Willem Bosman, a Dutch Trader, Describes the Details of Bargaining for Slaves - Term Paper Example

 “Willem Bosman, a Dutch Trader, Describes the Details of Bargaining for Slaves” Introduction The annals of African-American history are full with tales of sadness and despair with scarcely a ray of hope in sight. Blacks had been uprooted from their families and life in the African continent and rudely transported halfway across the world by slave traders. Europeans needed cheap labor to work on their plantations. History records that the first lot of slaves arrived at Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 when Dutch traders sold 19 blacks as indentured servants to the local plantation owners. Eventually the practice of indentured servitude and subsequent freedom began to be replaced by outright slavery as practiced in the Caribbean islands. From 1619 to 1865, blacks were bought and sold in slave markets. Despite only about 300,000 slaves entering the shores of America, they have a rich and eventful history and by about 1700, 10 percent of the population of the American colonies consisted of slave labor. However in localities such as Northampton, these people not only acquired property but formed families and provided for the welfare of their children, much like white folks. What is even more surprising that despite their sad past, they did not shy away from the white population and exist in their own exclusive community- rather they mixed with the local population and earned a name for themselves by being industrious and dealing in equal measure with whites, servants and slaves. Discussion In ‘Myne Owne Ground’, the authors Breen and Innes explore the antecedents and arrival of the blacks on Virginia’s Eastern Shores during the period 1640-1676. The surviving records are remarkably rich in detail, providing names like Payne, Emanuel, Driggus, Cane, Francisco and Grace. There were first names as well as family names; also reference to relationships like the term ‘wife’(Breen & Innes, 69). Records indicate that as much as 29 percent of the black population had gained freedom by 1668, a figure that stands out in all of black history. Some blacks arrived in Virginia via the West Indies, along with the sugar crops and it could be safely assumed that after spending a year in Barbados, they could speak English like a native and had also been exposed to the diseases and atmosphere of this new world. Going forward to the record of the Dutch trader Willem Bosman as recorded in 1701, he narrates the conditions of bargaining in the slave labor market and begins with the astonishing assertion that in conditions of slow economic growth, slave trading was a highly lucrative enterprise, even more advantageous than dealing in gold. Bosman notices that the practice of assigning the responsibility of the management of this trade to the captains of the ships did not always turn out beneficial for the slaves- in fact quite the contrary. Captains had too much responsibility on their hands already and could not be expected to handle the additional burden of looking after slave cargo. After a trader arrived at Fida and had satisfied the greed of the rulers by bribing them 100 pounds in Guinea currency equivalent, he was free to trade as he wished. But before he could do so, he was obliged to buy the King’s stock of slaves, that too at a price double or triple their going value in the slave market. If the King had no slaves, the factors were obliged to trust their lot of 200 odd slaves to the local inhabitants to be sold off in inland and remote regions, much in the same way as beasts of burden. For those humane enough to imagine that the sale of slaves meant the dissolution and seperation of their family unit, it was usually held that the slaves were prisoners of war anyway. When it comes to the matter of their trading, the slaves who are held in prison upon their arrival are brought out, stripped naked both men and women, and inspected minutely by chirurgeons. The good are placed on one side and the lame or faulty on another. These may be seperated by reason of vile disposition, disability or injury, cataract, venereal disease or any other such malady, including old age. Among the good, it is entered who they belong to, they are numbered and then branded on the breast by a hot iron. This marking seems cruel but necessary, as it is the only way to distinguish them from the slaves of the English and the French, and at the same time prevent their exchange for another more weak specimen, which has been known to happen. The prices of the slaves being already established, there is seldom a lot of bargaining, the women sold at one-fourth or a fifth of the price of a man. After the slaves have been traded, they are put back in quarters and kept in stock for the eventual carry away by their owner. They cost two pence a day to be fed on bread and water. However to save this cost they are usually transported to the ships at the first opportunity, being stripped naked on arrival and kept that way or covered at the master of the ship’s discretion. Bosman at this point remarks at the apparent civility of the Dutchman in handling the slave cargo, for though they usually number seven hundred or more, they are kept in conditions that are generally cleaner and neater than their French, Portuguese and English counterparts (Hines et al., 44). Men and women were sepreated and kept apart. Bosman goes on to explain that sometimes it happens that one group of slaves convince another that their masters are cannibals and they are being taken to a place where they will be made a meal of. When the other group is convinced and panic sets in, the only way out is to kill off the ship’s crew and take over. Bosman records that he has twice been witness to such events- the second time assisting in slaying the main ringleader and restoring order to the ship. On that instance, the captain had made the mistake of taking on an old ship’s anchor on board and leaving it in the company of the slaves. Coming upon a hammer, they used the anchor as a base on which to break their fetters and taking some guns down below, came on board to attack the ship’s crew and take over the ship. As luck would have it, the captain sent out a distress signal to a nearby French and English ship, who approached to see what was afoot, and with their men drove back and suppressed the slave rebellion, but not before twenty slaves had been killed. Comparing their fate to the Portuguese, Willem Bosman writes that the Portuguese have been less fortunate to lose more than four ships in this way in four months (Hines et al., 44). Conclusion We are thus treated to a rare and personal account of slave trading and bargaining in slaves in 1701, as narrated by Willem Bosman, a Dutchman. He writes with a sincerity of purpose that not only recounts the actual facts but mixes it with empathy and feelings for the slaves as well. We see that they have been summarily uprooted from their homelands, taken by force on ship, transported and kept in appalling conditions en route, treated worse than animals if there was any sign of restraint or resistance, and once at their destination, told to dismbark, put in guarded cells and fed just on bread and water. The event of their sale is no less demeaning as they were stripped, evalutated, priced, sold and branded with their owner’s mark, just like cattle. Given these realities, it is really heartening to see that former slaves, now free men in Virginia, were able to rise up from their inglorious past and reassert themselves as equals to the white man, even as their brethren were still enduring the chains of slavery so many miles away. Works Cited Breen, T.H & Innes, Stephen. ‘Myne Owne Ground’: Race and Freedom on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, 1640-1676. 25th Anniversary Edition, Oxford University Press, 2005.   Hine,Darlene; Hine, William & Harrold, Stanley.’Willem Bosman, A Dutch Trader, Describes the Details of Bargaining for Slaves’. From African Americans: A Concise History, Special Edition (3rd ed)’, Prentice Hall, 2009. Read More