The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade - Research Paper Example

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Introduction The time period between the 16th and 18th centuries witnessed around 20 million Africans being transferred to America by crossing the Atlantic. This was the trans-Atlantic slave trade. West Africa was the source of these African slaves and they were mainly made to work on plantations in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. The African slaves taken captive had an average life span of just five to seven years and therefore their demand continued to grow during the 18th century and thus the trades started digging interior Africa for their supply. The trans-Atlantic slave trade has normally been considered only regarding the adults. However, now children’s experiences are also being counted. According to an estimate children made up one quarter of the African slaves made to migrate to America. In spite of this big number there is indeed a lack of sources and apparently no importance is given to what the children experienced, leaving their voices unheard. Enslavement Children were very unwilling to participate in the slave trade and in spite of their age they saw themselves captured and in imprisonment after war. The women, children and the older people became particularly vulnerable after their men were killed during war; the ones who were spared death were then ransomed or even sold as slaves. After military expeditions there were commercial caravans that actually brought textiles and important goods and traded the slaves with those. Another way of acquiring slaves, particularly children, was through kidnapping and this method was more common in certain regions in West Africa. Kidnapping was done when the kids were away from their parents or guardians, maybe simply playing outside, working in fields or taking a calm walk. This was not the only way, however, and the traders even bought children from their families who were more than willing to “sell” them for money since they were desperate for money and food. Still others were pawned or bargained by their parents, or used to repay debts or given to be acquitted of any crime they or their family members might have committed. Weak children were also sometimes sold and so were the ones whom their parents thought brought them ill luck. The upcoming events after the capture were a nightmare for the slaves. The traders sold off some children to be sent for the coast while others were sold many times. Several of these kids remained within Africa only and became slaves to whoever bought them. Many others could not survive the sea route. The ones who were able to reach the coast alive were taken to a factory or post where merchants bought them and kept them inside prisons with the other slaves. These children were then completely stripped and their bodies were rubbed with palm oil. Many times their heads were also shaven. After the merchants had bought their slaves they “branded” them in order to make sure that their “property” does not get mixed up with someone else’s and they are able to distinctly make out which their cargo is. The brand was normally a symbol on their chest or back. The Middle Passage According to the slave traders the individuals less than 4’4’’ in height were considered to be children and these children were permitted to stay on the deck with the women. These deck people were, on rare occasions, given certain favors such as giving them old clothes, teaching them how to play certain games or even how to sail. Some children, however, did not play or eat while others preferred to stay with the women and cry all night. If a child was taller than the specified height he was automatically kept with the adults and there they were treated like an adult too. The conditions there were worse and there was no concept of hygiene. If they cried or did not eat or sleep they were punished harshly. Cugoano was one of the slaves captured and later on he wrote about the experiences that he and his fellow slave colleagues had to go through. At one place in his book he writes: When a vessel arrived to conduct us away to the ship, it was a most horrible scene; there was nothing to be heard but rattling of chains, smacking of whips, and the groans and cries of our fellow-men. Some would not stir from the group, when they were lashed and beat in the most horrible manner1 It was only rare that children were treated with favors; most of the time the majority of them had to undergo similar, if not same, treatment as the adults with them. Although the favors they were given did allow them to survive more they still did not, in any way, protect them from beatings, malnourishment and sickness. These journeys were normally of one to three months and during this time a large number of children died, mostly because of illnesses like yaws and intestinal worms and at times because the sick ones were simply thrown off the ship in case their disease spreads off to the rest of the slaves. The First African Slaves Arrive in Virginia It was in 1916 when the first Africans saw the coast of English North America and reached Virginia. These were not truly slaves, however, and they were treated like indentured servants. Thus, a large number of these Africans managed to free themselves after working the specified number of years while some got their freedom by becoming Christians2. Besides importing the Africans the English colonists also started kidnapping Native Americans and making slaves out of them. A lot of these Native Americans slaves were transported to the Caribbean. Several of them, however, managed to free themselves by escaping toe Florida where alleging to the king of Spain and accepting the Catholic Church allowed them freedom. However, this was not to last long and during the late 17th century and early 18th century there were new but cruel slave laws implemented which made a direct blow on the African slaves’ rights, cutting off their means of escaping. One such was a 1691 Virginia law according to which the slaveholders were not allowed to liberate their slaves until and unless the latter himself paid for transportation charges for leaving Virginia3. Interracial marriages became a crime in Virginia and other laws were also passed that limited the Africans’ rights, such as voting, holding office and bearing arms4. The Atlantic Slave Trade to North America Just about 5% of the Africans captured for slavery were sent to British North America. A huge majority ended up in the Caribbean sugar colonies, Brazil or Spanish America. Tropical disease was very common in the whole of America but more so in the Caribbean and thus they needed to replace the slave population quickly. It was malnourishment, insufficient clothing and shelter and too much work which led to such a high mortality rate. The slave population managed to increase themselves in the British North America but this was not the case in the Caribbean. This might have been due to insufficient and unhealthy food, no sexual exposure and sickness. Even the ones who did reproduce did not help since just a quarter of the babies managed to survive the horrible conditions of the plantations. Till the 18th century most of the trading companies preferred not to buy African children as slaves and they even tried that their captains did not. This was because the children turned out to be risky and those traders who had bought them actually went in loss. Children were more vulnerable to disease, more particularly the younger ones, and thus the traders were not able to make profits on them. Besides that, children, no matter how hard they were made to work, could not perform hard labor neither could they reproduce thus providing them with future labor. Therefore, it was difficult to sell children in West Indian markets unless a merchant actually asked for them. This system was implemented only till the middle of the 18th century after which the planters started depending more on the youngsters. Abolitionist movements were starting to take place and they posed a threat to their slave supply. Thus, they decided to import younger slaves since they would probably live longer. Resultantly, now demand for children rose significantly in the slave markets. Ironically, abolitionist sentiment lead to a change in the way the 18th century people defined risk, investment and profit. Plantocracy had started purchasing breeding women and kids for saving personal economic interests, and with them the traders changed their concepts regarding profit and risk and the ideas of child worth were altered around the whole of Atlantic region. The Rise of the Anti-Slavery Movement A time was reached when the slaves decided they had had enough and the African and African-American slaves rose their voices against slavery by means of armed protests, one such being the Stono Rebellion and another the New York Slave Insurrection in 17415. The slaves malingered, broke their tools and very often ran away from their masters for some time or forever. It was in 1776 that Philadelphia Yearly Meeting officially sanctioned slavery. After the Revolution slavery was prohibited in all the northern states and the last state to carry out that action was New Jersey, in 1804. By 1808 all the states, save South Carolina, had put a ban on the international exchange and trade of slaves. President Thomas Jefferson said about this trade as being “violations of human rights which have been so long continued on the unoffending inhabitants of Africa, in which the morality, the reputation, and the best interests of our country have long been eager to proscribe”6. It was on his advice that the congress finally prohibited this trade in 1807. Domestic slave trade, however, remained unaffected till later when slavery was abolished all together. Bibliography Cugoano, Quobna. Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species. Dawsons Pall Mall, 1969. Read More