Category: Slave Trade

In 1807, the British government passed an Act of Parliament abolishing the slave trade throughout the British Empire. Slavery itself would persist in the British colonies until its final abolition in 1838. However, abolitionists would continue campaigning against the international trade of slaves after this date.

The slave trade refers to the transatlantic trading patterns which were established as early as the mid-17th century. Trading ships would set sail from Europe with a cargo of manufactured goods to the west coast of Africa. There, these goods would be traded, over weeks and months, for captured people provided by African traders. European traders found it easier to do business with African intermediaries who raided settlements far away from the African coast and brought those young and healthy enough to the coast to be sold into slavery.

Once full, the European trader’s ship would depart for the Americas or the Caribbean on the notorious ‘Middle Passage’. During this voyage, the slaves would be kept in the ship’s hold, crammed close together with little or no space to move. Conditions were squalid and many people did not survive the voyage. On the final leg of the transatlantic route, European ships returned home with cargoes of sugar, rum, tobacco and other ‘luxury’ items. It has been estimated that, by the 1790s, 480,000 people were enslaved in the British Colonies.

The majority of those sold into slavery were destined to work on plantations in the Caribbean and the Americas, where huge areas of the American continent had been colonized by European countries. These plantations produced products such as sugar or tobacco, meant for consumption back in Europe.

Those who supported the slave trade argued that it made important contributions to the country’s economy and to the rise of consumerism in Britain. Despite this, towards the end of the eighteenth century, people began to campaign against slavery. However, since trading was so profitable for those involved, the ‘Abolitionists’ (those who campaigned for the abolition of the slave trade) were fiercely opposed by a pro-slavery West Indian lobby. Those who still supported slavery used persuasive arguments, or ‘propaganda’, to indicate the necessity of the slave trade though the abolitionists also used propaganda to further their cause.

The role of many slaves themselves in bringing slavery to an end is often overlooked. Resistance among slaves in the Caribbean was not uncommon. Indeed, slaves in the French colony of St Domingue seized control of the island and it was eventually declared to be the republic of Haiti. Figures such as Olaudah Equiano and Mary Prince, by adding their eye witness accounts to abolitionist literature, also made a major contribution to the abolition campaign.

At one point in history, most of the United States was known as a place where the bondage of African slaves was a very common thing. Gradually, all states where slavery prevailed let go of such a heinous act by allowing those whose ancestors were taken from their motherlands and forced into bondage were free, released of the pain carried on the literal backs of their families for generations.

The beginning of slavery, the slavery of antiquity, was not based upon a certain race or even religious grounds. These captives were either taken in war or even as a promise of debt repayment. Even though each state in the United States had its own opinion on slavery and how slaves should be treated, the earliest account of slavery in Maryland is recorded in the year 1642, when Governor Calvert was dealing with a shipmaster for the delivery of thirteen slaves to St. Marys. Also, “Maryland was settled early; becoming a Border state, its slave property became less secure; the number of slaves remained large, while the number of free blacks became more numerous than any other slave state”.

The citizens and slaveholders of Maryland changed their views of human bondage after some time. In fact, “Revolutionary men and women were reconsidering the meaning of “freedom” and “liberty” against slavery, and the evangelical sectarians such as methodists and protestants joined the Quakers cause to challenge slavery.” This consideration of both freedom and liberty in regards to those enslaved led the Quakers to prohibit members of the Society of Friends from owning any slaves, “which created a gradual manumission procedure for those who owned enslaved men and women”. Besides, the Quakers petitioned the Maryland General Assembly to restrict the slave trade, pushed for the restriction of the slave trade, and even helped fugitive slaves via the underground railroad to free northern territories.

Even though many slaves escaped to free northern territories, other slaves in Maryland “found that their contractors often cared less than their masters about their well-being”.

Even though “in 1790 Maryland already had the second largest free black population in the country and by 1810 had achieved first rank, which it retained until the final abolition of slavery throughout the country”, Maryland became an official free state in November of 1864. Even though “there were still Southern sympathizers who refused which continued a racial struggle in Maryland and the rest of the nation”, the state of Maryland and some citizens held up the rights of those who had granted their freedom. In fact, “anyone who denied or interfered with the rights granted to the former slaves would be charged with a misdemeanor and face a possible fine of $1,000 or a yearlong imprisonment.”

In conclusion, slavery in the United States will always be remembered, it brings comfort to know that even though many citizens in Maryland had slaves the majority of slave owners respected the welfare of slaves. The numbers of free African Americans showed that even though “to many southerners, the amendments were seen as an act of revenge by declaring the enslaved free and giving them certain rights and there were many who found ways of denying free blacks those rights”, the majority of Maryland certainly thought that slavery was heinous and a person, no matter where they are from nor what their background is, should have the right to live as they chose.

The importance of tropical crops

With rising population and urban movement, associated with factory production system, there was increased need in agricultural production. ‘Although British agricultural output was rising, still, there was need for imports. “While population more than tripled in the course of the Industrial Revolution, domestic agricultural output did not even double” (Clark, 2007, p. 247). These imports, however, needed to be paid by exporting manufactured goods. It turned Britain into “the workshop of the world”. Moreover, West Indies were well-suited for the production of expensive crops, like coffee, tobacco, cotton, and most importantly – sugar, which occupied 70% of slave labour. As a result of increased profits from sugar and tobacco trade in the 18th century, export patterns changed dramatically. The share of manufacturers in the exports to the Atlantic economy rose significantly in the 1700s. While in 1700, 80% of Britain’s trade relationships were with other parts of Europe, by 1800, America and Africa had captured 60% of its trade, in which three major ports of Glasgow, Liverpool and Bristol played a significant role.

Slave trade was one of the reasons for the growth of Atlantic ports, but the fact that they were involved with Atlantic economy played equally significant role. A question arises, what if there was no Atlantic slave trade? It would not stop the trade, because Britain was the source of colonial imports (because of regulations), however, without slaves, there would not have been a cheap workforce in the colonies for a very long time, and British exports to the America would have grown much more slowly.

