History, Chapter 4

The Middle Passage

* "The Middle Passage" named by English sailors for the voyage of slave vessels across the Atlantic. The middle part of a trading triangle from England to Africa, to America, and back to England. * One vessel designed to carry 450 slaves regularly crossed the Atlantic with more than 600. * Due to horrible conditions on ship and illness such as smallpox, measles and yellow fever. Historians estimate that 1 in 6 Africans perished during the Middle Passage.

The Tobacco Colonies

* 18th Century demand for tobacco increased more than ten fold. Supplied largely by Chesapeake region. * Tobacco most important commodity produced in 18th Century North America. More than 1/4 value of all colonial exports. * By 1730's slave population in Chesapeake became 1st in Western Hemisphere to achieve self-sustained growth. Gradually gender became balanced.. Planters recognized they benefited from fertile slaves. "Thomas Jefferson". * By 1750's about 80% of Chesapeake slaves were "country-born."

Slavery comes to North America

* 1st Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619 by a Dutch slave trader exchanged "20 and odd Negars" for badly needed provisions with planter John Rolfe. * Initially slaves cost about 2x as indentured servants. African pop. rose gradually from about 2% in 1630 to 7% in 1670. * 17th century Virginia records document Africans acquiring farms, servants, and slaves of their own. * Mulattoes: People of mixed ancestry (Africans, Indians, & Europeans) * It was only later that dark skin came automatically to mean slavery, segregation, and the absence ofthe rights of freedom. * During last quarter of 17th century, Chesapeake became a "slave society" (a place where slavery is the dominate source of labor). * 1662 - 1705 - Slavery became institutionalized 1st in Virginia and became a model for other colonies. * 1701 - 1710 more Africans were imported to North America than during the entire previous century.

Political and Economic Effects on Africa

* Beginning of 16th century Africa was independent. But as Europe and America grew stronger as a result of African transport, Africa grew weaker. * For every captive taken, at least another died in the chronic slave raiding. * West African economy stagnate. labor was drawn away from productive activities while importing goods stifled manufacturing. * Political, economic and cultural demoralization prepared the way for the European conquest of Africa in the 19th century.

The Africanization of the South

* English men & women were also being Africanized. Medicine, cooking * Louisiana combination of African, French, and Indian elements produced American regional cuisine, gumbos (soups), and jambalayas (stews) * Also basket weaving using Indian techniques and African designed, Wood carving w/ African motifs, African architectural designs, west African iron working. * Some linguists argue that the Southern drawl derived from the incorporation of African intonations.

Slavery in French Louisiana

* French established colonies in lower Mississippi Valley & early 18th century fort Biloxi and Mobile on the Gulf of Mexico. 1718 laid out New Orleans on lower Mississippi River. * Tobacco and indigo plantations. * Home of Natchez Indians. * 1729 Natchez Rebellion. Indians and African Americans joined forces and killed 200 French Settlers, 10% of the population. * Rebellion kept Louisiana French from committing themselves to slavery until end of 18th century.

The beginnings of African slavery

* Household slaves had been a part of the mediterranean world since ancient times. *Slave derives from the word "Slav" - As well as Muslims and Africans. * 1st African slaves to arrive in Lisbon had been kidnapped by a Portuguese captain in 1441. * By the mid-fifteenth century, the Portuguese were shipping a thousand or more slaves each year from Africa. Most were sent to labor on the sugar plantations on the Portuguese island colony of Madeira, off the coast of northern Africa.

Sugar and Slavery

* Italian merchants set up 1st modern sugar plantations on islands in the Mediterranean and used slaves in the 14th century. * Columbus introduced sugar to Hispaniola on his 2nd voyage and plantations were soon in operation there. With the Indian population devastated the colonists imported African slaves for labor. * By 1600 at least 25,000 enslaved Africans were laboring on plantations in Hispaniola and Brazil. England and France then began seeking West Indian sugar colonies of their own. 1640's English seized islands, constructing sugar plantations and importing slaves.

The Shock of Enslavement

* Most Africans were enslaved through warfare. * Prisoners waited in dark dungeons or in open pens called "barracoons". They separated families and ethnic groups to prevent resistance. Captains inspected man and woman. Those selected were branded on their back or buttock with the mark of the buyer.

A Global Enterprise

* Scholars estimate 10 to 12 million Africans arrived in the Americas during the 4 century history of trade. * 76% arrived from 1701 to 1810, the peak of colonial demand for labor. Tens of thousands were shipped from African each year. Of these about 1 in 20 or 600,000 individuals where shipped to the British colonies in North America. * Men outnumbered women two to one in slave transport. * All western European nations participated in slave trade. * The Royal English African Company, a slave-trading monopoly based in London. was chartered in 1672. * 1698 England opened trade to independent merchants resulting in the number of slaves shipped to North American to skyrocket. * By 1730's Newport, Rhode Island had become the epicenter of American slavers. * The slave trade was a collaboration between European or American and African traders. The grim business of slave raiding was left to the Africans themselves.

The Development of North American Slave Societies

* Slavery population in the 17th century colonial America accounted for less than 12% of the population by late 1700. * Slavery expanded greatly in the colonial 18th century and became an important system of labor in North America. By 1770 there were 460,000 Africans and African Americans in British North America making up more than 20% of the population. 1770, 5,000 slaves in Virginia, 22% of population.

