4.2 The Nature of the Diaspora
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The total number of
Africans shipped to the New World colonies by European
slaving vessels has been estimated by historians at anywhere
from seven to twenty million people in the course of the
trade, which lasted from 1444 until the late nineteenth
century. The most widely accepted estimate today places the
number of slaves taken to the New World at about twelve
million people. There exists a great deal of controversy
over the actual number of Africans sold to European slavers,
because documents such as ships' logs may not have taken
into account those people who died on route to the slave
ship, or may not have accurately reported the number of
slaves in their holds, since illegal overcrowding was
common. It is also difficult to say with certainty how many
slaves were transported through non-official channels. A
lively illegal trade, carried on by those who did not have
royal contracts and who made money supplying slaves to
whomever requested them, regardless of nationality,
continued both during the era of legal slave trading and
long after it had officially ended. Interlopers
and buccaneers
could make huge profits by buying and selling slaves outside
officially-sanctioned channels. Although we may never know
exactly how many Africans were forced to undertake the
journey to the New World, the fact is that over a period of
over four centuries, millions of people were taken from
their country and culture and forced to endure often
unspeakable brutalities as creatures somehow less than
human. It is important to note that the slave ships of any
particular country would not only supply slaves to their own
colonies but would take advantage of demand to unload their
human cargoes to whoever was willing to pay for them. Still
more confusing is the fact that ships could fly another
country's flag in order to gain access to otherwise closed
markets.
"Gold is most excellent. Gold is treasure, and he who possesses it does all he wishes to in this world, and succeeds in helping souls into paradise." The trans-Atlantic slave trade did not, as is sometimes imagined, spring fully formed from the brains of greedy and power-hungry European merchants, although wealth and power played a large part in its development. European nations in the fifteenth century were influenced by the ideas of mercantilism, an ideology which maintained that there was a finite amount of wealth available in the world, and that it was necessary to appropriate as much of that wealth as possible in order to gain the upper hand over rival nations. Exploration and exploitation of territories beyond Europe was a vital component of mercantilist ideology, as were curiosity and religious interests. Exploration led to the discovery of new lands, new Christian converts, and new sources of wealth. Mercantilist nations had as their goals acquiring spices, gold, and other precious metals, the development of shipping and naval power, bringing the word of God to those thought of as heathen and pagan, achieving national economic self-sufficiency, and establishing the supremacy of the home country over the colonies. This latter aim was to be accomplished through state intervention in the economy, and by keeping skilled artisans in the home country and sending the colonies low-priced, unskilled labour (including criminals, other malcontents, indentured servants and, later, slaves). As well, countries sought to obtain raw materials from their colonies, exchanging them for manufactured goods. The goal of all of this was to increase national wealth, power, and prestige. The establishment of monopolistic trading companies by European rulers during this period was very much a product of mercantilist ideas. Companies such as the Senegal Adventurers (1588), the Dutch West India Company (1621), and the Royal African Company (1672) secured royal patronage and exclusive trading rights, and became heavily involved with the slave trade. Although companies such as these had as their original aim the acquisition of gold, the anticipated profitability of the slave trade shifted the aim of trading ventures to human cargoes. These companies often took on the responsibilities and rights of national envoys or trade consuls to ensure a profitable trade with foreign nations, including enacting diplomatic relations with African kings. Extensive Portuguese exploration of the African Coast and the Atlantic, facilitated by navigational advancements and improved understanding of the Atlantic's wind currents, uncovered the fertile island of Madeira, the Canary Islands, the Cape Verde Islands, and São Tomé. These islands, especially São Tomé, became prototypes for plantation economies, where African slave as well as free labour was used in the production of sugar, an extremely labour-intensive crop. The Atlantic islands gave the Portuguese a vital base from which to pursue further exploration. In 1492, Christopher Columbus ushered in a new era in trans-Atlantic exploration when he landed in the Americas, a region which was soon to be appropriated, dominated, and cultivated by the Portuguese and Spanish and later by the French, English, and Dutch. Crops such as sugar, coffee, and tobacco were becoming popular commodities in the European market, but they were labour-intensive, and the European colonisers were unwilling to pay the wages of European workers. Attempts at enslaving Amerindians in the New World were largely unsuccessful for several reasons, not least of which was that indigenous peoples, faced with an economic system and working conditions which were often completely alien to them, would run away or refuse to work. Queen Isabella of Spain, sympathetic to the fate of the American Indians, charged her successors to protect them and to regard them as they regarded their other subjects. Ideologically, the indigenous American populations were seen as existing in a state of Eden-like innocence, uncorrupted by sin and, therefore, to be treated as respectfully as Europeans themselves, which created a strange mixture of ideological idealism and practical commercialism which was characteristic of the Europeans at this time. Whether the ideological position was foremost in the minds of colonists is unknown, however, as more practical concerns prevented the indigenous Americans from becoming a large source of slave labour. European diseases devastated the Amerindians; because of their isolation from the European continent they lacked immunity to them. In some places 95 per cent of the indigenous population was wiped out.
