Worlds entangled:Africa and Atlantic Worlds

“…They resemble us, but in appearance are the colour of pumpkin-porridge… .They are rude of manners and without any graces or refinement.”

• organized, dynamic societies dynamic prior to arrival of Europeans• respond to Europeans in a variety of ways

accommodationadoption/adaptationresistance

• societies, cultures, economies stressed

Mercantilismchanging the worldyour goods, your ships, your ports

In Europe:new commercial class of people rethinking governance

Abroad: they are moving goodspeoplemoney

they have to make ‘sense’ of what they are doing

they are responded to in a variety of ways

The Triangular TradeThe scale: 12 men in 1441

1460s - 500 slaves py1520 - 2,000 py17C – 20 000 py18C – 80 000 py

1. European manufactured goods (esp. firearms) sent to Africa

2. African slaves purchased and sent to Americas3. Cash crops purchased in Americas and returned

to Europe

Five minutes

Names of five people

Foundation and Nature of the Slave Trade• all societies have had slaves:

• practice of slaving in the continent dates to antiquity• war captives • criminals • people expelled from clans• indebted; kidnappings

• qualitatively distinct from Asian, European slavery• no private property • therefore wealth defined by human labor potential, not

land• slaves often assimilated into owner’s clan• non-permanent status: slave in society, not slave

society

Characterizing contact with early-modern Europe

Swahili decline in East Africa• Vasco da Gama • Kilwa forced to pay tribute • by 1505 Portuguese gunships dominated

Swahili portsKingdom of Kongo

• contact beginning 1483• King Nzinga Mbemba (Alfonso I) • Christian convert

• trade• local power relations

Slave Raiding in KongoPortuguese perspective:• Portuguese attempt raiding themselves• weapons trade• dealt with authorities outside Kongo• destabilize regional relations

Perspective on the ground• Kongo king appealed to slow trade• relations deteriorate, Portuguese attack Kongo • improved slave market develops in the south

Outside Kongo“equal with Portugal on her death”The Kingdom of Ndongo (Angola)• Ndongo gains wealth and independence from Kongo • resists Portuguese control• Queen Nzinga (r. 1623-1663)

Strategies of resistance:• alliance with Dutch • decline of Ndongo power after her death

• connectedness

• armed resistance

Horrific Social/Political ImpactOn African regions: variable

resist Rwanda, Bugunda, Masai,

benefit Dahomey, Oyo, Asante peoples

increased violence in existing regional conflicts

Horrific Social/Political Impact

total pop. grows due to crops like manioc or casava but

deplete regional populations distorted sex ratios result

increased polygamy ♀ acting in traditionally

♂ roles

ethnocentrism in modern

contact

The Middle Passage Africa → → Americas

Historical amnesia and memory:• ‘new’ histories – 1960s

• i.e. Teaching industrial revolution

• pop. histories ‘Roots’Amistad (Spielberg;

1997)

The Resisting Violence Project presents:

A panel discussion on sexual violence in our

community.

With four speakers from different backgrounds and different experiences with the topic, this event aims to raise awareness about sexual violence and what

can be done to end it.

Thursday 15 November, 7pm

Schwartz 156

The Middle Passage

The middle passage• mortality high –

between 25% and 30% died • be careful, not a numbers game

While watching1. note Portuguese systems of control2. note all the varied

modes of resistance

Britons understanding their involvement in slaving Olaudah Equiano

b. Essaka, Nigeria, 1745captured at 11; shipped to Barbados and then Virginiaowned by: tobacco plantation owner

a lieutenant in the English navy (fought against French)

shipwrightsaved £40 to buy his own freedom (1768)1787 involved in government provisioning

of Sierra Leone published ‘Narrative of a Life’m. in Britain with two daughtersd. 1797 he says this is wrong and we can change it

Rethinking slaving Wedgewood

1. Evangelicals and reformpolitical outsiders; barred from educationindustrialists linked (1st policy groups)imperative to act on faith and change this

worldClapham Sect

2. Legal reformLord Mansfield - Somersett Case (1772) habeus corpuscase of the ‘Zong’ (1781)

3. Parliament1807ban on importation of slaves1833Slavery Abolition Act HUGE debate –

why??

Sierra Leonea Nova Scotia connection• efforts of British philanthropists and missionaries• Granville Sharpe (1787) – society to find place

in Africa to settle freed slaves• Why? large, volatile communities in Liverpool, Nova

Scotiaand, introduce ‘civilized’, Christian blacks

as models for the rest of Africa

• by 1800 fractious – no clear leadership nor stability – British role i.e. SPCK in Canada, not for black settlersBritish administeredbut, center for trade and evangelical activity

*** Read: Lawrence Hill, the Book of Negros***

End of the Slave TradeAbolition: Denmark 1803

Great Britain 1807 United States 1808 France 1814 Netherlands 1817 Spain 1845

In places, possession of slaves remained legal – and clandestine trade continued to at least 1867

Emancipation: British colonies 1833 French 1848 U.S. 1865 Brazil 1888Saudi Arabia/Angola 1960s

Social and Political Impact

In Britain: women started to be respectable radicalsincreased popular participation in public lifegender mattered in defining ‘civilization’

but also: ethnocentrism

And finally: History: understand why vs. Journalism: judge the past

Instead, change the present recognize/acknowledge your privilege

buy ethical chocolate/CLEAN clothes

“Slavery is fundamentally a means of denying outsiders the rights and privileges of a particular society so that they can be exploited for economic, political and/or social purposes”

British start to re-think slaving

John Newton (1733-1807)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxgO94XLFbo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_tb2KKjUpM