The role of the trade in navigation

The Royal Navy and United kingdom’s merchant navy’s have benefited from slave trade, which supported their growth. The period of conflict for control of colonies was important for the Royal Navy’s growth. Despite the fact that Britain was dominating the Caribbean, the Navy still was not capable of protecting colonies and British sea transportation alone, it still needed help.

The Atlantic economy in 1700s

Trade in slaves and plantation crops and rising exports to American and Caribbean colonies contributed to the growth of sea transportation. According to Navigation Acts rules, which were used for overseas trade, only British ships, run by British seamen should have been used in commodity trade between British and European ports. With the newly introduced laws, British shipping companies took a lead over foreign ones: Import of sugar to North America was prohibited by the Molasses Act (1733) and British had the right to transport goods directly to Europe by the Direct Export Act (1739). This helped in building trading links between Europe, Africa and America. The triangular trade route was the most famous:

• slaves were exchanged for the British goods (like guns or brandy)
• slaves were then sold in the North America and West indies.
• Sugar, tobacco and some other commodities were shipped to Britain for sale.

Slave trade supplied experienced crews to the British merchants and the Royal Navy. However, the diseases caused the high death rate, turning slave trade into a graveyard for seamen.

Manufacturing

Industrial revolution is described by many historians not as an event, but as a process. The role of exports can be shown in the following picture:

BBC. Slave Trade and the British Economy

Cotton

The year 1750 was important for British people, as new industry – the production of cotton cloth appeared. Before that, wool production held the major place in British industry, but compared to cotton fibres, it was more difficult to process wool using machinery. It was because of this that the industrial revolution started in cotton manufacturing – in Manchester and surrounding areas, to be more precise. Britain imported cotton from slave plantations, and slavery also played important role in industrial change and British growth by providing raw materials.

Atlantic economy grew with the growth of exports; an example one can consider is the export of manufactured cotton to Africa. In 1700’s, the Atlantic economy was founded on slave labor and is considered to have sparkled the biggest changes in modern economic history.

One of the most important feature of industrial revolution was that the production of different products moved from home to factories, machines which were driven by water or steam power replaced working by hand, all these resulted in increased productivity of workers. And as a result, cotton was the greatest British export industry. And slave labour was what cotton industry was built on.

Obtaining raw materials and trading patterns

Cheap and accessible labour, accompanied with the boom in productivity related to the invention of new technical devices, like spinning jenny, spinning mule, and power loom, the application of water, and steam power to operate power looms, carding machines, (National Geographic, n.d.) etc, led to the increased demand and supply for raw materials. The production of manufactures increased drastically. One crucial invention is said to have played significant role in slave trade – cotton gin, which increased cotton cultivation but also raised demand for slave labour.

The raw materials, provided by the slave labour were used in the production of manufactured goods, which were sold in Europe and in the colonies and generated a huge profit. The profits made by the slave trade were used to purchase goods such as rum, sugar, coffee, tobacco – which were plantation-grown. These goods were then sold in Britain and Europe at a profit.

Atlantic slave trade had a dramatic impact on the growth of Atlantic ports – Bristol, Liverpool and Glasgow. Liverpool and Bristol were very small back in 1700, while Glasgow had a population of only 12 000. The situation changed in 100 years. As a result of slave trade and trade in plantation-grown goods (mostly), these ports gained huge importance.

Shipping

With growing of shipping industry, it took as much effort to build, fit and repair ships as to sail them. Liverpool dominated other cities and became the main shipbuilder. About half of the Britain’s long distance ships were used for trading with the Caribbean. Ship owners who were involved in slave trade usually owned plantations too. Merchants usually spent the generated profits in the ports.

Impact of profits

Profits generated by plantation owners (especially by Scottish ones) increased dramatically, which resulted in them building large houses. Money was also donated to public buildings and schools. Edward Colston was one of the merchants, who donated £100,000, generated from Triangular Trade, to the city and founded a boys’ school, which was named after him.

Industrial economy

Slave traders generated good profits, which resulted in increased demand for goods like weapons, alcohol, textiles and pans. These products were exchanged for African slaves.

Profits generated by the slave trade were invested in British industries. These profits were also used to build canals and railways, which played significant role in connecting major production centers. (Cameron, R. 1989)

Profits made in the slave allowed for low domestic taxes. Investment was stimulated as a result. But unfortunately, slave trade lost its economic importance by the end of 18th century. It has been debated that an insignificant share of revenues from slave trade were directly invested in the industrial revolution.

Several factors played the role in the development of the British industry. First, technological changes created more efficient production methods, which were also cheaper and quicker. Secondly there were new machines, powered by water and steam. These new spinning and weaving machines minimized production costs, as a result, factories spread rapidly. Moreover, development of transportation infrastructure (canals and railways) made it easy to efficiently transport heavy goods. Furthermore, more and more factories were powered by coal, the supply of which was not seasonal. Therefore, it allowed for more manufacturing to take place.

Agricultural economy

Britain gradually transformed from agricultural economy to industrial economy with increased urbanization between 1700-1850. Agricultural changes included enclosure, mechanization, crop rotation and selective breeding, which created food surplus and was able to feed growing urban population (American imports, which used slave labour, however, were still very important). Therefore, it increased the labour force in cities, lowered wages and allowed companies to have a financial surplus for investment.

Wealth of ports and merchants

Bristol

Bristol was dominating the British part of slave trade in the 18th century. Bristol merchants were the ones who made trade connections with West Africa and developed the city by the revenues from the slave trade. The successful slave trade resulted in growth of other industries, like sugar-refining.

Liverpool

Slave trade made Liverpool a powerful city as well. Namely, this city managed more than 60% of British slave trade. Thousands of jobs were created in the industries that supplied slave traders (mainly cotton, linen, and some subsidiary industries – for example, rope) Moreover, Liverpool turned into the major slave shipbuilding place.

