Africa+in+the+Atlantic+Slave+trade

﻿__THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE__

MI: The arrival of the Portugues into the African coast, marked the beginning of the contact with that continent, and the era of the slave trade began. MI: In order to supply the high demands for slaves, especially in the New World, Africans were enslaved from all over the continent. MI: The slave trade had great impact on African demographics, as well as in the New World. MI: As the demand for slaves increased in colonies by other European nations, competition to control the Atlantic Slave trade emerged and led to the systematic organization of the trade to held the major control. __ AFRICAN SOCIEITIES, SLAVERY, AND THE SLAVE TRADE __ MI: the slave trade played a key role in the social and political development of the African continent. The slave trade also allowed the emerging of powerful states based on it, and had long term effects on states where slave trade was not that common.   When the Europeans arrived in Africa, the Muslim trans-Sahara and Red Sea trades already were established.   African societies had developed many forms of servitude, varying from peasant status to slavery, in which slaves were considered things.   The Atlantic trade opened up new opportunities for expansion and intensification of slavery in societies such as Benin and Congo.   Women enslavement was a key feature of African societies. The excess of women led to polygamy.   The existence of slavery allowed the Europeans to mobilize quicker as they tapped existing routes.   Alliances of Europeans with the African rulers ensured a supply of slaves in exchange for fancy luxury items.   Expanding, centralizing states often were the major slaves suppliers. MI: the slave trade and as the European commerce penetrated the continent, African politics were transformed.   The constant demand from the Europeans intensified enslavement in Africa.   An instability situation emerged as the small and fragmented states were competing and warfare while trying to expand and to subject neighbor provinces.   The warfare promoted the importance of the military and made the sale of captives into the slave trade an extension of the politics of regions of Africa.   A direct result of European presence on the coast was a shift in the locus of power within Africa.   The introduction and access to European goods, certain African kingdoms redirected trade toward the coast and to expand their influence. MI: As the slave trade arose and was key in relationships between Africans and Europeans, different states emerged and were influenced differently.   Several large states developed in West Africa during this era, each representing a response to the realities of the European presence and the process of state formation. <span style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">  West Africa was obviously the region most directly influenced by the trans-Atlantic slave trade. MI: In the south of Africa, white European settlers ignited conflict with Africans. <span style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">  The south of Africa was the one area little affected by the slave trade.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; overflow: hidden;">The Portuguese were the first Europeans to establish contact with Africa.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; overflow: hidden;">Established factories: forts and trading posts with resident merchants.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; overflow: hidden;">Africans acquired goods from the Portuguese, who provided the rulers with slaves brought from other stretches of the coast.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; overflow: hidden;">Trade was the basis of Portuguese relations, that led to political, religious and social relations as well.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; overflow: hidden;">The foundation of Luanda in the 1520's, became the base for the colony of Angola.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; overflow: hidden;">The pattern established by the Portuguese, was soon followed by the English, Dutch and French.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; overflow: hidden;">Portugal's interest was gold, pepper and most importantly the slave trade.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; overflow: hidden;">The slave trade was given its importance as soon as the plantation colonies were established in the New World.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; overflow: hidden;">Just betwwen 1450 and 1850, more than 12 million African were transported from Africa to the New World.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; overflow: hidden;">The high volume of slaves trades was necessary to supply the slave owners, since mostly men were imported, the fertility was low, and the mortality was very high.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; overflow: hidden;">The slave trade focused mostly on men, because of the work they were destined to.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; overflow: hidden;">Not only Europeans were exporting African slaves. Some parts of the continent were still under the control of the Muslims, who continued the slave trade.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; overflow: hidden;">The Majority of slaves were exported from Senegambia, central Africa, Dahomey and Benin.
 * The trade carried out by the Muslims, was concentrated on women, to be used as concubines and domestic servants. The Atlantic slave trade, however, was focused on men.
 * African societies preferred to sell men to hold women and children as domestic slaves.
 * African population was reduced to half.
 * The slave trade also allowed Africa to be introduced to new crops from the New World, such as corn and manioc.
 * The Dutch were the major competitors for the Portuguese, when they took over El Mina in 1637.
 * English colonies such as Barbados and Virginia were in need for a supply of slaves, so the Royal African Company was established for that purpose.
 * Each nation established merchant towns from which captives could be obtained.
 * These establishments led to death of those Europeans as well.
 * An economic system was established, as Europeans often dealt with local rulers, paying taxes of offering gifts. Currencies were introduced.
 * Slaves were captured and brought to the ports by different means, including military campaigns of purchases at interior trade centers.
 * The slave trade played a key role in the rise of capitalism, because of the profits obtained.
 * A triangular trade existed: slaves were brought to the New World, the goods produced were then carried to Europe, and European products were brought to Africa.
 * The Slave trade surely helped the growth of European economies, while weakening African economy and making it depend on Europe and to suppress the development of other industries.

__ THE AFRICAN DIASPORA __ MI: The process of bringing the slaves into American land, the Middle Passage, brought in contact millions of Africans with colonists. They were able to blend their culture with American influences. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">  The slave trade was the means by which the history of the Americas and Africa linked. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">  For the slaves, slavery meant the destruction of their villages or their capture in war. Conditions were deadly. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">  The Middle Passage was the slave voyage to the Americas. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">  Africans retained their languages, beliefs, artistic traditions and memories of their past. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">  The slaves were mainly brought to work on the plantations and mines. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">  Slaves worked sometimes as artisans, street vendor, and household servants. MI: Even though in colonial society slaves were at the bottom of the social pyramid, among the slave society it existed certain hierarchy. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">  Distinctions were made between African-born slaves, or saltwater slaves, and their American-born descendants, the Creole slaves, who were given more opportunities to acquire skilled jobs or to work as servants rather than in the fields or mines. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">  Color and race played a role in American slavery. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">  The slave populations made up a vast majority of American societies. MI: African slaves had to adapt and to incorporate other African peoples’ ideas and customs ino their own lives. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">  Religion was a major example of continuity and adaptation. Even though slaves were converted to Christianity, they incorporated some of their own cultural features. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">  The cruelty of the Middle passage and the hard live they had in American land, led to revolts and resistance, leading to independence and the birth of abolitionist movements. MI: The end of the slave trade and the abolition of slavery resulted from economic, political and religious changes in Europe and its colonies. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · The changes experienced in Europe were result of the Enlightenment, age of revolution Christian revivalism and perhaps the Industrial Revolution. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · As African societies started exporting other products such as cotton, peanuts and palm oil, the dependence on the slave trade decreased. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · The slave trade was seen as backward and immoral. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · Britain was the first in abolishing slavery in 1807. Countries such as Spain and Portugal were pressured to suppress the trade as well. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · In American colonies, the full end of slavery did not occur until 1888, when it was abolished in Brazil.