves being captured, creating a vicious cycle.
• Enslaved: Made into a slave.
• Legacy: Something handed down from the past.
• The transatlantic slave trade negatively affected the lives of enslaved people and those left behind in Africa.
• Famine occurred due to a lack of farmers.
• Entire communities disappeared as people fled slave trading routes.
• Some historians argue that the present-day underdevelopment of certain regions of Africa is partly a legacy of the slave trade.
• Source D: Engraving showing slaves being walked to the coast, with the weak being killed or left behind.

The Trade Triangle and the Middle Passage

• Learning Objectives:
  • Explain how the trade triangle operated.
  • Understand conditions during the Middle Passage.
  • Explore the difficulty of deciding who was responsible for the transatlantic slave trade.
  • Consider how and why contemporary accounts of the Middle Passage vary.
• Key Term: Globalisation - The world becoming more interconnected.
• The shipping of slaves from West Africa to the Americas was one part of the trade triangle (Figure 4.6).
• The slave trade was part of a much larger, complex system of international trade and globalisation.
• Figure 4.6: Map showing the transatlantic trade triangle, including what each region demanded and what was transported on each route.

Responsibility for the Transatlantic Slave Trade

• Figure 4.7: Some of the people involved in the transatlantic slave trade:
  • A. West African slave trader: captures and sells people to European traders.
  • B. European monarch: grants licenses to traders to buy slaves in West Africa.
  • C. Plantation owner in the West Indies: needs slaves to grow sugar for European demand.
  • D. Sailor working on a slave ship: terrible conditions; sailors and slaves die of disease.
  • E. West African leader: trades with Europeans for goods and money.
  • F. Captain of a slave ship: sails between West Africa and the Americas, well paid.
  • G. European banker: invests in ships for the trade triangle, potential for high earnings.
  • H. European factory owner: produces guns and hardware shipped to West Africa.
  • I. European textiles factory worker: relies on cotton from plantations, paid badly.

The Middle Passage

• Key Term: Abolitionist: Someone who campaigns for something to be banned or stopped. In this case, someone who campaigns for the slave trade to be brought to an end.
• Source A: An engraving produced around 1790 showing a slave ship called the Brookes, transporting 744 slaves.
• Between the 16th and 19th centuries, 12 to 15 million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic on the Middle Passage.
• Slave ship log books reveal that 10 to 20 percent of slaves died on the Middle Passage due to horrendous conditions.
• In total, over two million died on the journey.
• When abolitionists began researching conditions and publishing their findings the image was used on posters.
• Source B: Adapted from John Newton's description of conditions on the Middle Passage (1788). Newton was an English vicar and abolitionist, but formerly a slave ship captain:
  • Slaves were laid in rows to save space.
  • Cramped and in irons on hands and feet.
  • Brought on deck when weather allows, otherwise kept below in hot and polluted air.
  • Depression, fevers, and flu were common.
  • Nearly half the slaves on board sometimes died; loss of a third was not unusual.
• Source C: Adapted from Olaudah Equiano's account of the Middle Passage:
  • Suffered a terrible stench and became sick.
  • Wished for death.
  • Overcrowding and heat caused sickness and death.
  • Discomfort of chains and filth of toilets.
  • Shrieks of women and groans of the dying created a scene of horror.
• Source D: Adapted from John Barbot's account of the Middle Passage:
  • Large ships carried five or six hundred slaves.
  • Below deck was at least five and a half or six foot high, giving more air.
  • Women allowed on deck.
  • Few kept in shackles.
  • Tobacco and coconuts were provided.
  • Slaves entertained themselves with conversation, dancing, and singing.

Slaves' Lives in the Americas

• Learning Objectives:
  • Understand how slaves were bought and sold and what daily life was like for slaves on the plantations.
  • Consider what was done to prevent slaves from running away.
  • Consider how the selection of evidence can affect how we view the past.
• Key terms:
  • Legal rights: Rights that a person has according to the laws of a country: for example, the right to be protected from harm, the right to an education, and so on.
  • Field slaves: By far the largest percentage of slaves in the Americas, field slaves would work in the fields on the plantations. They were more commonly, but not always, men.
  • Domestic slaves: Slaves who performed household jobs such as cooking and washing. These were usually female slaves. They would work in the homes of their owners.
• Source A: Part of a bill of sale for a slave auction in New Orleans, USA in 1855. Slavery was abolished in British colonies in 1833, but was not abolished in the USA until 1865.
• Slaves were bought and sold as property, not as human beings.
• Slaves had few or no legal rights.
• Upon arriving in the Americas, slaves would be sold directly from ships or at auction.
• Children born to slaves became the property of the mother's owner.
• Slaves performed a wide variety of jobs, but most were field slaves or domestic slaves.

