Slavery existed in precolonial Africa. Africans could sell themselves or their dependents into slavery, effectively creating a ransom type situation. This would allow themselves or their dependents (the process was largely focused on children) to survive and over time their descendants would be incorporated into the extended family lineage of their owners. It would also their owners to augment their wealth-in a society with available land but few people-wealth was measured in part by the control over people. War captives (often women) could become slaves but their children were rarely slaves, often having the position of the father. Slaves could become trusted workers or tax-collectors for the local rulers as well, in the process accumulating some wealth and showing economic mobility. Those enslaved were often women-important for food production while those exported in the Atlantic slave trade were mostly (roughly 60%) male-whose labor was needed for the backbreaking work on the sugar plantation.

The slave trade also exported slaves-either from West Africa through the Saharan Desert to North Africa or from Central and East Africa to the East African coast (where many would then be exported throughout the Indian Ocean World) The idea is that in most sub-Saharan African societies, slavery was a fluid concept, not based on race and without the same multi-generational consequences as plantation slavery (especially as it emerged in the Americas) and even where a slave trade existed-it was never as severe or depopulating as the Atlantic slave trade was.

Africans were key in allowing the slave trade to function-but participants would not view the process as Africans enslaving other Africans and it was the growing demand for plantation labor that created the high demand for enslaved Africans. Captives were forcibly taken from the interior by local slaving parties and often traded several times as kidnapped Africans were marched to the African coast. African rulers and merchants along the coast largely controlled the supply of captives and exhibited a great deal of local power-they could set prices (open to negotiation) and grant or deny permission to trade. Europeans slave ship captains would then buy the slaves, often in small numbers and often at multiple ports along the West African Coast.

The Middle Passage, the ship voyage from the African Coast to the New World, was highly traumatic. Taking between one and three months, Africans suffered in dark, overcrowded, disease-ridden and feces infested holds on the ship and being fed little food and water and suffering from dysentery and smallpox. It was additionally disorientating as traditional notions of measuring time and distance were disrupted, the dead were not given proper burials (in fact sharks were known to follow slave ships) and victims largely possessed only limited knowledge about where the ship was headed or what their future entailed. Rape and sexual relations with female slaves was often common in exchange for slightly better treatment or food.Death rates averaged around 20% with the desire to ensure the survival of as many slaves as possible the only limitation. Agency was still maintained by those involved–many slaves were from the same region, providing a degree of comfort, and uprisings occurred on upwards of ten percent of all ships (however most failed). Even the slave ships crews suffered, with on average about 10-15% dying and the West African coast being quickly dubbed “the white man’s grave.”

Figure 10: A Cross section of a slave ship (used for abolitionist purposes)

People in History: Ancona Robin John and Little Ephraim Robin John:

The Robin Johns were part of the ruling family of Old Calabar (located in present day Nigeria) under Grandy King George. Under his rule, the city dominated the local slave trade, the family and merchants became wealthy (and imported goods from Europe) and the city generally prospered. The king’s soldiers would kidnap surrounding people and sell them to European merchants. Thus, showing both the violence associated with the slave trade and the high degree of local African control over it. However, an upstart rival city (known as Duke Town) worked with incoming Europeans to attack the city. After the successful attack, the two Johns and many from Old Calabar were enslaved and exported to the Americas. However, the two Johns were able to call upon their connections and while briefly docked at Bristol were able to sue for their freedom whereby they returned to Old Calabar. Still, the city struggled to recover the the violence of the slave trade continued.

Figure 11: An Advertisement Showing Slaves for Sale

The best (yet still conservative estimate) is that 10.7 million people survived the Middle Passage and arrived in the New World. African culture, identity and views survived and combined with local customers to forge a new identity. Africans increasingly saw themselves as part of the larger African diaspora. At the same time, those who survived were doomed to work as slaves for the rest of their lives. Taking the vast majority of slaves, were Brazil and the Caribbean-here slaves worked on sugar plantations in grueling conditions often to die within 5-10 years of arrival. British North America (then the United States) imported fewer overall slaves and allowed for the development of slave families (and the natural reproduction of the slave population) but, after the spread of cotton as a major crop, witnessed its own horrific internal slave market.

Fighting the Slave Trade

Figure 12: An abolitionist cartoon highlighting the humanity of slaves

In late 1781, the crew on the slave ship Zongwas off course and behind schedule and, overcrowded since the start of the voyage, consequently started running out of drinkable water. With the death of the captive slaves likely, the crew was desperate. In part to save some of the slaves and also in order to claim the insurance money on the loss of slaves, the crew killed 133 of their slaves by throwing them overboard. The slave ship owners needed to sue for the loss of the slaves which the insurers refuse to pay. The first trial found in favor of the owners (and that the slaves were indeed cargo). The insurers appealed and the judge (Lord Mansfield) found that the crew was at fault and the insurers not responsible to pay.

As the slave trade continued to expand–peaking in the 1780s with over 80,000 slaves transported to the Americas on an annual basis, many in Europe began to debate the morality of the slave trade. Combining the ideas of the Enlightenment with a religious, evangelical element, many religious groups and politicians began attacking the slave trade (they viewed the slave trade as the more vulnerable target and allowed them to ignore the question of what would happen to the formerly enslaved population). Forming clubs, circulating petitions, lobbying the government and developing a grassroots campaign, the issue soon became a major debate in Britain (Denmark had already outlawed the slave trade in 1803). Developing the modern idea that slavery was less practical than wage labor and arguing that ending slavery was an economic necessity helped cause the British government to outlaw British participation of the slave trade in 1807. The abolitionists also arrange for the British Royal Navy to police the West African coast to further limit the slave trade and caused a tremendous drop in slave trade itself. However, slave traders responded with increased violent to avoid capture and increased stealth to limit detection.

Slave owners responded with a variety of creative arguments. Slave owners and their supporters argued that slaves were an economic necessity and raised the delicate question of what role freed slaves would have in the new society. Others raised points that included connections to ancient Greece and Rome, saying that such great societies possessed slaves. Racial evolution arguments were developed as justification for slavery. Emancipation itself did not occur almost a generation later- 1833 in British colonies, 1848 in French colonies, 1865 in the United States and 1888 in Brazil. The British state compensate slave owners with 40 million pounds for the loss of their labor force. The system of slavery in the United States was essentially replaced by a new system of sharecropping and the denial of legal and political rights to former slaves. Furthermore, Europeans used the idea of slavery and a still-existing East African slave trade to morally justify their colonization of the continent in the second half of the 19th century. Certainly, slavery continues in the present day and conditions of highly exploitative slave-like labor continue as well. The desire for an inexpensive and vulnerable workforce continued during this period and continues through the present.