An Essay by Ross Phifer 10/29/24
Slavery has existed throughout the history of humankind. The pyramids in Egypt were built with slave labor on a scale we cannot imagine and applying methods we do not yet understand. The same may be true for the Mayan Temples, the Aztec Temples, and the Moai Megaliths on Easter Island, as they required significant labor beyond the average amounts typically used in each era. We know that slavery was practiced on a massive scale in Egypt and may assume these other monumental projects were achieved with the use of slaves.
SLAVERY is defined as the practice of holding people as chattel, or property, involuntarily and under threat of violence, mainly as laborers.
Most of Europe was controlled by the Romans in the Dark Ages. They lived in their own homes but were forced to offer most of the proceeds from farming and labor to their Roman overlords. The oligarchy in Russia similarly controlled the Serfs. The workers were considered subjects of those overlords but not property. Thus, the term slavery has broad and narrow considerations.
The emancipation of the serfs happened in 1861, and in America, the emancipation of enslaved Black people occurred on January 1, 1863. Thus, there was a worldwide awakening in the 1860s, when slavery was recognized as a bad practice. Laws were created to make the practice unlawful. The Enlightenment did not occur at a single point, and some were slow to realize freedom was a right for all. Slavery still exists today, fortunately in modest numbers but in circumstances that are recognized as unlawful and inappropriate.
Before the 1860s, slavers were not condemned for keeping slaves. Neighbors might not have had slaves of their own, but they did not reject the fact others might think differently. The 1860s period was a significant turning point in history, as worldwide morality took a giant step forward.
THE NEW WORLD was discovered in 1492. Slave trafficking was ongoing at the time. After a few years of additional discovery voyages, the existence of the Americas altered the trafficking significantly.
Before the discovery of the New World, slavery in Africa was a local happenstance. Laborers were needed in the mines. Enterprising and aggressive Africans captured other Africans working near the forests, hunting alone, or traveling. Those taken were solitary people or small groups. The lack of protection created opportunity. These individuals were simply seized and taken to the mines and sold as slaves.
To their friends and fellow tribe members, they disappeared without a trace. They could not be tracked or found as the forest swiftly covered any disturbance or trail. The mass of undergrowth fighting for sunlight covered footfalls or broken branches, leaving no way to find missing people. Then, there were large carnivores hunting in the area; thus, there were multiple possible causes of the disappearances.
Most of the mines were small operations, isolated and kept private. The slaves were not visible to people outside the mining operations. They disappeared and could not be tracked. Escaping was difficult mainly because they were underground much of the time.
Slaves were valuable; thus, the slaver was motivated by greed. They sold slaves and received a monetary reward far above what they would earn otherwise. Historically, this was true across Africa, from the diamond mines in the south to the nomadic tribes in the Sahara. An unprotected individual was at risk. The slaver carried a weapon or rifle in their ordinary work and thus held the power to take an individual. As an economic process, it was tightly controlled. A few fences and guards removed the possibility of escape.
Plantations needed workers; however, they were open farms where slaves would be visible. People could not do farming with restraints. The plantations lacked fences and thus could not restrain workers from walking away and heading back home. So, most local farms or businesses could not take advantage of slavery.
It is a fact Africans were substantially immune to malaria carried by the tsetse fly while Europeans were highly susceptible. Thus, when trafficking shifted to taking slaves out of Africa, most slaves were still captured by Africans and delivered to ships on the coast. In Pre-Gahanna, the Dutch constructed masonry holding forts at some distance up rivers to keep slaves, pending the arrival of ships to transport them to the New World. Two 15th-century examples were Ruyghaver on the Sonoma River and elsewhere Elmina Castle. Ruyghaver was destroyed in an uprising of several tribes (a unique occurrence). Besides these two examples, there were very few inland spots controlled by non-Africans.
Labor needs outside of Africa were minimal until 1492. By the year 1500, the massive labor required in the New World had driven up the price of a slave. Once taken aboard a ship, the enslaved person held no opportunity to escape or return to Africa. The ocean was an insurmountable barrier.
Let’s pause for a moment and discuss mercantile shipping.
Before 1500, the ships were relatively small. Vikings and others used rowing ships, which tended to be long and narrow, with a modest capacity of goods piled down the center aisle. Being aggressive, when the possibility of taking slaves arose, they took the best of the lot to fill empty rowing positions and perhaps one or two extras. The long ships had limited capacity; thus, trafficking was in modest numbers.
The Spanish and Portuguese led wind-driven sailing ship development, as their design was superior, and the vessels were swift and maneuverable yet modest in size. The fact was they were better navigators, better builders, and better sailors in the 1500’s and 1600’s. They routinely sailed south to Africa on trading missions.
Plus, they had a geographical advantage. Due to the Earth’s spinning, the environment has a natural spin. Drains in the Northern Hemisphere empty with a clockwise spin. The Southern Hemisphere drains counterclockwise. At the Equator, there is no spin. The pace of drainage spin increases as one is at a greater distance from the Equator.
Tropical storms start off the east coast of Africa and grow in intensity as they travel Westward against the trade winds. As the storms turn northward on the western side of the Atlantic, they gain speed, and the spin increases to form tropical storms and hurricanes.