Early use of indentured European labour proved less economically viable as the demand for sugar in Europe grew more insistent in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the need for labour outstripped the number of Europeans willing to cross the Atlantic to work. Africans were less susceptible to European diseases and fared better in the vastly different environments of the Americas. Looking back to the success of African slave labour in the plantation system of São Tomé, the Portuguese and later other European nations merely adapted an already effective system to supply the huge amount of labour required to inhabit and cultivate their new holdings. The trans-Atlantic trade increased vastly in scope as the plantation system expanded and plantations themselves became larger, and colonies became more dependent on slave labour, which was profitable but not self-sustaining. Visions of wealth motivated Europeans to pursue slaving as a source of labour and wealth, and the strength of this belief ensured that the slave trade would last for over four centuries. 1444 - 1853 slaves from: the Gold Coast, Angola (Loango, Luanda, and Benguela) slaves to: Europe (15th century), Brazil (1570's - 1583) [42% of entire slave trade went here, primarily to three main cities: Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and Pernambuco]  
Although the Spanish are credited with the discovery of the Americas, it was the Portuguese who were the first nation to establish an overseas empire, and were the first to become involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. One of the most important reasons for this dubious achievement was that Portugal in the early fifteenth century enjoyed a strong monarchy, national unity, and a domestic tranquillity not to be found in the other major European nations. The ruling family of Avis was highly interested in exploration and Queen Philippa and her son, Prince Henry the Navigator, played roles in the initial exploration of North Africa and the islands of the Atlantic. Azurara, one of Prince Henry's contemporaries and chroniclers, summarised his reasons for exploration as the following: 1. The desire to know the country
beyond Cape Bojador. There was also a small but influential merchant class who owned many of the ships doing brisk trade with Flanders and England. The desire for gold and spices, as well as religious zeal against Muslims, fuelled early Portuguese voyages of exploration to Africa and the islands of the Atlantic, but the quest for slaves would not be far behind. The inauguration of the slave trade came in 1441 when Portuguese sailors kidnapped twelve African men, taken to Lisbon. In 1444 the caravels of Lançarote and Gil Eannes captured 235 slaves in an African raid and brought them back to Europe. By 1448 the Portuguese had established the first European trading settlement in West Africa, on Arguim Island, signalling a shift from raiding for slaves to bartering for them, although warfare and capture were never completely eradicated. By 1500 Portuguese explorers had opened over 6,400 kilometres of African coastline, establishing settlements and factories (feitorias), at key points along the African coastline. By this date, the Portuguese crown, aware of the advantages of slavery, had taken control of the African trade. Portuguese development of trading networks by establishing small settlements in Africa is a distinctive characteristic of their involvement in the slave trade. Other European nations, although they too would build forts along the coast, would often take advantage of the Portuguese developments and use force to take control of previously built forts and trading systems whenever they could in order to destabilise the Portuguese monopoly. Although Spain initially did very little to develop its New World empire, it was anxious to secure its rights. Spanish and Portuguese rivalry in the Atlantic world resulted in the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas. This treaty, sanctioned by Pope Alexander VI, gave Portugal a monopoly over Africa and the New World colony of Brazil, and awarded Spain the remainder of the Americas. The crown authorisation for the import of African slaves into Brazil in 1549 was the beginning of a rising flow of slaves to the area, slowly displacing the use of Amerindians as slaves (in the 1570's the crown, under pressure from Jesuit missionaries, was beginning to legislate against enslaving the indigenous population). The relationship between sugar and slavery was made very early in the Atlantic Islands, and for three centuries colonies here would demand and receive more African slaves than any other part of the Atlantic world, commanding approximately 42 per cent of the entire slave trade. Merchants and officials in Brazil, more than in Portugal itself, took leadership over the slave trade, and over the course of the trade continued to ship a consistently high volume of African slaves to the New World. The Africans themselves came primarily from the region of Angola, where slaves quickly became the most important items of trade. A Portuguese visitor to the area in 1578 observed that there was "a greater Traffic and Market for slaves, that are brought out of Angola, than in any place else. For there are yearly bought by the Portuguese about five thousand head of Negroes, which afterwards they conveigh away with them, and so sell them into diverse parts of the World." The Portuguese and Spanish monopoly of the New World slave trade did not go uncontested, and interlopers were quick to take advantage of any opportunity to promote their interests in the slave trade. Although the Portuguese still dominated the seventeenth century trade, they were increasingly threatened by encroaching European interests, especially from the Dutch. By the end of the Eighty Year's War in 1648, the Portuguese had lost their monopoly. The Dutch took control of Angola, north-eastern Brazil, El Mina on the Gold Coast, and Curaçao. Still, the Portuguese gradually recovered Angola and Brazil in the seventeenth century, and experienced a rapid expansion in the production of sugar as well as a corresponding increase in the need for slaves. By 1620, Brazil was relying almost entirely on the labour of African slaves. During this century, the Portuguese shifted their slaving efforts from the Kongo to Benguela and Luanda, while maintaining their interest in Upper Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands, in an effort to increase production. By the end of the seventeenth century, Portugal, more for economic than humanitarian reasons, had instituted laws against the overcrowding of slave ships, and proper medical and religious instruction were to be provided for slaves. Enforcement, however, was fairly lax and the Portuguese never adopted a slave code for Brazil. The eighteenth century saw the Portuguese re-establish themselves on the Gold Coast, and Brazilian demand for slaves increase as the economy diversified to include gold, tobacco, and cotton. The gold rush of the first half of the century caused slave prices in the region known as Mina Gerais to soar, and the Portuguese used the profits as well as the discovered gold to recover economically from the depression caused by war with the Dutch. New slave markets were developed in Africa to meet the demand, especially Whydah on the Costa da Mina (where slave ships had to pay tax to the Dutch, who now controlled the area). During the latter half of the century, north-eastern Brazil became developed, largely because of an altered crown policy under the marquis of Pombal, who successfully used monopolistic companies to expand the underdeveloped north-eastern economy. Although the Dutch had been the first to threaten Portuguese control of the trade, the English and French began to pose a threat to Portuguese interests in the eighteenth century, taking advantage of Portuguese markets in Africa. These intrusions, plus political changes in African kingdoms, shifted the major source of slaves from the Loango Coast to Luanda and Benguela, both in the region of Angola. The Portuguese court of João (prince
regent until 1816 when he became King João VI) went to
Brazil in 1808, which set in motion a series of political
events which were to culminate in Brazil gaining
independence from Portugal in 1822 under John's twenty-three
year old son, Pedro. The British had ensured the success of
Brazilian independence by threatening Spain with
repercussions if they attacked the country. Brazil, in turn,
agreed by a treaty with England to end the slave trade by
1830. During the last years of the legal slave trade,
however, there was a boom in the numbers of slaves imported
by both Portuguese and Brazilian slavers, and 1830 came and
went without a noticeable decrease in the now extensive
trade. In fact, Brazil imported approximately 340,000 slaves
during the 1840's, even more than they had in the last
decade of legal slaving, when the total was only
approximately 325,000. It was not until 1850 that Brazil
declared slaving piracy, but the illegal traffic and use of
slaves did not actually cease in the country until as late
as 1888.