Life on the Plantation

• Source C: A mid-18th century engraving of a sugar plantation in Haiti, showing the slaves' houses, the owner's house, the sugar cane field and the sugar mill.
• Source E: A painting called Negroes Sunday-Market ot Antigua produced in 1806, showing a market on the West Indian island of Antigua. Slaves would often be given a small amount of land to farm in their spare time, They would sell any extra produce at markets like this one.
• Source D: An image from a poster of 1807 showing some of the artefacts used to punish slaves, including a face mask, iron collar, leg shackles and spurs (to go around the ankles to prevent running away).
• Source F: Adapted from An History of Jamaica, written by an Englishman called Robert Renny who had visited plantations on the island, published in 1807. The first gang [of slavesj.., is called just before sunrise. The register is then called, and the names of absentees noted. After which they commence their labour and continue till S or 9 0'clock, when they breakfast on boiled yams and vegetables seasoned with salt and cayenne pepper. In the meantime, the absentees generally arrive, and are punished by a number of lashes [of the whip]. At sunset they return to their huts. Slaves usually work ten hours per day, excluding Sundays. In the harvest season the arran«ement is different and slaves often work late in the mill and the boiling houses, frequently all night.
• Source G: An engraving from 1596 showing African slaves working on a plantation in the West Indies, It shows the many processes involved in making sugar: cutting and carrying the cane, crushing it in a press, then boiling.
• Source H: Despite the risk of punishment if caught, some slaves did run away from plantations. This advertisement was printed in a newspaper in Maryland, USA on 1 April 1861. It offers a reward for the return of a runaway slave, a boy called Severn Black
• How were slaves sold upon arrival in the Americas?
• What were slaves in the Americas most commonly used for?
• What did domestic slaves do?
• What forms of punishment were commonly used on plantations?
• What was done to prevent slaves from running away?

Why was the slave trade abolished?