Thus, the Spanish and Portuguese faced a calm water crossing, whereas the Europeans faced a stormy North Atlantic that was also wider.
This climate advantage and the fact they were better shipbuilders and navigators enabled the Spanish and Portuguese a significant head start in developing trade with the New World. We know that conquistadors traveled through Mexico and into what is now California before the East Coast of North America was developed.
Consider this following map of the Atlantic dated 1585. It is written in Latin, so the specific names are not necessary.
Note how accurately the coasts of Africa and Europe appear.
In the New World, the difference in detail between the Southern Hemisphere and the Northern Hemisphere is substantial. Also, there are numerous named places in South America, and a dearth of them in the North.
New England had named places, but little was known about them. Cape Cod is not visible, and New York Harbor is confusing to locate. The Carolinas and Florida appear to be better known, but obvious inaccuracies exist in this map.
Slavery ships traveled to established destinations. Thus, the map above reveals a great deal about the slave trade.
A significant demand arose worldwide when sugar was discovered in the New World. This consumer item was not available elsewhere. Naturally, immigrants to South America and the Caribbean began to develop sugar farming and plantations.
Sugar farming is labor-intensive. Sugar fonds are large and heavy and must be carried to fires to be melted and eventually turned into sugar crystals. The land must be cleared of trees and roots so the sugar plants can thrive. In the forest, plants struggle to find space, light, and moisture. Plants in the jungle are immature and grow in cramped conditions. The plantation concept allows the plants freedom to grow, and they grow larger, with a better shape, such that they develop well and taste better. These are natural facts for all kinds of farming.
Building large, prosperous plantations takes significant labor in clearing land, planting crops, and harvesting. Both the worker counts, and the efforts are substantial. Naturally, plantation owners sought inexpensive labor.
The labor need had a massive impact on the slave trade. Sugar was the motivator as its demand caused the need for workers. Remember, the demand for sugar and the trafficking of slaves started before the North American colonies were running strongly.
The labor needs in the colonies and later in the United States grew gradually, and the predominant percentage of slaves arriving in the United States occurred after slavery was outlawed in Ghana in 1808 and before our Civil War, which ended on April 9, 1865. During that period, worldwide trafficking was winding down. Trafficking was outlawed but ongoing when the United States reached its most active stage in securing slaves.
It is essential to understand that those participating in the slave trade were morally deficient. Thus, the fact that it was against the law made little difference to them. And remember that it was not until the 1860s that slavery was deemed unacceptable worldwide.
Consider Exhibit #1, a chart at the end of this presentation, showing the distribution of African slaves in the Americas during the Atlantic trade from 1450 to 1870. It is attached as an exhibit.
South America received 50% of the slaves taken out of Africa. In Brazil, which received 38.2% of those slaves, the influx of laborers was not sufficient to fill the labor need of the sugar plantations, as slaves were also taken in significant numbers from the native population in Brazil.
The Caribbean received 43% of the slaves out of Africa, and that inflow was also to fill the labor needs of the sugar plantations.
Sugar plantations were the dominant labor draw that was filled by unscrupulous traffickers bringing slaves to fill that need.
North America, including the area of Mexico, drew 7% of the slave inflow.
The United States acquired 4.6% of all those slaves.
Richard Keil and Pamula Wallace wrote the life story of a Southern Legislator against slavery in their book “The True Story of Cassius Clay: Kentucky Lion.” The book revealed that only 4% of American households had slaves. (Richard Keil was prominently recognized as Jaws, the arch-villain and rival of James Bond. He was 7’2″ tall and wore steel teeth in several movies. The fact Keil was a scholar was not publicly known.)
Cotton and tobacco plantations were a lesser draw for slave labor.
Indeed, 300 years of trafficking occurred before the United States became seriously involved. American education focuses on the trade triangle: slaves out of Africa to the states, then cotton out of the US delivered to Europe, then another trip to Africa to deliver manufactured goods, and then to pick up slaves. That narrow local focus masks the mechanics that existed to draw slaves out of Africa. As a result, many Americans do not hold a comprehensive understanding of slave trafficking in this era.
It is incorrect to cast ethnicity or race as having a role in slavery. Africans were involved in capturing slaves and transporting them to the African coast. Transporting slaves across the ocean was multinational, and the ship owners were often of a different nationality and race than the merchantmen onboard the ships.
Summary
- Africans played a significant role in taking slaves, bringing them to the coast, and delivering them into trafficking.
- The need for sugar was by far the enabling labor need that motivated the trafficking.
- 93% of the slaves taken out of Africa over 420 years were brought to South America and the Caribbean.
- Of the remaining 7%, 4.6% of the slaves were taken to the United States or the colonies preceding the union of those states.
- In his book The Atlantic Slave Trade A Census, Philip D. Curtin states that as many slaves were taken to the island of Barbados as were brought to the US and its colonies.
This essay provides a myth-shattering perspective that stands as the natural history of slaves taken out of Africa over this period.
The Author, Ross Phifer
Reference: The Atlantic Slave Trade A Census
Author Philip D. Curtin
Publisher: The University of Wisconsin Press
1969
ISBN 0-299-05404-7. LC 69-17325