Glasgow

Another port that benefited from slave trade was Glasgow. The revenues from tobacco trade held a huge share in city profits. However, the merchants of Glasgow, known as “lords of tobacco”, made profits not by trading in slaves, but selling tobacco.

London

London got involved in slave trade back in the 1600s. This city was the major port for slave ships in Britain. However, it was not the only way the British merchants made money. The Atlantic trade, which included slave trade, created a momentum for the establishment of merchant banking

Growth of merchant banking

Merchants made profits by buying goods cheaply and then selling them at profit. However, gaining profits could take more than half a year as the merchants could not get the revenues until the goods had been transported and then sold. Merchants had to cover the costs of the voyage – including wages of sailors and the payment for the ship. This kind of voyages were risky as the ships could be lost or robbed. Moreover, merchants were responsible themselves to find selling places for their goods.

People involved in the Atlantic trade developed special skills. Moreover, different institutions were created to support the slave traders. For example, David and Alexander Barclay founded Barclays Bank, Sir Francis Baring founded Barings Bank. Besides, London gradually grew into the center of marine insurance and Lloyds of London, which is the world’s leading insurance marketplace to this day, was founded in 1688. Furthermore, profits made from Atlantic slave trade could be shared to thousands of stakeholders, with the invention of joint stock companies

The South Sea Trading Company, which was established in 1711, made its investments in slave trade and plantations. Their popularity caused them to rise quickly in value, which created the first bubble in the Britain, the South Sea Bubble of 1720. Upper classes enjoyed the profits made by the South Sea Trading company.

Wealth created by British slave traders

The contribution of the profits made in the slave trade to the British economy is debatable. The slave trade made it possible to become rich quickly, and many participants gained significant wealth. However, it was only the one side of the coin, because it involved significant risks and many participants suffered losses.

Merchants

Some of the merchants invested their money in British industries. Investments in banks and new businesses were also common. Others mainly spent their revenues on conspicuous consumption and acquisition of real estate.

Revenues from slavery and Atlantic trade were almost equal to the invested amount of money in new industries, therefore they were crucial for hastening industrial revolution.

Conclusion

To fully understand how the slave trade shaped Britain, one should take into consideration the scale and scope of the impact that slavery had on the British economy. Atlantic slave trade altered the economy of Britain. By 1800, America and Africa had captured 60% of British trade and British exports had increased fourfold compared to 1700. Slave trade was the reason of prosperity of ports, like London, Bristol and Liverpool, while other ports, like Glasgow benefited from trade in tobacco. The supply of goods to slave traders led to the creation of thousands of jobs. In the British industrialization period, traders made profits by exporting British manufactures to Africa. The import of products produced by slave labour, like sugar (which became increasingly popular with decreasing prices of tea), were sources of further profits. Just like the cotton industry was the reason for major developments in chemistry and manufacturing, slave trade played crucial role in the formation of financial, commercial, legal and insurance institutions, which specialized in supporting activities related to slave trade. Slave-trade led to the creation of many new businesses, which were financed by the profits made from this activity. On the other hand, trustworthy merchants started offering bank services. Even if we forget about these developments, it should be emphasized that slave labour was the source of raw materials for British manufacturing industry, which allowed manufacturing to grow. Cotton, industry, for example, which is said to be the working horse of the Industrial Revolution, depended on imports of raw cotton from American plantations, which employed African slaves. Therefore, one might argue, that Slave trade played crucial role in the British economy and the Industrial Revolution.

The Transatlantic Slave trade, occurring between the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, in Africa produced centuries of exploitation of Africa’s human resources and raw materials in exchange for the growth and prosperity of the West. This exploitative trade system established destructive impacts and has radically impaired the potential and ability for Africa to prosper economically and maintain its social and political stability. The interconnectedness between the slave trade and Africa’s current (under)development can be seen in ongoing factors that impact Africa, such as the lack of trust in governance and local institutions, the loss of a stable economy, and the destruction of its culture and heritage. First, by drawing on scholar, Nathan Nunn’s thesis in “Historical Legacies: A Model linking Africa’s past to its current underdevelopment”(2004), it will aim to inform a foundational understanding between Africa’s underdevelopment, the slave trade and its long term effects. This will then lead onto the discussion of the long-term consequences of the slave trade on Africa, with a particular focus on Central Africa as a whole.

Several studies have drawn on the link between Africa’s underdevelopment with its history of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. To grasp a better understanding of the long term impacts on Africa that exist today and why this link is of importance, I will address a brief introduction on Nathan Nunn’s (2004) thesis to form the foundation of this paper. Through the use of empirical data and historical literature, Nunn uncovers evidence supporting the idea that the commerce of past slave exports has had an adverse effect on Africa’s current economic development. He focuses on the long term consequences of Africa’s slave trade by observing the performances of various nations in Africa, concluding that the larger number of exports of slaves traded, the “worse is the country’s subsequent economic performance” (Nunn, 2004, pp158). Through uncovering this finding, further statistics and research have been found to support Nunn’s proposition. In particular, Central Africa, now known as consisting of countries such as Angola, the Democratic of Congo and Gabon, have supplied nearly over fifty percent of Africans, reaching over 900,000 in the first century of trading (NPS Ethnography, 2001). Thus, the significant dependence on Central Africa in the productivity of the transatlantic slave trade, has resulted in the region’s limited economic progress and stability. With these conclusions, this paper will further analyse the causal mechanisms and consequences between the slave trade and Central Africa’s current low economic performance.

