Slavery and The Empire
Slavery and The British Empire
==British’s Acquisition of the Asiento-== An agreement where Spain gave the British the right to provide slaves to them
- Taken from the Dutch in the
Atlantic Trade
- Atlantic Commerce- Mostly slave and slave=grown products
- * Atlantic trading routes between Britain, the Americas, and Africa * Consisted primarily of slaves, slave crops, and goods * Most Africans took part in providing slaves for European traders
- Consequences for West African Societies * Opportunities for rulers, merchants * Cheap imported textiles undermined traditional craft and production * Guns encouraged the growth of slavery * Depletion of the African population weakened and distorted West Africa’s society and economy
- The middle leg of the triangular trade
- 1 in 5 slaves perished from diseases here
- Most landed in Brazil or the West Indies
Regional Patterns of Slavery
Chesapeake Region
Composed of Virginia and Maryland
Slavery was important as slaves supplied tobacco to Britain from the bay
Most slaves worked on the fields, but thousands in skilled crafts
Laid the foundation of a landed gentry for the Chesapeake elite * merchants and lawyers dominated the region in society and politics
Rice Kingdom
- Soth Carolina and Georgia
- The early economy focused on the export of slaves to the Caribbean and of skins and furs to England
- Introduction of rice led to economic development and the large-scale cultivation by slaves * Indigo also
- Georgia: Initially, %%James Oglethorpe%% banned liquor and slaves * 1751 these laws were repealed
- Slaves worked under the * Slaves were left alone with tasks to complete for the day and were free to do what they wanted after
North
- Slavery was far less central to the economy * Made up less of the population
- Section developed tobacco and livestock labor run by slaves
- Slavery dispersed across the North
- Slaves worked in all positions including personal servants