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For two hundred years, 1440-1640, Portugal had a monopoly on the export of
slaves from Africa. It is notable that they were also the last European country
to abolish the institution - although, like France, it still continued to work
former slaves as contract labourers, which they called libertos or engagés
à temps. It is estimated that during the 4 1/2 centuries of the
trans-Atlantic slave trade, Portugal was responsible for transporting over 4.5
million Africans (roughly 40% of the total). During the eighteenth century
however, when the slave trade accounted for the transport of a staggering 6
million Africans, Britain was the worst transgressor - responsible for almost
2.5 million. (A fact often forgotten by those who regularly cite Britain's prime
role in the abolition of the slave trade.)
The triangular trade
Expanding European empires in the New World lacked one major resource -- a
work force. In most cases the indigenous peoples had proved unreliable (most of
them were dying from diseases brought over from Europe), and Europeans were
unsuited to the climate and suffered under tropical diseases. Africans, on the
other hand, were excellent workers: they often had experience of agriculture and
keeping cattle, they were used to a tropical climate, resistant to tropical
diseases, and they could be "worked very hard" on plantations or in
mines.
Africans had been traded as slaves for centuries -- reaching Europe via the
Islamic-run, trans-Saharan, trade routes. Slaves obtained from the Muslim
dominated North African coast however proved to be too well educated to be
trusted and had a tendency to rebellion.
Between 1450 and the end of the nineteenth century, slaves were obtained from
along the west coast of Africa with the full and active co-operation of African
kings and merchants. (There were occasional military campaigns organised by
Europeans to capture slaves, especially by the Portuguese in what is now Angola,
but this accounts for only a small percentage of the total.) In return, the
African kings and merchants received various trade goods including beads, cowrie
shells (used as money), textiles, brandy, horses, and perhaps most importantly,
guns. The guns were used to help expand empires and obtain more slaves, until
they were finally used against the European colonisers. The export of trade
goods from Europe to Africa forms the first side of the triangular trade.
Trans-Atlantic
exports by region
1650-1900 |
| Region |
Number of slaves
accounted for |
|
% |
|
| Senegambia |
479,900 |
|
4.7 |
| Upper Guinea |
411,200 |
|
4.0 |
| Windward Coast |
183,200 |
|
1.8 |
| Gold Coast |
1,035,600 |
|
10.1 |
| Blight of Benin |
2,016,200 |
|
19.7 |
| Blight of Biafra |
1,463,700 |
|
14.3 |
| West Central |
4,179,500 |
|
40.8 |
| South East |
470,900 |
|
4.6 |
|
| Total |
10,240,200 |
|
100.0 |
|
Data derived from tables 1.1, 3.2,
3.4, 4.1 and 7.4
as presented in:
Transformations in Slavery
by Paul E. Lovejoy
Cambridge University Press, 2000,
ISBN 0-521-78430-1 |
|
The transport of slaves from Africa to the Americas forms the middle
passage of the triangular trade. Several distinct regions can be identified
along the west African coast, these are distinguished by the particular European
countries who visited the slave ports, the peoples who were enslaved, and the
dominant African society(s) who provided the slaves.
So, for example, Senegambia includes the Wolof, Mandinka, Sereer and Fula;
Upper Gambia has the Temne, Mende, and Kissi; the Wndward Coast has the Vai, De,
Bassa, and Grebo. (A forthcoming article will look in more detail at the people
and kingdoms involved in the slave trade.)
Slaves were introduced to new diseases and suffered from malnutrition long
before they reached the new world. It is suggested that the majority of deaths
on the voyage across the Atlantic - the middle passage - occurred during
the first couple of weeks and were a result of malnutrition and disease
encountered during the forced marches and subsequent interment at slave camps on
the coast.
Conditions on the slave ships were terrible, but the estimated death rate of
around 13% is lower than the mortality rate for seamen, officers and passengers
on the same voyages. (Again, a forthcoming article will discuss 'mortality rates
of the trans-Atlantic slave trade'.)
Trans-Atlantic
imports by region
1450-1900 |
| Region |
Number of slaves
accounted for |
|
% |
|
| Brazil |
4,000,000 |
|
35.4 |
| Spanish Empire |
2,500,000 |
|
22.1 |
| British West Indies |
2,000,000 |
|
17.7 |
| French West Indies |
1,600,00 |
|
14.1 |
| British North America and United States |
500,000 |
|
4.4 |
| Dutch West Indies |
500,000 |
|
4.4 |
| Danish West Indies |
28,000 |
|
0.2 |
| Europe (and Islands) |
200,000 |
|
1.8 |
|
| Total |
11,328,000 |
|
100.0 |
|
Data derived from table II as
presented in:
The Slave Trade
by Hugh Thomas
Simon and Schuster, 1997,
ISBN 0-68481063-8 |
|
As a result of the slave trade, five times as many Africans arrived in the
Americas than Europeans. Slaves were needed on plantations and for mines and the
majority was shipped to Brazil, the Caribbean, and the Spanish Empire. Less than
5% travelled to the Northern American States formally held by the British.
The third, and final, leg of the triangular trade involved the return to
Europe with the produce from the slave-labour plantations: cotton, sugar,
tobacco, molasses and rum.
The statistics presented in this article are derived from various tables
published in the following books:
Transformations
in Slavery by Paul E. Lovejoy, Cambridge University Press, 2000,
ISBN 0-521-78430-1, 367 pages.
The Slave Trade by Hugh Thomas, Simon and Schuster, 1997, ISBN
0-68481063-8, 908 pages.
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