Central Africa’s underdevelopment, caused by the slave trade, has established an ongoing system of distrust for those in governance and local institutions. Trust becomes integral in shaping a country’s political and economic development. However, through Africa’s long history with the transatlantic slave trade, this trust, central in initiating stability and progress, has become limited. Witnessed, early in the slave trade, the process of attaining slaves was through state organised raids and warfare (Piot, 1997). This later included other methods of enslavement, such as trickery and kidnapping, which involved in some cases, the complicity of relatives and neighbours (Nunn & Wantchekon, 2011). It can be argued that this could have created the deterioration of the legitimacy of local state institutions and its trust placed on it. These effects of the slave trade have caused an environment of insecurity and a culture of mistrust that persists today, which have primarily been maintained by stories of personal betrayal and community breakdown, passed down orally through family histories, and religious and cultural practices (Nunn & Wantchekon, 2011). It is through the transmission of norms of cooperation which strengthens, or in the case of Central Africa, weakens institutional quality and trust, that continues across future generations (Tabellini, 2008).

Nunn (2007) further elaborates on this idea, by arguing violent and destructive actions practiced through raids, warfare, and civil conflict during the slave trade, also prevented state and local institutions from providing a cooperative relationship of trust and social cohesion between their position of power and local communities. Consequently, the long established low levels of trust have developed institutions of governance that are typically weaker, which leads to themes of corruptive and violent behaviour and results in even lower levels of trust. This is particularly apparent in Central Africa which have been consumed by violent revolutions and civil wars. More specifically, the ongoing Central African Republic Civil War that began in 2012, demonstrates the failure of State services to provide security and stability and thus erodes trust. The conflict was triggered when a coalition of rebel groups, the Seleka, attacked the government for its failure to abide by peace agreements. The region has suffered decades of violence and instability, along with the severe deterioration of the country’s security infrastructure (Knoope & Buchanan-Clarke, 2014). Although the government maintains some control of its capital, Bangui, most armed groups have boycotted President Touadera’s attempts to calm the region through disarmament. This leaves the government powerless outside the capital, resulting in the widespread of lawlessness and increased violence. Through the government’s incompetence to provide security, armed forces have intensified the situation by targeting civilians. Civilians have been subject to murders and kidnappings, women are targets of rape and sexual assault and many children are recruited and exploited as soldiers. This has left over half a million people from Central Africa displaced and 75 percent of its population in poverty (Global Conflict Tracker, 2019). Conflicts, like these, not only cripples the economy and workforce’s capacity to develop but ‘traps’ these societies within an equilibrium of uncooperative and inadequate institutions to fulfil its responsibilities, which disrupts relationships of trust (Nunn & Wantchekon, 2011). Therefore, as observed above, the slave trade has created a long-term cycle of violence and mistrust.

The slave trade, also produced the erosion of a stable economy in Central Africa, due to its practices of exploitation. Through its valuable raw materials, Africa proved to be once economically self-sufficient through its domination in local commerce of resin, orchil, gold, spices and cattle (M’Baye, 2006). However, within less than a century of commerce and trade with the Western world, Africa became a case of commerce exploitation and thus, lost both its economic autonomy and social peace, along with its inhabitants who became victims of oppression and slave labour (Inikori & Engerman, 1992). This disruption, caused by the slave trade, on Africa’s socio-economic potential involved the prevention of further technological progress in Africa. Historian, Walter Rodney, further argues the slave trade not only brought a loss of industry but “a loss of development opportunity” (Rodney, 1972, pp105). Casualties and the transportation of thousands of workers to work on European land, caused a significant loss of human capital for Africa and a stagnation of a self-sustaining growth that its enslaved working population, particularly, the youth, could have secured and maintained for the future.

Ultimately, the effects of this has placed Central Africa on a disadvantaged playing field and has prevented it from competing at equal economic levels as those with more developed and progressive economies (ie. The West). This idea is reflected in Immanuel Wallerstein’s ‘The World Systems Theory’, 1974. This approach in thinking develops a perspective on how the world economic system is structured to benefit some nations and exploit others. According to the theory, the world is divided and established on a three-level hierarchy, consisting of core, periphery and semi-periphery countries. Core countries are dominant capitalist countries that exploit peripheral countries for cheap labour and raw materials (Martínez-Vela, 2001). On the other end of the scale, periphery nations such as Africa, lack strong central governments and have underdeveloped economies. Its raw materials and labour are exported to the core through unequal trade relations and are significantly dependent on the core who are the source of the periphery’s capital surplus. Through a closer examination of Central Africa’s current economic situation, this theory and the effects of the slave trade on its current economy can be understood. Research and examination of Central Africa’s economic performance have witnessed a slow and minimal growth in the economy, with an estimated average growth of 0.9% in 2017, rising barely 0.1% from 2016 (Central Economic Outlook, 2018). Continuing low commodity prices and security threats, have also affected the potential for this growth to evolve. Moreover, agriculture continues to dominate the nation as its central mode of commerce. On average , agriculture contributed 30% of the economic activity and 60% of the workforce who suffer from poor working conditions. This has resulted in a low GDP and an even higher inflation rate of 10.1% in 2017 (Central Economic Outlook, 2018). Therefore, the impacts of the slave trade have produced a long term effect on the economy to further develop and progress, securely and equally.

Moreover, the slave trade led to the destruction of culture and heritage in Africa. Although, Africa as a whole is inhabited by various ethnic nationalities and cultures, dominant traits in beliefs systems and values are shared. Most importantly, the family unit and kinship ties are central to its cultural values as it acts as a basic group of social organisation and binds a myriad of different African ethnic societies together (Merriam, 1961, pp148). Here, responsibilities are shared and a sense of added security and belonging are established. Another shared cultural practice is oral literature which is encompassed through the essence of music, dance and verbal storytelling and riddles (Merriam, 1961, pp149). This ensures the passage of cultural practices and history are passed down from one generation to another. The ongoing commerce of slave labour and its increasing demand for labour in Central Africa resulted in the forced removal of up to 11 million people (Slave Voyages Databases, 2019) from the population and thus destroyed these cultural practices. The separation of family units and kinship ties not only dismantled the sense of cultural belonging but destroyed the value of trust as seen through the involvement of relatives and neighbours in the process of enslavement, as discussed above. Moreover, the decline or stagnation of the population, caused by the slave trade, affected the potential for Africans, particularly, the younger and stronger who were taken for enslavement, to raise children of their own within their own culture and maintain and practice their cultural traditions in forms of oral literature and rituals of dance and music, for future generations (Whatley & Gillezeau, 2009).