Late 15th century - 1815 slaves from: because Spain had no African claim, slaves come from other European powers, through licensing, the asiento, and free trade. slaves to: Cuba (50%), Mexico, Columbia, Panama, Ecuador, Venezuela, Rio de la Plata (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia), etc. Spain's role is unique in the history of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Spain was one of the few countries that actually had a long history of slavery, and laws pertaining to slavery had existed in Spain from as early as the 1265 Siete Partidas, well before the advent of the trans-Atlantic trade. The population of Spain in the mid-1500s is estimated at approximately eight million people, of whom 100,000 were slaves, most located in the southern areas of the country. This long-standing presence of slaves made enslaving Africans less of a moral dilemma for the Spaniards than for other European countries, such as the Netherlands. Although the Spanish were the first European nation to establish settlements in the New World, the Crown did little to encourage economic development initially, as sugar was already being produced in the south of Spain. The Spanish economic system favoured bullion over tropical produce and did not invest in the New World colonies or commercial companies to the same extent as other European nations. This combination of a huge overseas empire, which was too large to adequately defend, and lack of developmental impetus caused Spain to become the focus of international rivalries that often resulted in a loss of territory in Spanish America. As well, although under the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas Spain assumed control of all of the New World except Brazil, it had no influence in Africa, the source of slave labour.  In spite of these difficulties, the Spanish were major players in the slave trade. African slaves were present in the Spanish conquest of the New World, transmitting European culture. Because these slaves had lived in Europe and were, therefore, well versed in Spanish culture, they initially occupied a middle position in the New World social structure between the Spanish and the Amerindians. However, the Spanish preference for African workers, whom they saw as more profitable than the indigenous populations, resulted in a market for slaves in the Spanish Americas. The use of African slaves was also hastened by the Church's defence of Amerindians, who were felt to exist in Eden-like innocence and were, therefore, not to be enslaved, even though this was attempted. Indeed, Spain's use of African slaves was influenced by this evangelical zeal towards the Amerindians to a degree not found in the ideologies of other European powers. The Spanish slave trade itself is said to have begun with the 1510 importation of 250 Africans purchased in Lisbon. Because the Spanish lacked influence in Africa, they had three different methods for acquiring slaves for their colonies. The first was the system of licensing, which began in 1518 and, except for two brief intervals of monopoly, lasted until 1595. The Spanish crown at first made gifts of licences to transport African slaves, but the system quickly changed to the selling of licences and an export tax on each slave. Genoese merchants in Seville played a large part in the early trade, purchasing licences from the crown and financing slaving voyages. It is important to note that most of the slaves who entered the Spanish Americas did not do so in Spanish ships, and Spain's 1580 unification with Portugal ensured an available labour source into the Spanish colonies under the Portuguese flag. This system of granting licences, however, was largely unproductive, as it couldn't supply the demand for slaves in the colonies, or stop the evasions and abuses of the system by Portuguese slavers. In 1595 the Spanish crown began using the system of asientos, in an attempt to systematise, regulate, and gain more profit from the slave trade. Under this system the crown would grant the asiento to a specific company or country, which would pay Spain a fixed amount in exchange for securing a monopoly to sell licences. The first asiento was given to Pedro Gómez Reynal, who for the sum of 900,000 ducats a year was given the privilege to transport 3,500 African slaves a year for nine years. This system became the model for future contracts. When Reynal died, the asiento was transferred to the Portuguese, and it was to be the means by which foreign powers could usurp the Spanish trade monopoly in the New World and begin to establish their own interests. The expansion of the slave trade at the turn of the century was sufficient to draw the involvement of French and sometimes English vessels (although these would become involved on a greater scale later). Neither of these countries had any legal right to be on the other side of the Atlantic, where the Spanish and Portuguese were supposed to have complete control, but France and England did not recognise the Treaty of Tordesillas. They engaged in trade with the Spanish colonies, and because the colonists generally needed more slaves than could be provided, they were generally received with pleasure. French and English corsairs were never entirely to be trusted, however. Their ships were heavily armed and they sometimes resorted to plundering the colonies for valuable goods. When Portugal re-established its independence in 1640, Spain revoked the asiento and refused to grant it to anyone else. England, France, and Holland were by this time rising European powers, and they saw the underdeveloped Spanish colonies as the means to wealth and riches, both by supplying Spanish colonists with slaves and seizing island possessions which the Spanish could not easily defend. In 1662 Spain once again granted the asiento, this time to two wealthy Genoese. These merchants were not able to sustain the necessary level of trade, and the contract in time broke down, and subsequent contractors were unable to meet the demand for slaves. Meanwhile, the Dutch had been working behind the scenes, participating in the slave trade and manoeuvring for the much-coveted asiento. When Spain finally awarded the asiento to the Cacheu Company (Portuguese), it signalled the beginning of the use of the asiento as an instrument of European power politics. When Charles II of Spain died in 1700, all of his Spanish dominions were transferred to Philip V, grandson of Louis XIV of France. The asiento was thus transferred to the French, and Spain was forced to accept an alliance with France. France's interest in the asiento, however, had less to do with the procurement of slaves than gaining a stronger foothold in Spain's New World market. During the War of Spanish Succession (1702-1713), Spain's empire was further diminished, this time by the English, who gained the asiento for thirty years in the peace treaty. Constant friction and flagrant abuse of the system, which compromised English profits, marred their possession of the asiento, and England returned the contract in 1750 in exchange for £100,000. The return of the asiento to Spain
marked another change in Spanish policy. Spain turned its
attention to domestic trade, and the asiento became
once more a matter of internal Spanish policy. The need for
greater numbers of slaves, and the general inefficiency of
the asiento led to a limited free trade decree in 1789,