• In this enquiry we will be investigating the factors that led to the abolition of the slave trade, This section of the book will look at:
  • the debate surrounding the causes of the abolition of the slave trade 1
  • the nature and impact of slave resistance and revolt
  • the fate of the slaves and slavery after 1807.
• Learning objectives
• What do you think? Why do you think that* after almost three centuries, people turned against the slave trade?
  • Understand the key events and factors that led to the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in 1807.
  • Recognise how historians' interpretations of the abolition* have changed over time.
• Key terms
  • Abolition: Banning or getting rid of something, The Enlightenment: New ways of thinking that emerged in the 18th century which emphasised reason and logic over tradition and superstition.
• Black abolitionists
• The Abolition Committee was keen for the voices of slaves to be heard. In 1787, it published the autobiography of Ottobah Cugoano. Cugoano was a former slave who had worked on plantations in the Caribbean, before eventually being brought to England where he gained his freedom.
• Source A: An engraved picture of Olaudah Equiano, taken from his popular and widely read autobiography of 1789.
  Popular movement: abolition becomes fashionable
• Within a few years of the establishment of the Abolition Committee, there were numerous anti-slave trade societies across the country. Often these were formed by nonconformist* groups who used religious arguments to protest against the slave trade. Women's anti-slave trade societies also became common. These societies would encourage others to join their cause. Books, plays and poetry were written in favour of abolition. People proudly wore abolition medallions and brooches. The public mood had turned against the slave trade, Members of the public put pressure on MPs to pass an abolition law. The most direct method was through petitions* that were sent to parliament. By 1792, parliament received over 500 different abolition petitions per year, containing thousands of names. Another way that the abolition campaigners put pressure on the government was through the use of a sugar boycott*. This added economic pressure to the increasing political pressure on MPs,
• Source C: Adapted from Slavery: A Poem by Hannah More. More was an abolitionist whose poems and writings against slavery were popular during the 17905. See the dire victim torn from social life, the shrieking babe, the agonising wife! She, wretch forlorn, is dragged by hostile hands, to distant ttyrants sold, in distant lands! Transmitted miseries, and successive chains, the sole sad heritage her child obtains! Et/n this last wretched favour their foes deny, to weep together, or together die.
  The final push
  Public outcry against the slave trade was such that it was impossible for MPs to ignore it. Many MPs came around to the side of the abolitionists. Some probably did so to protect their reputations and positions; others because they genuinely believed that it was morally the right thing to do. Some also may have done so because they feared that. if they did not, the slaves on the British plantations might rebel as they had done in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (see page 120). In 1807, Wilberforce once again introduced a bill to parliament to attempt to abolish the transatlantic slave trade. After a 10-hour debate, and at the end of a 20-year campaign, the bill finally passed. The British transatlantic slave trade was abolished.
  Differing interpretations of abolition
  Historians often have differing interpretations of the same event. For example* historians disagree about what the main reasons were for the abolition of the slave trade in 1807. Before the 1930s, historians tended to suggest that slavery was abolished due to the actions of great British men, in particular William Wilberforce. They argued that Wilberforce and other British leaders realised that the slave trade was wrong and so led a moral campaign against it. The slave trade was abolished due to the actions of great British leaders. Historian A
  Later historians questioned this view. A historian from Trinidad argued that the British parliament banned the slave trade because it was afraid that, if it did not, the slaves would revolt, as they had on the West Indian island of Saint-Domingue (see page 120). The slave trade was abolished due to the actions Of the slaves themselves. Parliament feared slave revolt. Historian B
  Another historian from Trinidad, argued that the main reason that the British parliament was willing to abolish the slave trade was because it was no longer profitable enough. The slave trade was abolished as it was no longer making enough money Many historians have since disagreed, arguing that the Historian C slave trade was still making a lot of money at the time it was abolished. Historians today still debate what the main reasons for abolition were, and they will no doubt continue to do so in the future.

Slave rebellion and resistance

• Learning objectives
  • Understand the different ways that slaves rebelled against their captivity. Explore some of the evidence connected with slave resistance.
    -SOUrce A: An early 19th«ntury wood engraving showing slaves who had mutinied aboard a slave ship being thrown overboard. Source B: Adapted from a letter by Captain George Scott describing a mutiny on his ship, Little George, in 1730. The slaves managed to take control of the ship and sail it back to Africa, where they escaped- sailed from the Coast of Guinea [West Africa], on 1st June 1730, having on board 96 slaves, On the 6th June at 4.30 in the tnorning, the male slaves got out of their irons and, making way through the deck, killed the watchmen who were all asleep. I heard noise upon deck (they were throwing the watchmen overboard) and took my pistol and fired, This made all the slavcs that were loose run forwards and [capturing us] they kept us confined in the cabin. 11B
    Slaves were controlled through a system of fear and violence. Their masters— in Africa, on the slave ships and on the plantations — possessed guns and other weapons, making resistance very dangerous. The majority of slaves had no choice but to accept their circumstances. Yet, despite all the risks, there were many acts of resistance. Slaves reacted against their captivity in various ways. There were revolts on ships, runaway slave communities and major slave rebellions. Yet there were undoubtedly also many thousands of small acts of resistance that are not recorded in the historical evidence, such as slaves pretending not to understand instructions, working intentionally slowly or inefficiently* or taking more food than allowed, There was also cultural resistance. Through language, music and dance, staves kept alive aspects of their African heritage, resisting attempts to destroy their culture. Music was also used to unite slave communities. Traditional drums could be used to send messages to slaves in other villages, and some songs, known as negro spirituals, contained secret, coded messages about freedom. Mutinies on ship Historians have calculated that around 10 per cent of slave ships experienced some sort of slave revolt. Usually these mutinies would be defeated by the crew, often with great bloodshed. There are, though, examples of successful mutinies on ship, when the slaves managed to defeat the crew and take control. The Maroons
    In some places, communities of runaway slaves developed, such as the Maroons of Jamaica. The Maroons were a group of former slaves who had escaped enslavement. They lived in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, where they established their own towns and ways of life. The Maroons assisted other slaves in escaping and joining their community. In the early 18th century, they were led by a woman known as 'Nanny'. Historians know little about Nanny, but she has become a legendary figure in Jamaican folk tradition. The Maroons caused such a problem for the British that, from the 1670s until 1740, soldiers were sent to try to defeat them. Eventually, the Maroons were imprisoned and then shipped to British colonies in Nova Scotia (Canada) and Sierra Leone (West Africa). However, slaves continued to escape the plantations to go and live in the mountains. It has been estimated that 2500 slaves per year were escaping Jamaican plantations by the 1820s.