The Lower South

* South Carolina was a slave society from the beginning. Early economy, Indian slave trade. * By early 18th century more than 12,000 mission Indians from Florida had been captured and sold into slavery, thousands more killed or dispersed. Men shipped off. Women stayed, many formed relationships and had children with African American men. Also, during this time preference turned to African American slaves because of their experience in agriculture. * "Mustees" - Racial-ethnic group formed from relationships between Indians and African Americans. * Rice production most dynamic sector for S.C. economy. * 1740's also added indigo, a plant native to India important in textile manufacturing. 1st success was Elizabeth Lucas Pinckney. * By 1740's many arriving Africans were taken to Georgia, a colony created by English Parliament in 1732. Leader James Edward Oglethorpe hoped to make colony a haven for poor British farmers. Under his influence Parliament agreed to prohibit slavery in Georgia. Later opened to slavery in 1752 after already infiltrated by Carolina rice planters.

The African Slave Trade

* The movement of Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas was the largest forced migration in world history. * Began with Portuguese in the 15th century and did not end in the US until 1807. (Continued elsewhere in the America's until 1870's) * Africans outnumbered European immigrants before the nineteenth century by a ratio of 6 to 1.

Violence and Resistance

* Unspeakable violence against slaves to insure obedience. Even peaceful owners used whipping and flogging. * Slaves still resisted & ran away. * Maroons: Isolated hidden communities of runaway slaves. Some who ran away to Spanish Florida with Creek Indians. These mixed Indian and African people called themselves "Seminoles". * 1st revolt or uprising of colonial era was in New York City in 1712. Some committed suicide, all others murdered. * Chesapeake Rebellion 1730: Largest slave uprising in colonial period. All either murdered or returned to their masters.

West Africans

*Men and women who made the tropical colonies so profitable. * West African societies based on sophisticated farming systems many thousands of years old. * Varieties of household slavery were common in West African societies, although slaves were treated more like family.

The colonial economy

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Wars for Empire

1702 Queen Anne's War: Great Britian won war in Europe. Peace of Utrecht in 1713 French surrendered Port Royal in Acadia and Newfoundland on Hudson Bay. 1739 War of Jenkins ear: English and Spanish in Caribbean. Ended with no territorial gain on either side. 1744-48 King George's war: Great Britain and France in Acadia and Nova Scotia. War ends in stale mate. 1754-63 - French and Indian War: Last of the great colonial wars w/ G,B. and France. Know in Europe as the 7 year war.

African to African American

1774 Group of enslaved Africans petitioned British authorities for their freedom. * "creoles" - Country born slaves.

African American Culture

18th century formative period for development of African American Culture. High birthrate and growing #'d of country born provided the necessary stability for the evolution of culture. Men & women from dozens of African ethnic groups molded themselves into a new people. Distinctive patterns in music, dance, religion, and oral tradition illustrated resilience of the human spirit. * 18th century masters reluctant to allow slaves to convert to Christianity. Fearful would pave way to freedom and give a dangerous brotherhood and equality with their masters. Not until "Great Awakening" seeping across the South just before the American * Revolution that large #'s were converted. * One of the most important developments of the 18th century was the invention of an African American Language.

Slavery: Foundation of the British Economy

3 Ways slavery contributed to the economic development of Great Britain: 1. Created enormous profits for capital investment. 15% slave trade, 10% plantation agriculture. Triangular Trade: Slaves, plantation products, manufactured goods furnished 21-35% of Great Britain's fixed capital formation in the 18th century. 2. Slave colonies in Caribbean supplied 69% of the raw cotton for British textile mills. 3. Slavery provided an enormous stimulus to the growth of manufacturing by creating a huge colonial market for exports. Paved way for beginning of Industrial Revolution.

Slavery and the Economics of Empire

British slave colonies accounted for 95% of exports from the Americas to Great Britain from 1714 to eve of the American Revolution. * Slave trade itself a prime economic importance.

Slavery in Spanish Colonies

Doubts of enslavement raised by church & crown. but sugar production in Cuba was as brutal as history of America. * Florida settlement operated much like household slavery in Africa. 1699* Lower South, Spanish Authorities declared Florida a refuge for escaped slaves, offered free land to any fugitive who would help defend the colony. By 1763 3,000 African Americans made up 25% of St. Augustine's population. * New Mexico Pueblo revolt made Spanish cautious but still enslaved "infidel Indians". employing them as house servants or field workers.

Slavery in the North

Not characterized as having "slave societies" but still very common. 1680's "There was not a house that has not one or two." Common with craftsmen and professionals. * by 1750 slaves and small pop. of free blacks made up 15-20 percent of residents in Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia. * Quakers of Penn. & N.J., many who kept slaves, where among the 1st to voice anti-slavery sentiment. * 1754 "Qualker John Woolman's "Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes" was the 1st antislavery publication in American History

British Colonial Regulation

Parliament passed a series of "Navigation Acts" between 1651-1696 defining the colonies as both suppliers of raw materials and as markets fro English manufactured goods. Merchants from other nations were forbidden from doing business with the colonies and colonies were required to ship commodities in English vessels to England only. * Wool Act of 1699, Hat Act 1732, iron Act 1750, forbade the manufacture of those products in the colonies to not compete with those in England. Banking disallowed as well as coinage and the export of coin from England. * Colonists depended mostly on commodity money (furs, skins, hogsheads of tobacco) and circulation of foreign currency.

Rebelllion in Stonto, South Carolina

September 9, 1739 : The most violent slave uprising of the colonial period. A group of 20 slaves met on the banks of the Stono River 20 miles south of Charles Town, South Carolina. From there they killed 2 storekeepers in Stono Bridge and armed themselves marching Southwest for Florida where they Spanish governor had issued a proclamation promising freedom for all runaway British slaves. Dozens of other slaves joined the march including women and children. They killed every white person they encountered, plundered and burned homes of planters. A total of 23 whites lost their lives. For the planters this was the worst nightmare because enslaved Africans greatly outnumbered white colonists in SC A heavily armed planter posse hunted the group down and opened fire. Those not killed were hunted down and killed by Indian allies. A total of 45 or 50 African Americans died.