which initially focused on slaves but was later extended to
cover other commodities throughout the Spanish empire. The
free trade policy enabled colonies to purchase as much slave
labour as was needed to increase their sugar production. The
result was that both sugar exports and slave imports soared
during the last decade of the eighteenth century and into
the early nineteenth century. Finally, Spain was no longer
dependent on other nations for supplying the colonies with
slave labour. The Spanish carried slaves even after the
trade became illicit in 1820, and after 1835, they were
carried under Portuguese and American flags. The Spanish
slave trade ended in 1862 after the Anglo-American treaty,
and slavery itself came to an end in Cuba in 1886. Although
the Spanish were responsible for the importation of only
about ten per cent of the entire slave trade, Spain was
instrumental in encouraging the slave trades of other
European nations.
pre-eminent 1640's - 1670's slaves from: mid 17th century - most from Slave Coast,
Gold Coast and Luango (Angola)
slaves to: Curaçao (1680's-1720's), Saint Eustatius (1720-29), Surinam (after 1729)
The United Provinces, which became the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1814, did not play a prominent role in the slave trade until the seventeenth century. Their early involvement in the trade was, however, characterised by an unusual degree of ambivalence. The Dutch were originally not very keen on entering the slave trade, which they viewed as inhumane. However, they were financially involved in the trade well before their physical involvement. This ability to become involved in the slave trade on a purely financial level was facilitated by the outbreak of the Eighty Year War with Spain in 1568. The Dutch greatly intensified their economic activities and power during this confrontation, as it necessitated a common foreign policy amongst the various Dutch provinces. Amsterdam, the Dutch Republic's capital and primary seaport, became the European centre for insurance and financial institutions. Dutch capital was invested in Brazil, and there were sugar refineries and shipyards in Holland developed specifically for the Brazil trade. They became physically involved in the slave trade even before gaining their independence from Spain in 1648. This occurred, in part, because they had one of the most powerful naval forces in Europe at that time. The Dutch West India Company (WIC) was originally formed in order to usurp Spanish trade through privateering, control trade with Africa, establish colonies in the New World, and maintain naval and commercial bases in the Caribbean. The WIC managed to avoid traffic in slaves for a decade after its formation in 1621, even though there had been sporadic incidents of Dutch involvement in the trade prior to the company's formation. Despite their initial reservations, however, the WIC did become involved in the slave trade, at first by confiscating the cargoes of captured enemy ships and selling these slaves in the New World.
New markets for slaves after the loss of Brazil were difficult to come by, as the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam (later New York) demanded relatively few. The English and French were also beginning to take an interest in the slave trade, as well as the Danes, Swedes, and Germans. It is remarkable, therefore, that the numbers of slaves shipped by the Dutch did not significantly decrease during this period. They maintained a foothold in the trade by supplying slaves to São Tomé, which was not receiving enough slaves through Portuguese channels. As well, the Dutch captured the virtually undefended Portuguese-held island of Curaçao in 1634, which became an important depot for the channelling and selling of slaves to Spanish mainland colonies after the loss of Brazil. Originally this was done illicitly, as the Dutch were still at war with Spain and did not possess the asiento. When the asiento was reinstated and given to Domingo Grillo and Ambrosia Lomelin, the Genoese merchants, they came to rely on the Dutch WIC for their contracts. In 1667 the Dutch gained a monopoly over the asiento trade and Curaçao trade increased significantly, even though the Dutch actually shipped far fewer slaves than was stipulated in their contract. One of the reasons for the ascendancy of the Dutch in the slave trade was the fact that they were adept in their dealings in Africa, and after capturing El Mina, they quickly began negotiations with Africans and brought a large portion of the Gold Coast under Dutch control. They would gain information about local slave prices from Africans in order to undercut competitors' prices and so gain the advantage in trade. The mid-seventeenth century was also the era of the sugar revolution. For example, Barbados was transformed from a largely unproductive island to the richest colony in English America by 1680, through the importation of a large number of slaves provided by the Dutch. Sugar culture quickly spread elsewhere in the West Indies, facilitated by the Dutch. Although slaves had been introduced into Virginia as early as 1619, the Dutch began encouraging trade to the area in the 1660s, further expanding their markets. English-Dutch rivalry increased in the 1660s, due to English encroachment on Dutch territories, especially in West Africa, which eventually resulted in the Second Dutch War from 1665 to 1667. The WIC was considerably weakened as a result, and was bankrupted when the English and French combined forces in another Dutch War (1672-74), that greatly reduced Dutch involvement in the slave trade. Further, the English colony of Jamaica was beginning to rival Curaçao as a slave depot and England and France were expanding their trade while Dutch activity came to a virtual standstill. Upon the bankruptcy of the old WIC, a new one was organised (1674-1734), which obtained an asiento in 1675. Increased British and French competition was mitigated by the development of a new slave depot in the Caribbean, Saint Eustatius, where cheaply supplied salves were sold illicitly to English and French planters. An Englishman in 1731 complained that "Negroes are sold to them [the islanders] frequently 20 per Cent. cheaper than our own ships do afford them. This ready money is a great Temptation to some Planters who sell their sugars to them at less than the current Price...". Deferring to private traders, the WIC lost its monopoly in 1734, and the Dutch began a free trade in slaves. The WIC carried almost no slaves after 1735, even though it existed until 1791. A series of events in the eighteenth
century seriously compromised Dutch slaving interests. Wars
in Africa from the 1730s to the 1750s hindered the acquisition
of slaves, and the American and French Revolutions adversely
affected American slave markets. A fourth Anglo-Dutch War,
begun with the 1780 English capture of Saint Eustatius,
seriously crippled the slave trade, which was dealt a
further blow when the French troops overran Holland in 1795,
a hegemony which lasted until 1814. In that year a treaty
with the English included the outlaw of the slave trade in
the Netherlands. A nation, which had enjoyed a predominant
position in the traffic of slaves, was forced into abolition
not by humanitarian campaign or constitutional compromise
but through war, politics, and commercial competition.