Furthermore, overtime the traditional cultural values and customs in Africa were replaced by elements of the 18th Century European worldview, following pre-European contact in Africa (NPS Ethnography, 2001). Due to the centrality of oral literature in African culture, its history, customs and legacies have no traces or a limited range of written documents or sources. This left discoveries and sources of traditional African culture and systems to be found in European interpretations and accounts. As the productivity of slavery grew, the development of dichotomies surrounding race emerged. In particular, the European race-based worldview extended to include ideas that social classification are informed by differences in human appearance and thus, established discourses of white superiority and black inferiority. This worldview, not only was used as a rationalisation for the enslavement of Africans but disregarded the social history and cultural achievements of Africa (M’Baye, 2006). The reinforcement of ‘white’ supremacy, African inferiority and African enslavement demonstrates the compounding effects this worldview has on culture in Africa. It has ultimately, left a legacy of historical omissions and a suppression and misinterpretation of Africa’s cultural heritage (NPS Ethnography, 2001). Notions of cultural supremacy can also be found within ideas of white supremacy and have contributed to the loss of knowledge and distortion of Africa’s social history and cultural values.

Along with this worldview, notions of ‘backwardness and chaos’ were associated with Africa and thus demonstrates a negligence of Africa’s rich and diverse culture (M’Baye, 2006). Many historians have drawn on Edward Long’s theory that Africa encompassed an environment dominated with wars and tyranny (Olusoga, 2015). This has resulted in historical misconceptions that influence the denigration of Africa, including notions of ‘savages’ and ‘barbaric’ which has led to the assumption of African weakness and inherent inferiority (Curtin, 1975, pp 310). These stereotypes and racially-driven worldviews can be argued to have radically affected the way the rest of the world, particularly, the West, views Africa. Its associations with Africa and its involvement with the slave labour, not only has replaced Africa’s past history and culture with a European worldview but has made it difficult for Africa to establish an equal footing within the trading world, thus affecting its economic development till this day.

Therefore, the transatlantic slave trade has produced long term consequences that have affected Africa’s ability to progress economically as well as maintain a politically and socially stable and harmonious arena. Through a closer analysis on Central Africa, a region disastrously affected by the slave trade, we can observe how it has created a system of mistrust for governance and local institutions, impacted its ability to establish a stable economy and thus trade on equal terms with other nations as well as, has facilitated the destruction and suppression of African culture and heritage. Ultimately, these factors, collectively demonstrates the consequences of the causal mechanisms and interconnection of the transatlantic slave trade and Africa’s underdevelopment

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The massive transfer of life between Afro-Eurasian and American hemispheres is known as the “Columbian Exchange”. This exchange was precipitated by Christopher Columbus and the Italian voyage to the “New World”. The exchange is depicted as a major turning point that had profound and lasting effects on the trajectory and development of human populations, specifically African culture. Specific factors altered if not increased the effects of this exchange on various populations such as the African populations. Factors which range from but are not limited to: crop demand, population size, and wealth. However, this essay will revolve over sugar as it increased the importation of African populations and question “To what extent did the high European demand for sugar affect global African dispersion?” Perspectives on the matter of African slavery vary from population to population as it created an engulfing negative aspect onto the conditions on which this slavery occured. However, there is a positive view as the slavery not only combined African populations but African cultures as well as dispersing it wherever African slavery occurred. The opening of the Atlantic world is majorly credited to the Portuguese and their yearn of westward expansion. This yearn, however, was veered by their discovery of slavery while colonizing western Africa. The Portuguese later witnessed increased dependability on slavery as it was a method of free labor. This dependability was not only a benefit to the Portuguese but also an obstruction to indegenous methods of labor. The direct correlation of the effects of slavery can be witnessed as it increased the European economy while aiding in the economic decline and dispersion of African populations.(Trace96) .This essay will also explore the range of which African dispersion occurred, the first instances of the sugar industries’ call of slavery as well as the extent that this first example of free labor led to various methods of free labor such as Indentured servitude during western expansion. The effects of the slave trade as well as its misallocation and African cultural surpression in correlation to the sugar industry will be discussed through the works of Tayyab Mahmud, Joshua Dwayne Settles, and journalist Ekrem Bugra Ekinci, and Russell Menard. This essay is worthy of research due to the fact that the immense influx of African populations into American and Afro-Eurasian hemispheres is a turning point and initiation for African integrated American culture. This influx which can be credited to sugar and its call for a labor system allowed for the spread and combination of various African languages, cultures, and traditions as well as ethnic groups, setting the stage for modern culture today.

