History Lecture – September 12, 2013Lecture: Africa, Slavery, and the Atlantic WorldReadings: - James Gronniosaw, “A narrative of the most remarkable particulars in the life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw,” http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=GroGron.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1 -Olaudah Equiano, “Olaudah Equiano Recalls the Middle Passage,” from The Life of Olaudah Equiano, http://www.historytools.org/sources/equiano.pdf -Willem Bosman, “ An Eyewitness Describes the Slave Trade in Guinea” http://college.cengage.com/history/world/resources/students/primary/eyewitness.htm -ART pgs. 158-159, 188-191, 194-195, 198-201, 264-265Focus Questions:1. What were the different types of slave trades in Africa? How did they work?2. How did the slave traders try to de-humanize Africans?West Africa:Power and wealth- inexplicably connected to trade, just like slavery.Transahran Trade Routes - dominate slave trade in AfricaDominate power in Africa- Songhay (Songhai) Empire- Capital Gao Songhai Empire- had powerful military- would import salt - would export gold and slaves- is a muslim empire, built mosks and Islamic schools- the city of tomboucto is home to a major ismalic university- Leaders believe practicing islam will help them have peaceful interactions with north Africa, theyre main trading partnerSunni Ali Tondibi- capable leader, who when passes the empire goes into regressionIn 1590 Morocow will invade the empire- morocan army is smaller, and had to cross the sahran desertto get to the1591 these two forces meet – at Tondibi – - Morocans are tired and smaller than Songhai empire- But they have guns and the Songhai do not- Songhai plan with a thousand head of cattle, but no guns, to cause a stampede of cattle to punch through the morrocan army- But the stampede starts and the cattle get scared by the guns and turn around- The Songhai is damagedAlong with external threat from morrocans, people in Songhai empire fight back too- the Songhai empire will fall- & several douzen kingdoms and cities states rise to replace the empire, a larger empire does not replace themAt this point European Middle Africa:Two main empires- Kongo & Ndongo- The kings of the Kongo convert to chrisitiny and swear to uphold Portugeals economic requests- In return for what the portugese are doing for the Kongo, they expect rare goods, like ivy, slaves, and - Portugese take lead in transatlantic slave trade- The relationship between these two begins to deteriorate, the Kongo want to slow the moving of people into slave trade down- The Portugese don’t get what they want from the king, moreslaves, and move to smaller cities and states. This weakens the kings power.- The Kongo become less important couse of thisNgola – Ndongo- portugese transfer here- the slave trade here is making the portugese so wealthy that they want this African country to be a portugese city, for slave trade capital1623 – 1663 – Capble ruler – Queen Nzinga – requests to be called King during wars- leads incredible power and influence- forms an alliance of central African states- alliance with the dutch navy, European powers, and African powers- her ultimate goal in the alliance is to force the portugese off the continent & to - she is able to slow the portugese down, but is unable to stopthem completely- after her death, the port. Will succed at making a capital in AfricaThe atlantic Slave Trade – 15th century to the 19th century- slavery existed in Africa before this though- ways people become slave: society outcasts, war captives, and- slaves in Africa would lose all rights, masters didn’t have to worry about legal problems, could be sold at anytime to anyone- most slaves would work in augriculture- others may find themselves working as soldiers and advisors in the Songhai empire, to form alleate infantry, theywere more reliable - African families would assimilate the slaves into their family- With this assimilation sometimes came freedomTrans-Saharan (Islmaic) Slave Trade- north Africa - been around since 8th century- If supply could not reach demand, there would often be raids of villages- Trans sharan slave trade inslaved as many as 10 million AfricansThe Atlantic Slave trade- has humble beginnings, first account of slave trade in atlantic region was 1441- portugese kidnapped 12 african men and take them back to portugeal- initially they tried to replicate this act- but when tried to replicate it, they were outnumbered and killed- instead they began buying slaves on the open market from AfricaIn the 2nd half of 1400s- portugeal begin taking about 500/slaves a year- portugeal is exploring west half off Africa earlier in 1400s and find islands….they go back here to take Africans - they set up some sort of a laboratory for the plantation augriculture- portugeals aspect or side or role will explode in the 1530sPortugeal begins taking slaves to Brazil- work on sugar caneSoon Spain begins inslaving people also- they tried native americans, but because of warfare and disease, it didn’t workThe movement of slaves from Africa to N.A.- the triangular slave/atlantc trade1. begins in Europe, ships weighted down with cargo, go to Africa, unload cargo and load up with slave, then unload slaves, then load up with American augricultural products, then they take these products to Europe- every aspect of slave trade was involved with violence- some African kingdoms go to war just with the sole purposeof getting slaves to kidnap- African families are being torn up, a kidnapped victim just never comes home- Criminal begin kidnapping people to get rich quickOne slaves get to coast- put in slave pins- wait for arrival of European boats- the middle passage, the voyage from Africa to the Americas, takes about 4-6 weeks for trip- slaves are packed into the cargo holds, just like they are any other cargo- theyre treated not like passages, but seen as cargo- the merchants, captain, and crews, wanted as many slaves on ship as possible, to make more money for themselves- slaves are chained together at feet and neck- makes them more controllable, also there to keep them from jumping overboard, because you would take others next to youwith you- once the ships set sail, they are at the mercy of the captain- genocide type of behaviorsThe Zong Ship- an English vessel- in 1781 while ship is on middle passage, it gets lost in the carribean- soon the ship runs