1642 - 1815 slaves from: Angola, Bight of Benin, Biafra, as well as Senegal, Whydah, Goree, and the Gold Coast slaves to: Saint-Dominique, Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana Although France was one of the first nations to show an interest in the slave trade, it was one of the last nations to become actively involved in the trade, which commenced with the acquisition of Saint-Domingue in 1697. Also distinctive was the fact that French involvement in the slave trade, unlike Dutch involvement, was confined almost exclusively to its own possessions in the New World. The reasons for this late development were that France suffered from domestic upheaval, and it lacked ships, investment capital, and manufactured goods. It did, however, possess a few American colonies, including Saint Christopher (which was also occupied by the English), Guadeloupe, and Martinique, acquired in 1635. In 1642, Louis XIII authorised the slave trade for France, "[f]or the good of their souls". One year later, sixty slaves were delivered in Guadeloupe by a French vessel, marking the beginning of the trade. The increase in the demand for sugar created a demand for African slaves in the French West Indies. To increase productivity the French government created the French Company of the West Indies in 1664. The company, however, was never able to meet the demand for slaves in the French colonies, and France created the Company of the Senegal in 1673. Neither royal nor private company, however, could satisfy the demands of French planters or lessen Dutch influence in Africa, with whom the French were competing, and there was a succession of companies throughout the rest of the century. Like all mercantilist nations, France sought European dominance, which at that time meant decreasing the power of the Dutch. Louis XIV (1661-1715) also developed an anti-Spanish policy in order to gain territory and control of the Spanish throne, goals that the Dutch opposed. One of the most prominent figures in the French slave trade was Jean-Baptiste du Casse , who was appointed governor of Saint-Domingue in 1691 (even though Spain had not officially recognised French control of the island). Although France was at the time involved in a war with the League of Augsburg, whose members included Spain, England and the Netherlands, du Casse managed to defend Saint-Domingue and played an instrumental role in formally obtaining the colony in the Treaty of Ryswick. When Charles II of Spain died, du Casse pushed Louis XIV to obtain the asiento for France, which he did in 1701. By this time, France had managed to increase its influence in West Africa, as well as developing its sea power and shipping. It had also acquired the colony of Louisiana in 1699, to which it began shipping slaves in 1719. Although France lost the asiento, the colony of Saint Christopher, and claims in West Africa in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, sugar production actually rose due to the physical size and the fertile soil of remaining French colonies. The French government also encouraged the efforts of French planters, which increased the need for slaves in the islands in the early eighteenth century. The French, however, lacked provision colonies in the Americas, and so turned to British North America and Ireland for things such as lumber and livestock in exchange for rum and molasses. This informal arrangement with British subjects led to tensions with England, who viewed the trade with suspicion. In 1739 tensions heightened with the Spanish suspension of the British asiento, which caused England to declare war on Spain. France was drawn into the conflict in the War of the Austrian Succession, which began in 1744. Although the conflict ended in 1748, tensions continued and France and England were again at war in 1756 (the Seven Year's War), a conflict which was played out to a large part in American waters. At the Peace of Paris in 1763, France managed to retain much of its market for sugar and slaves. Peace brought prosperity to the French islands, and the French West Indies entered its "golden age" of sugar production in the 1760s, exporting more sugar in this period than the English colonies. French defeat in the Seven Year's War, however, was not forgotten, and France allied itself with the United States in 1778 in its fight for independence from England. France and England fought mainly in the Caribbean, capturing each other's colonies, and finally settled the dispute in another Treaty of Paris in 1783. France regained much of her West African colonies from England in a mutually satisfactory agreement. Once again, with peace restored, France's trade (including the slave trade) increased, and reached its apogee from 1783 to 1792. In spite of this increased productivity, which now included the export of sugar, coffee, indigo, cotton, and cocoa, the French could not supply enough slaves to meet the demand of its colonies, demand which was filled by British, Dutch, and North American merchants. The French Revolution (1789) and the
wars of Napoleon (1802-1815) seriously affected the French slave
trade, which was abolished by the revolutionary government
in 1794, and restored under Napoleon. The unrest that
followed the reinstitution of slavery in Saint-Domingue,
compounded by weakened military forces on the island due to
an outbreak of yellow fever amongstst the troops, led to the
1804 proclamation of independence by the colony, renamed
Haiti under the self-proclaimed Emperor Dessalines. The
slave trade was lawful in France from 1802 to 1815, when
loss in war to the English and the final defeat of Napoleon
led to the abolition of the trade. Thereafter, and in direct
defiance of the agreement, French merchants continued a
booming illegal trade in slaves, mostly to the French
Caribbean and South America. French participation in the
trade fell off after an 1833 agreement allowed British
vessels to search and capture French slave ships, and the
French slave trade finally ended in the 1860's.