The origins of the sugar industry majorly known, in the Caribbean included the importation of some four million slaves on these plantations.(Menard). Industries were entirely impossible without the presence of some form of slavery. The trading of manufactured goods for slaves who were then shipped to sugar colonies, (the middle passage) was seen to be the peak of harsh conditions endured by slaves. During this passage, slaves were kept in a row like groups for weeks if not months at a time. This entire traffic of slavery was fueled by the English demand for rum, molasses, and in large sugar. However, slavery in England itself had been deemed illegal in 1772 which then caused a direct controversy over slavery in the sugar colonies. Arguments rose up as a result to the banning of English slavery. The arguments were found to be popular in colonial America and England by abolitionists. Boycotts eventually rose up in contradiction to keeping slavery as it fueled the sugar industry. Proponents of this boycott included the liberal use of physical metaphors by boycotters stating that “ Sugar is imbued with the blood, sweat and tears of slaves”.(Menard 2006). In response, many slaves and planters of sugar recoiled and found it a conspiratorial attack against their financial interests. Many slavers proclaimed that slave life in the sugar industry far surpasses the conditions in which they would have lived in Africa. William Beckford, a Jamaican sugar planter, states that if slaves were able to run free then “they would run riot, starve or both”(Beckford). In other words Beckford claims that slaves in this case Africans are unable to govern themselves which they had been doing for centuries preceding the sugar industry. In response to this sugar boycott, parliament created news pamphlets in order to get their message widespread. These pamphlets became popular as many English citizens were fond of the messages depicted by parliament. In the first year as many as 250,000 pamphlets were printed and were credited with focusing forces onto the sugar boycott. Andrew Burn an author of these pamphlets, pours blame onto the consumers of sugar for feeding this evil act of slavery. “My reason, and experience tells me, and medical authority assures me, that sugar is not a luxury; but has become by constant use, a necessary of life; and great injury have many persons done to their constitutions by totally abstaining from it.”(Burn 1972). Burn states that the inflictions put upon these people (slaves) are not worth the luxury of having sugar simply as a commodity but opposing views state that the slaves are in fact benefitting from this sugar farming as it gives them a “purpose”(Sherwood). To the right is a poem depicting the general attitude towards this sugar boycott. It compares the value of sugar with the cruel injustice of slavery and uses the generally used analogy of “blood as the price of sugar”. (Tyler). This coincides with Andrew Burn’s statement that sugar is not worth the unjustified pain endured by it’s slaves for it only to be a general commodity and not an extreme necessity.

The fall of the slave trade in 1807 turned to be a devastating blow to the entire sugar industry. The main force in the abolishment of slavery in European countries was credited to the Roman Catholic Church as they began questioning whether this act was religiously right. Overall the catholic church did treat slaves more humanely than those in the protestant church and protestant faith. Early enslavement of Africans were somewhat justified in the early catholic church as they portrayed them as “barbaric savages, without laws or religions, and even void of a language”(Bravo). This interpretation of the Bible was questioned which resulted in the creation of an anti-slavery organization that proved slavery to be a sin. This campaign was a succes due to the fact that abolitionists focused their methods on the views of the population as they feared not going to heaven which would be void if slavery was seen as a sin. Parliament then passed an act on March 1807 which would make it illegal for Britons to participate in any trade that resulted in the enslavement of Africans. Although the abolishment of slave trade caused a decline in sugar and goods grown by slaves in Britain it however did not diminish the existence or wealth of these goods in Britain. Those who opposed this abolishment financed, and insured the trade in other areas that allowed it. Vast amounts of Slave-grown tobacco were imported from southern U.S states and then from Cuba and eventually Brazil. Sugar grown by free labor were inefficient to quench the British thirst for it so slave-grown sugar was imported. Various abolitionists brought to light the fact that slave-grown goods were still in circulation in the economy would only increase the trade of slaves. Britain however ignored this warning and increased their earnings from these goods. This British dependability on slave-grown goods only increased due to their newfound wealth in result, this legitimized the produce of coffee, cocoa, gold, and palm oil and were all supported by domestic slavery and serfdom.

The after-effects of this trade also proved to be devastating, and an inhumane blow on African economies. The trade slowed population growth in Africa and reduced the general aggregate population. (Manning). Between the 16th and 17th centuries more than 13 million slaves were produced in Africa and transported across the Atlantic with over 77 percent of these slaves (about 10.1 million) were produced along the west-central coast of Africa during the 150 years span of 1701 and 1850. The casualties involved in the trade were not entirely consisted of those actually taken captive but those seen as collateral damage and those resisting their family members and friends taken captive. The effects although invisible to the every-day eye proved to have altered the path of development on African economies.(Nunn). The demand internationally for enslaved Africans had an extreme influence on the resource allocation within Africa, as the foreign demand increased, Africans in response captured and exported more of their fellow people creating an effective demand situation. These demands were not only external but an internal force must have played a part. In other words in order for the external influences and factors of these demands tp have a significant impact on the entire African economy, the indigeneous African people have to had responded to the external stimuli: the external factors and foreign demand for slavery. (Manning). “Africa Engaged”. There is a direct correlation between the international demand for enslaved Africans and the relative value of the people in connection to their value in global production. Due to the fact that as one rises the other as a result also rises exponentially. (Darity). Walter Rodney, a prominent Guyanese historian, political activist, and academic, in his book How Europe underdeveloped Africa, further makes evident the claim that the slave trade altered African Economies.(1972). The trade had an introspecting ideal to it due to the fact that it encouraged slave raiding and discouraged state-building by encouraging the capture of slaves for slave but on the other note discouraging the capture of land as well as the cultivation of a citizenry for the purpose of taxation in its place. The single differentiating factor between this form of human trade and others throughout history is the fact that, quoting Rodney “..there have been times in history when social groups have grown stronger by raiding their neighbors for women, cattle, and goods, because they then use the “booty” from raids for the benefits of their own community. Slaving in Africa did not even have that redeeming value. Captives were shipped outside instead of being utilized within any given African community for creating wealth from nature.(page 100)”. (1972). In comparison to Nunn’s studies about GDP per capita in our modern era and in the slave trade, results show that the trade had a negative long-term effect on economic participation than other forms of the trade that differentiate from the African slave trade. (Nunn 2008).

