Worlds entangled Africa and Atlantic Worlds They resemble

Worlds entangled: Africa and Atlantic Worlds “…They resemble us, but in appearance are the colour of pumpkin-porridge…. They are rude of manners and without any graces or refinement. ” organized, dynamic societies dynamic prior to arrival of Europeans • respond to Europeans in a variety of ways accommodation adoption/adaptation resistance • societies, cultures, economies stressed •

Mercantilism changing the world your goods, your ships, your ports In Europe: new commercial class of people rethinking governance Abroad: they are moving goods people money they have to make ‘sense’ of what they are doing they are responded to in a variety of ways

The Triangular Trade The scale: 12 men in 1441 1460 s - 500 slaves py 1520 - 2, 000 py 17 C – 20 000 py 18 C – 80 000 py 1. European manufactured goods (esp. firearms) sent to Africa 2. African slaves purchased and sent to Americas 3. Cash crops purchased in Americas and returned to Europe

Five minutes Names of five people

Foundation and Nature of the Slave Trade • all societies have had slaves: • practice of slaving in the continent dates to antiquity • war captives • criminals • people expelled from clans • indebted; kidnappings • qualitatively distinct from Asian, European slavery • no private property • therefore wealth defined by human labor potential, not land • slaves often assimilated into owner’s clan • non-permanent status: slave in society, not slave society

Characterizing contact with earlymodern Europe Swahili decline in East Africa • Vasco da Gama • Kilwa forced to pay tribute • by 1505 Portuguese gunships dominated Swahili ports Kingdom of Kongo • contact beginning 1483 • King Nzinga Mbemba (Alfonso I) • Christian convert • trade • local power relations

Slave Raiding in Kongo Portuguese perspective: • Portuguese attempt raiding themselves • weapons trade • dealt with authorities outside Kongo • destabilize regional relations Perspective on the ground • Kongo king appealed to slow trade • relations deteriorate, Portuguese attack Kongo • improved slave market develops in the south

Outside Kongo “equal with Portugal on her death” The Kingdom of Ndongo (Angola) • Ndongo gains wealth and independence from Kongo • resists Portuguese control • Queen Nzinga (r. 1623 -1663) Strategies of resistance: • alliance with Dutch • decline of Ndongo power after her death • connectedness • armed resistance

Horrific Social/Political Impact On African regions: variable resist Rwanda, Bugunda, Masai, benefit Dahomey, Oyo, Asante peoples increased violence in existing regional conflicts

Horrific Social/Political Impact total pop. grows due to crops like manioc or casava but deplete regional populations distorted sex ratios result increased polygamy ♀ acting in traditionally ♂ roles ethnocentrism in modern contact

The Middle Passage Africa → → Americas Historical amnesia and memory: • ‘new’ histories – 1960 s • i. e. Teaching industrial revolution • pop. histories ‘Roots’ Amistad (Spielberg; 1997)

The Resisting Violence Project presents: A panel discussion on sexual violence in our community. With four speakers from different backgrounds and different experiences with the topic, this event aims to raise awareness about sexual violence and what can be done to end it. Thursday 15 November, 7 pm Schwartz 156

The Middle Passage The middle passage • mortality high – between 25% and 30% died • be careful, not a numbers game While watching 1. note Portuguese systems of control 2. note all the varied modes of resistance

Britons understanding their involvement in slaving Olaudah Equiano b. Essaka, Nigeria, 1745 captured at 11; shipped to Barbados and then Virginia owned by: tobacco plantation owner a lieutenant in the English navy (fought against French) shipwright saved £ 40 to buy his own freedom (1768) 1787 involved in government provisioning of Sierra Leone published ‘Narrative of a Life’ m. in Britain with two daughters d. 1797 he says this is wrong and we can change it

Rethinking slaving 1. 2. 3. Wedgewood Evangelicals and reform political outsiders; barred from education industrialists linked (1 st policy groups) imperative to act on faith and change this world Clapham Sect Legal reform Lord Mansfield - Somersett Case (1772) habeus corpus case of the ‘Zong’ (1781) Parliament 1807 ban on importation of slaves 1833 Slavery Abolition Act HUGE debate – why? ?

Sierra Leone a Nova Scotia connection efforts of British philanthropists and missionaries • Granville Sharpe (1787) – society to find place in Africa to settle freed slaves • Why? large, volatile communities in Liverpool, Nova Scotia and, introduce ‘civilized’, Christian blacks as models for the rest of Africa • • by 1800 fractious – no clear leadership nor stability – British role i. e. SPCK in Canada, not for black settlers British administered but, center for trade and evangelical activity

End of the Slave Trade Abolition: Denmark Great Britain United States France Netherlands Spain 1803 1807 1808 1814 1817 1845 In places, possession of slaves remained legal – and clandestine trade continued to at least 1867 Emancipation: British colonies French U. S. Brazil Saudi Arabia/Angola 1833 1848 1865 1888 1960 s

Social and Political Impact In Britain: women started to be respectable radicals increased popular participation in public life gender mattered in defining ‘civilization’ but also: ethnocentrism And finally: History: understand why vs. Journalism: judge the past Instead, change the present recognize/acknowledge your privilege buy ethical chocolate/CLEAN clothes

British start to re-think slaving John Newton (1733 -1807) http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Mxg. O 94 XLFbo http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=O_tb 2 KKj. Up. M