1650's - 1807 slaves from: Windward and Gold Coasts (50% of slaves), Ardrah/Whydah, North Guinea, Benin and Calabar rivers, Angola [by the 18th century, approximately 50 per cent of slaves were traded in British ships, destined for most overseas colonies] slaves to: Barbados, Jamaica, and Nevis, as well as St. Kitts, Montserrat, Antigua, and British North America (Virginia, Maryland) "nothing can make colonies thrive but the cheapness of labour, and this is as certain [that] negroes are the only labourious people to be depended on..." Although the English did not begin the slave trade, it did achieve pre-eminence in the trade by the late seventeenth century due to a wide variety of factors. England's population in the seventeenth century was characterised by a strong national government, a growing population, thriving rural industry, maritime superiority, a wage economy in both town and country, and established financial institutions. However, there was also growing poverty, which resulted in a labour population willing to move in order to find work. In the early seventeenth century, some of this mobile population migrated to the New World in search of greater opportunity. As well, English society and economy was, perhaps, the most dynamic in Europe, a fact which was important to its rise as the major slave-trading nation. It also had a large merchant class that had considerable influence in British society. England had actually traded with Africa for about one hundred years before it began to systematically trade in slaves. In 1562, John Hawkins, an English adventurer and agent of the Crown, captured three hundred African slaves and sold them in Hispaniola. He conducted two more such ventures, but after his last in 1567, interest in the trade temporarily diminished. Knowledge about the slave trade is relatively scarce until 1561, when the reconstituted Guinea Company began trading in slaves, and by the end of the decade England had begun to compete with the Dutch. Britain's first colonial holding was the island of St. Christopher, settled in 1624, closely followed by Barbados, which was settled in 1627 and began producing sugar in the 1640s. England began using African labour almost exclusively during this period, when indentured white English, Scottish, and Irish labour proved too costly to maintain and once freed, these workers often sought land of their own to cultivate. By the 1630s, England had achieved supremacy in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, but it wasn't until the 1670s that it was to gain economic ascendancy in the global empire, a status that it was to maintain until the slave trade's abolition in 1807. The 1663 charter of the Company of Royal Adventurers has the first mention of an English company having as its aim the acquisition of slaves. The Company enjoyed a monopoly of trade, conferred by the Crown, and many members of the royal family were shareholders. Although this company was successful at its inception, by the end of the Dutch War in 1667 it was floundering financially and gave up its charter in 1672 in favour of the newly created Royal African Company. For the next twenty years this new company conducted a vigorous trade from London, and it was backed by more merchants than royalty. From 1680 to the outbreak of the War of the League of Augsburg in 1689, the Company exported its greatest number of Africans, delivered mainly to the British West Indies. After the end of the War of the League of Augsburg in 1698, the Royal African Company was in grave financial trouble, so the Crown opened the west African trade to English subjects, requiring them to pay a ten per cent duty on all exports to Africa. By 1711, private merchants had taken over and expanded the trade, and the Company itself remained a small participant until its dissolution in the 1750s. A much more loosely regulated company for the upkeep of African forts, controlled by a committee of nine, was subsequently formed, and was the culmination of an effective English system for conducting the slave trade. One of the factors which contributed to this supremacy was the late seventeenth century development of plantations; tobacco in Virginia and, more importantly, sugar in Jamaica, which had been taken from the Spaniards in 1655. This island proved immensely profitable for the English, and was the principle destination for slaves. The introduction of coffee to the island in the late eighteenth century also increased the island’s productivity. Between 1788 and 1806 the island’s slave population rose by one-quarter, and its coffee exports multiplied 29 times. The island also became an active centre for the re-export of slaves to other areas of the Americas. In the 1680's, Spanish colonists would come to Jamaica to purchase slaves. Although trade between England and Spain was technically illegal, the fact that it benefited both countries ensured that it received often open support from the officials of both countries. The English managed to obtain the asiento from the Spanish with the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, giving the English (more specifically, to the South Sea Company, formed in 1711) the sole right to supply the Spanish Americas with slaves for thirty years. Between 1713 and 1748, however, the asiento was suspended no less than three times due to Spanish-English wars, and was finally lost in 1750. First London, then Bristol and later
Liverpool were the central shipping ports for slaving
vessels returning from the Americas, although all were
important centres throughout the slave trade. London was the
centre of both the abolition and anti-abolition movements,
the debate beginning in the late 1770s for a variety of
reasons which will be discussed later. Until the abolition
of the slave trade in England in 1807, the issue would
affect perceptions and ideas about the slave trade and its
value in English society. It is true, however, that early
efforts to halt the slave trade were met with fierce
resistance from merchants and slavers, and the trade
actually boomed into the 1820s and 30s before anti-slavery
laws were more effectively enforced. Thereafter English
ships became the self-proclaimed policemen of the seas,
confiscating the slave cargoes from other ships and trying
to ensure that the trans-Atlantic slave trade had been
stopped. Although the English had prohibited the slave trade
in 1807, it wasn't until the 1830s that all slaves were
freed in the British empire.