However, alternate arguments have risen in response to Rodney and Nunn’s claims. David Eltis, a professor from Emory University argues that the slave trade was a “small share of Africa’s economic activity and, therefore, could not have caused major social or economic disruptions”(1991). As seen today, this claim has proved to be false due to the economic decline and political dissassortment as a result from years of years of picking on the “small” shares as remarked by Eltis. Several professors, including John Fage, John Thornton, and Phillip Curtin all also have opposing views with Rodney and Nunn’s claims. These professors argue that the “trade encouraged the consolidation of political states and favored economic development in the long run and that the production of slaves was primarily a byproduct of internal African struggles- an outcome of Africa’s indigenous economic and political evolution rather than a product of exogenous shock like effective demand”.(1969) (1998) (1975). All opposing perspectives on the decline of the African economy due to the slave trade shout the same message: AFRICAN ECONOMIC DECLINE IS AT FAULT OF AFRICANS AND THEIR INTERNAL STRUGGLES AND ALL EXTERNAL FACTORS HAVE A VERY MODERATE ON THE AFRICAN ECONOMY IF ANY AT ALL. Which is the very opposite to the claim in which will be proved by this overall essay. The basis upon which opposing claims have been made may be credited to the fact that Africans sold neighbors and even their family members into slavery. However the entire trade process would have never caused Africans to enslave their own brethren if not for the initiation of it by the early Portugese because of sugar.

Whether there were benefits to African slavery or not has become a very controversial topic of which a valid response may depend on the cultural background of whomever is asked. However, there was. In reality slavery has been a part of human development for centuries dating back to the Byzantine-Ottoman wars (1265-1479) and the European ottoman wars(14th-16th centuries), nonetheless, African slavery to this magnitude has never been experienced in all of history to reap the effects that were reaped. The slavery of Africans led to the dispersion of Africans on a global scale of which instances such as the Harlem renaissance arose and became a significant example for the dispersion of African culture which is a benefit of slavery. The renaissance was an explosion of culture within the African community of Harlem New York City during the 1920’s. Not only was it an embodiment of a radicalized and politicization of a disenfranchised population, it was proof of the humanity and demand for equality from the earlier said negative aspect fof the slave trade. This newfound identity of African Americans led them to an increased social consciousness that allowed a population that had only endured inferiority and depravity, a source of release and inspiration. The main drives for this movement were credited to Charles Spurgeon Johnson and philosopher Alain Leroy Locke and their orchestration of the Civil Club Dinner in Manhattan 1924. (1924). Southern life at this time differed from that of Harlem due to the fact that African Americans were imprisoned in an economy of sharecropping of which all hope of improvement ceased to exist. In addition the implementation of the Jim Crow (1877) system and it being void of any voting rights also differentiated from life in Harlem. Southern African Americans viewed the north and Harlem as a beacon of hope and escape from the harsh lifestyle of the south. Harlem became the center of black cultural life that forever changed the dynamics of the entire nation as well as a re-establishment for the identities of African Americans. Yes, it is true that the problem being endured by African Americans in the south would have never occurred if slavery was never introduced to the Americans, on the other hand this combination and spread of African cultures and Harlem as a beacon of African diaspora would have also never occured. The African slave trade was maybe in fact more beneficial to America as a whole than the individual African American population. As mentioned, sugar was the main source of influx of this slave trade and its abundance brought to light the fact that in the Americas, European colonial officials lacked the sufficient labor to exploit it and as a result African slavery came into play. The profits made from the sale of sugar as a good was ironically used to purchase more slaves and fuel the slave trade. In spite of the harsh and inhumane environments endured by sugar labor it aso created an economic infrastructure for the agricultural produce of North America. In return an economic boom was seen in North America which would later create its mark as a world nation.

The European demand for sugar as a commodity was not limited to only europe as they did create the global thirst for the good which was paid for by the lives and freedom of Africans, sugar was also a key product in the Caribbean islands and West Indies or “Sugar islands”.(1791). The islands were a focal point of international conflict due to its value in the sugar industry and nations quarreled with one another for domination over this region. Nations who rivaled one another concentrated laborers via the slave trade in engaging in commodity production. Each colonial power reserved itself for the produce of its own colonies by monopolizing colonial shipping and sheltering the colonial market for its own industries. This allowed global nations to stimulate production and promote their accumulation of national wealth. However, global sugar production grew at a slower but steady-state rate with a stable structure. Production in the Caribbean often shifted with the appearance of immense amounts of sugar from regions outside of the Caribbean which included not only the vast redistribution but also the quantitative increase of international sugar production in correlation to the qualitative restructure of national relations in the market. This was seen as a significant shift due to the fact that the global economy was no longer directed by political domination over products of colonial production, instead, the main quality that proved to be key to global power under the current world economy was “the economic control over the flow of resources”(Brion). “Even before Britain had gained full naval supremacy, it was clear that the economic struggle would center not on the control of colonial production but on the control of colonial commerce to European markets. By 1804, Britain had no need to fear a rival slave trade augmenting the production of her competitors. The crucial problem was not the supply of labor but how to control the flow of commerce to Europe”(David Brion Davis”). With this being said the destruction of the sugar empire via the revolution of Saint Domingue further proves Davis’s statement due to the revolution directly targeting the control of resources. The revolution had a somewhat ideal timing because it occurred during the vortex of international economic and political currents between England and France for domination of the world economy. The rivalry between the two world power combined with the conflicts within Saint Domingue brewed what resulted in the final blow to the sugar industry. The Haitian slaves sort of depended on the revolution to create a political conjuncture in order for their overall purpose to be achieved, to not only end slavery but also to break the French hold on the colony.

Assignment

Critically assess the evidence used to argue that the slave trade is responsible for much of Africa’s current underdevelopment. Consider how data and cliometrics have influenced the academic debate on the impact of the trans-Atlantic slave trade? Do you think it is a useful intervention? Why or why not?

Introduction

Over the past sixty years, the historiography of the trans-Atlantic slave trade has displayed exceptional sophistication and growth. Historians have assembled a broad cluster of sources and presented rich and fascinating information on this tragedy in human history. The analysis of this dynamic scholarly convention brings light on significant theoretical and explanatory shifts over time and reveals promising new pathways for future research. This paper will assess how the cliometrics and data approaches to the field, especially via the dialogue between scholars who engage in quantitative research and those who permit social history antecedents that are more telling of lived experiences, has habituated the types of questions and debates about the slave trade and slavery. Finally, this paper will report the significant influence of this intervention in allowing new possibilities to analyze and share data on a global scale and help create a network engagement on the causes, effects and integration of slave structures.