The Haitian Revolution (1791—1804)

• In the 18th and early 19th centuries. there were slave uprisings on many West Indian islands, including Grenada, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbados.
  -The most famous revolt was in the French colony of Saint- Domingue (modern-day Haiti).
• From 1793 until 1802, the man who led the slave revolt was Toussaint Louverture. Haiti became the first free black republic in 1804.
  -It is also important to understand that from 1804 Haitian leaders such as Henri Christophe and Jean-Jacque Dessalines, after Louverture’s betrayal and capture, made the decision to prohibit white men from owning land in Haiti and being citizens of the country, as well as ban interracial marriage to secure Haiti’s borders.
• Louverture was imprisoned by the French in 1802, and died in captivity a year later.
• Despite this, the revolution continued and, in 1804, the self-liberated slaves defeated their colonial rulers and declared the country of Haiti as their own.
• The Haitian Revolution had shown the world that a slave revolt could be well organised, skilfully led and, most importantly, successful.
  Slave revolts after 1807
• Whilst the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act of 1807 was important in stopping the British trade in slaves, it was also limited in its aims.
  -The 1807 Act also had a consequence that the abolitionists did not predict. Banning the trade meant that there were fewer slaves in the British colonies.
  -This meant that the slaves in those colonies were forced to work even harder to make up for the loss.
  -It also meant that slaves were moved around more, as plantation owners tried to use their labour more effciently. This led to more slave families being split up. So the 1807 Act actually made the lives of the slaves on the plantations even worse.

Slavery after 1807

• From 1807 to 1833
  -Although the British slave trade had been banned in 1807. there was still a fight to be fought.' for the total abolition of slavery and the emancipation* of slaves within the British Empire.
  -From 1823, Thomas Clarkson led the abolition campaign. Slave resistance was increasing and the slave revolt of 1831-32 in Jamaica shocked people in Britain.
  -Abolitionists protested against the brutal execution of so many 'rebel' slaves. Even those who supported slavery feared that the slaves would overthrow their masters if freedom was not granted. All these factors came together to convince parliament that slavery needed to be abolished in the British Empire and, in 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act was passed, freeing around 800,000 slaves.
  -The decision was taken to compensate* all slave owners for their 'loss of property'. Over 46,000 claims were made and a total of E20 million was paid, equivalent to €16 billion today. No former slaves were ever compensated for their suffering and losses.

Poacher turned gamekeeper

• The transatlantic slave trade did not end in 1807, despite the USA also banning the trade in 1808 (slavery was abolished completely in the USA in 1865). Britain -- the country that had dominated and benefited most from the slave trade in the 18th century began a campaign to stop other countries from trading in slaves.

The legacy of the transatlantic slave trade

-What was the legacy of the slave trade for the former slaves themselves?
The lives of emancipated slaves did not suddenly improve after abolition.

• Some remained working on the same plantations. being paid very low wages and charged high rents for poor quality houses. Other former slaves used their freedom to move to new places, to start new lives for their families, but they were starting from scratch. Few owned many possessions or had received any education, and poverty remained a problem.
  The end of slavery?
  Slavery did not begin with the transatlantic slave trade, and nor did it end when that trade was abolished. Many forms of slavery continued and still continue. Modern slavery in the United Kingdom
  It is believed that there are 13,000 slaves in the UK today.
  -Most, but not come from other countries.
  -They are tricked into moving to the I-JK with the promise of a good job.
  -When they arrive, their passports are kept from them by their 'masters'.
  -They are often forced to work on farms, in factories or at car washes.
  -They are given little or no pay and forced to live in bad accommodation.
• Violence and threats are used to stop them from escaping.