1776 - 1865 Slaves had been a profitable commodity for the British colonists in North America, and independence from Britain in 1776 did not alter the new country’s need for the labour of slaves. Up to that point, the colonies in North America had been supplied with slaves from various European nations, especially the English and the Dutch. The North American colonies received their first slaves in 1619, although the use of indentured white labour and the slow growth of the plantation system in the South resulted in few slaves being imported until the eighteenth century, and those that were imported came mostly from the resale of slaves from the West Indies and not directly from Africa. The introduction in the 1680s of rice and indigo in South Carolina and tobacco in Virginia meant a swift transformation from subsistence farming to a wealthy plantation economy dependent on the labour of slaves. Africans were an important factor in the production of rice in the New World in general, as they often had a greater knowledge about the crop's cultivation than their European owners. The use of slaves also increased in the northern colonies in the eighteenth century, with Rhode Island becoming a significant player in the North American trade. The northern colonies also produced a great quantity of rum, which was exchanged for slaves in Africa. The American Revolution (1776-1783) seriously disrupted the flow of slaves to the colonies. British ships would seize American ships, and English merchants who had supplied slaves to the North American colonists changed their destinations and sold to other buyers. For almost eight years no new labour was imported, and Americans strove to fill the gap. Although prohibitory laws were passed by many of the newly independent states in response to growing public condemnation of the trade, they were difficult to enforce and merchants, ship owners, and planters continued the trade by seeking new markets or through smuggling. Although the northern states had abolished slavery within their own borders, the slave trade flourished, especially in the expanding Southern cotton economy. The abolition of the trade in England in 1807 greatly influenced the Americans, who passed similar laws within days of the English decision. The American government, however, did not have the naval strength to adequately enforce the ban, and the development of the cotton gin over a decade earlier stimulated the Southern cotton economy, making slaves even more essential in supplying a voracious English market. Although the slave trade had been technically abolished, the use of slaves continued unabated, and illegal importation into the Southern colonies continued until the 1860s. Private critics of slavery, along with various church groups, attempted to mitigate the effects of the slave trade by establishing a colony for rescued slaves on the shores of West Africa, which became known as Liberia and which reportedly received over 50,000 recaptured slaves from slaving ships.  Awareness of the illegal trade was heightened by the capture of the Amistad in 1839. African slaves on board the Spanish ship revolted, killing all the crew but two. The ship was captured off the American coast, where the Spanish insisted that the slaves had not been brought across the Atlantic in defiance of their agreement to end the slave trade. The Africans, however, insisted that they had been kidnapped in Africa, and should, therefore, be returned. The resulting series of trials, which went all the way to the Supreme Court and involved ex-president Adams speaking in defence of the Africans, brought the debate over slavery into the forefront of popular knowledge. The American Civil War (1861-65) finally put an end to the slave trade when the Northern states defeated the secessionist South, emancipating all Southern slaves. Interestingly, however, one slave recounted: "Guess I was about fifteen years old when massa come back from the fighting, mean as ever. Never did say nothing about the war and I didn't know if it's over or not. But one day Massa Bob, his son, was switchin' me in the woods playful-like and he say, 'Why don't you strike me back, Mici? You's free. That's what the war was for, to free the niggers.' [...] I run across the fields to some colored folks about six miles away. [...] They told me that was right. I been free more than a year."
Because European merchants were vulnerable on land, they learned to respect the African ruler and trader of the area in which they hoped to acquire slaves. The Africans, for their part, made sure they retained the upper hand, acting as middlemen in the trade for various goods, taxing European merchants, and attacking Europeans if they tried to venture beyond the perimeters of their coastal forts. Diseases such as malaria and yellow fever also threatened the Europeans, the toll being so severe in places that European sailors had rhymes warning of the dangers of venturing inland. A Dutch official commented in 1700 that, while many Europeans assumed the Europeans had control of the African trade, and had direct access to the gold mines and treasures of the African continent, "we have no means of getting to these treasures, nor do I believe that any of our people have ever seen a single one of these mines." In spite of the fact that slaving ventures were often conducted from the ship, the effects of the trade had vast repercussions for African kingdoms, both on the coast and further inland.  Although the slave trade was, in general terms, disastrous for the peoples of Africa, certain sectors of society prospered from trade with the Europeans. Kings and merchants from coastal villages that were used as ports by European vessels generally prospered due to the vast increase in their trade, although these benefits were not long-term. The small kingdoms of Ardrah and Whydah, for example, were adept at dealing with European merchants, fixing prices on trade goods and making the Europeans pay taxes. However, these kingdoms had a tendency to launch military offensives into the distant countryside when buying slaves from neighboring kingdoms proved insufficient to meet European demand. These offensives resulted in the defensive consolidation of the inland Fon peoples. Under the rule of Agaja, the kingdom of Dahomey successfully attacked the coast in order to stop the depredations of coastal slavers and to gain better access to the sea trade. The Fon people won complete control of the coast in 1740, and they managed to maintain it for 150 years, in spite of repeated efforts from Whydah and various European captains and agents to regain control. Along the Loango coast, the effects of the European slave trade were more subtle, altering political, social, and economic conditions. This trade resulted in, for example, the decline of the Loango kingdom and the rise of Kakongo and Ngoyo, two kingdoms that exported more slaves. The huge wealth generated by local merchants ultimately fragmented central authority. More generally, the growth in the reliance on European manufactured