The evidence used to argue that the slave trade is responsible for much of Africa’s current underdevelopment:

Between the 16th and the 19th centuries, millions of African natives were forcibly sold and migrated to the Americas and Europe to become slaves which left the economic, social and political state of Africa devastated. The Atlantics slave trade was part of a worldwide economic operation that existed from 1440s to the 1860s. Though the consequences of the slave trade on the relocated Africans have been partly recorded, those African states that were non-enslaved remain vastly unknown. The operation produced enduring vulnerabilities, financial chaos and political commotion in the African continent. It seized its opportunity for development by exploiting its agricultural, cultural and technological skills for the benefit and progression of the West only. It impeded Africa’s mercantilist economy by stopping its capability to be converted into a capitalist economy. Furthermore, it began the structural and persistent process of financial exploitation and political & social fracture that Europeans later institutionalized via imperialism and neo-colonization. Thornton mentions the huge buying power of West Africans in 1650 when, seeking variety and fancy, 1.5 million Senegambians imported 1,200 tons of iron for 300 000 households; and in 1680, required 300 tons of iron a year just for their households. Yet, within less than one hundred years of commerce with the Western powers, Africa lost both its social peace and economic independence, transforming into a land where domestic states, warlords and chiefs affiliated with voracious European traders to supress the vulnerable population that they captured. Indeed, research analyzed by Nunn indicates that the African countries that experienced the largest number of slaves being extracted (proportional to the population size), suffer the consequences of severe underdevelopment today; which therefore further proves the belief that the slave trade is a great factor in explaining Africa’s underdevelopment.

Consider how data and cliometrics have influenced the academic debate on the impact of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade:

Nonetheless, while some academics in the Americas were prompting the enslaved to the centre of slavery narratives, an isolated bunch of scholars educated in economics started shifting the focus of studies of the slave trade/slavery in a different direction. This new group of scholars recommended to investigate the underlying factors that shaped the slave trade and slavery to better contextualize the individual realities of those who were enslaved. This broader picture path was rooted in the quantification of great amounts of data accessible in archival sources distributed across various areas and ultimately resulted to the establishment of ‘cliometrics’- a radically recent methodology in the field. Philip Curtin’s The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census and Robert Fogel & Stanley Engerman’s Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Negro Slavery were particularly important to the development of this approach. Curtin’s piece administered the initial quantitative investigation of the seize, distribution and evolution of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade from its establishment till its conclusion. Past estimates of the size of this slave trade asserted that it involved somewhere between 15 and 20 million enslaved Africans. However, through cautious analysis, Curtin discovered that such estimates were but a broad inertia, since historians were multiply copying the flawed results if inconsistent inaccurate work. He then supplied a new figure based on a close reading of secondary sources that themselves had been conducted on broad archival analysis. Further, he provided a technology that had become accessible to researchers; known as the mainframe computer. He gathered data on the number of slaves that ships pf every country included on the traffic had embarked and disembarked via a time series provided by the computer which organized such information. Curtin’s results challenged many of the basic assumptions on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Moreover, Philip Curtin’s analysis of the slave trade encouraged academics to move to domestic archives and gather new statistical data to further understand the traffic of the slave trade. Adding on to Curtin’s work, these researchers provided vast studies on the various branches of the slave trade. What was revealed from such work was a peaked accurate representation of the magnitude and system of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade at all levels. African historians soon also jumped on this engagement, presenting experimental evaluations of slave exports from areas along the coast of West Africa. The widening collection of data that such investigation gathered allowed academics to utilize quantitative approaches to consider other aspects of the slave trade. A large sum of various questions arose and academics, for the first time, approached the study of the slave trade as its own individual topic for research – which led to revolutionary results in the long-haul of the field.

Do you think it is a useful intervention? Why or why not?

In various ways, the breach between quantitative and cultural & social approaches to the slave trade that erupted in the 1970s has progressed to divide the field of study. Worried that cliometrics eliminated the dynamism out of perceptions of the slave society and minimised captives to numbers on a spreadsheet, some academics reacted by expanding an array of new tools to reclaim the individuality and humanity of the enslaved pupils. Additionally, provided the distinctive underlying framework that decades of quantitative research on the slave trade had produced, one would be harried to discount completely the cliometrics approach. According to two academics who are quantitatively minded, it is rather difficult to analyse the meaning or representation of personal chronology or concerted accounts, however accurate, without having an understanding of the whole movements of slaves of which these individual’s lives were a part of. Though the attention that is given on what might be characterized as the quantitative bigger picture is not naturally hostile toward cultural & social historians’ interests with the enslaved community’s lived realities, the two proposals offer distinct perceptions of slavery’s history and often appear to be on opposing ends of the examining spectrum.

Conclusion

It can be said that although research on comprehending the long-term effects of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade is still in progress, the evidence gathered till now suggests that this historic occurrence played a vital role in the underdevelopment of the continent- not economically but socially and culturally as well. In the end, it not an easy task to incorporate decades of study on the history of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Even though comparably new against more established spheres of Western history, it has progress swiftly, assembling a meaningful body of literature that embodies some of the most refined methodologies accessible. Researchers have proven so versatile in their methods and advances of sources that it is difficult to demonstrate the direction in which the field is pursuing.

Reference list:

1. Anstey, Roger. The Atlantic Slave Trade and British Abolition, 1760–1810 (NJ: Humanities Press, 1975).
2. Bean, Richard. “A Note on the Relative Importance of Slaves and Gold in West African Exports,” Journal of African History 15, no. 3 (1974), 351–356.
3. Coupland, Reginald. The British Anti-Slavery Movement (London: Cass, 1964).
4. Curtin, Philip D. The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969).
5. Curtin, Philip D. Economic Change in precolonial Africa (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1975).
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