goods, especially firearms, meant that any individual ruler's desire to halt the trade was often mitigated by the opportunity for profit, or the need for arms to protect or expand their kingdoms. Even Eastern Africa and the island of Madagascar were affected by the trade, although the longer voyage and higher cargo mortality prevented the area from engaging heavily in the trade. Because European buyers had preferences for the African slaves they were buying, which varied from nation to nation and changed over time. Certain areas of the coast, however, were generally more popular than others. For example, slaves from the Gold Coast, from the Windward Coast to Whydah, were almost universally valued. An Antigua planter remarked in 1701 that slaves from this region were "not only the best and most faithful of our slaves, but are really all born Heroes". Conversely, slaves from Angola were considered "lazy, and consequently, not so able to endure Work and Fatigue." Although the slave trade was profitable for certain rulers and merchants, the long-term economic effects were catastrophic. The Gold Coast had been a popular destination for European traders since the fifteenth century because of its gold mines. By the eighteenth century, however, Europeans were more interested in exporting slaves. Since slaving was more profitable on an individual level, the gold mines fell into decline and the source of money became external rather than domestic. The political economy on the Gold Coast shifted from an urban-based, artisanal economy to a system of much more dispersed settlement. The ratio of men to women was also affected by the slave trade, subtly altering social and cultural situations. In the era of the slave trade there was a shortage of marriageable men in West Africa, and as a result those men who remained could take multiple wives and marry at a younger age. Kings and merchants could establish large harems, which further diminished the institution of marriage. In smaller villages that suffered a shortage of males, women were pushed into new areas of work. In areas where women participated in agriculture, for example, their role expanded to almost total domination of agricultural labour. In areas where women were less involved in agricultural production, such as the Aja people of the Bight of Benin, women participated to a greater degree in commerce as a result of a shortage of men. It is important to realise that although the rise and fall of coastal kingdoms was often greatly affected by the European trans-Atlantic slave trade, it did not lead to total political upheaval in Africa. The kingdoms of Akwamu, Asante, and Oyo, for example, were flourishing long before the arrival of the Portuguese, and Asante and Oyo continued to dominate the political landscape of Western Africa throughout the slave trade. The kingdom of Benin was centralized and powerful enough that it could withdraw from the slave trade with relative impunity. It is also important to note that, similar to any other state, trade was just one aspect of African society. Trade with the Islamic world had led to cultural benefits, such as literacy in Arabic, as well as complex trading routes across the Sahara, which were considered by many African rulers to be even more important than the European trade during the early periods of the slave trade. Literate Muslim Africans were employed in the administration of the Asante kingdom near the Gold Coast because of a lack of Africans trained by Europeans in this capacity. After the abolition of slavery in Europe, merchants began trading with Africa for its natural resources, while at the same time using the continent as a larger market for their manufactured goods. Missionary zeal, too, became an important export to West Africa in an attempt to stop the practice of slavery through the indoctrination of Christian values and the conversion of Africans. In this sphere, ‘humanitarians’ from Europe had to compete with jihads, or those Africans seeking to spread the Muslim faith. African rule in Africa was severely compromised, however, with the division of the continent by European powers beginning with the Berlin Conference of 1885. Thereafter, a long and convoluted process of direct European colonisation of Africa was instituted, resulting in yet another era of bloodshed and warfare. |
Because the Dutch
had only a small base on the Gold Coast, acquired in 1612,
their initial involvement in the slave trade was limited.
However, the conquest of Northern Brazil in 1630 and the
capture of El Mina on the west coast of Africa in 1637
(which was aided by local Africans dissatisfied with the
Portuguese), marked a turning point in Dutch involvement in
the slave trade. Although the Dutch did not initially import
large numbers of slaves into their Brazilian holdings in the
north-east, between 1636 and 1645, 94 per cent of the slaves to
enter New Holland, the name of the Dutch territory in
Brazil, were imported. In 1638 the governor of New Holland
remarked that "It is not possible to accomplish anything in
Brazil without slaves.” The Dutch actually achieved
pre-eminence in the slave trade in the early 1640's, due to
the massive importation of slaves into Brazil. The Dutch
held their territories in Brazil until a 1645 rebellion of
Portuguese inhabitants resulted in the loss of all territory
except the city of Recife, which was itself surrendered in
1654.
Contrary to popular
belief, the Europeans did not introduce slavery to Africa,
as slavery had existed in numerous forms on the continent
long before the arrival of European explorers. Indigenous
slavery between Africans, however, was not of the same sort
or scale as that which developed through European
involvement. In Africa, disease, famine, lack of good water
supplies, and a poor diet were obstacles to population
growth. As a result, most of the region remained
under-populated. Since population densities were low in most
of Western Africa, land was plentiful and its accumulation
did not necessarily increase one’s status. Instead,
acquiring labour for maximum cultivation became a way to
increase wealth and social standing. One way to ensure the
existence of a labour force was to have many wives and
children. A second was to acquire slaves. For example, the
Tofin fishermen of Benin would purchase adult female slaves
who they would then adopt as wives with full rights within
the society. Captives of war and criminals could also become
slaves, however slavery was not based on colour or
ethnicity, and the labour they performed was not always
degrading or menial. As well, children of these slaves were
not automatically slaves themselves, and slaves often had
certain legal rights. When Europeans arrived intending to
engage in trade, therefore, they found African partners who,
with a tradition of holding slaves, were more than willing
to trade slaves and other commodities in return for European
finished goods. The European slave trade ensured an
expansion of already present coastal trading routes.
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