Atlantic slave trade

• Bristol ports

  Benefits:

  -Position on the West Coast of England gave them an advantage

  -Had a course relationship of trust with the slave traders in Africa
• London port

  Benefits:

  -1833 to 98 London was the only port allowed to trade slaves
• Liverpool port

  benefits:

  -much cheaper to crew a slave ship at Liverpool so their ports were used the most

  -had deep water fronts-so really easy to dock ships

  -merchants avoided paying taxes by importing goods to Isle of Man
• Manchester City

  -important textile centre made cloth from African picked cotton and sold the cloth back to Africa
• Birmingham city

  -largest gun producing town
• Bristol city

  -Centre of a booming sugar import trade

  -22 sugar houses
• London city

  -became the financial centre of the slave trade provided insurance for merchants

  -Bank such as Lloyds developed

  -Bank of England made
• Liverpool city

  -Provided lots of jobs for shipbuilders and sailors

  -Cotton Mills in Lancaster grew
• Glasgow city

  -produce tobacco Lord such as Buchanan and Glassford due to the selling and profiting of tobacco
• Punishments on plantations

  -Hanging publicly

  -Thumb screws

  -Beaten until bones broken

  -Halters Put around necks

  -Leg cut off
• Reason for lack of slave resistance on plantations

  -Harsh punishments

  -No energy due to limited food

  -Unaware of where they were

  -Slaves were separated

  -drivers didn’t want to lose their privileges
• Resistance on plantations

  Passive::

  -working slow, damaging equipment

  Active:

  -Running away

  -Breaking tools

  -Setting fire to plantations

  -House saves poisoned food
• conditions faced by factory slaves

  -Works under hot conditions

  -had to feed sugarcane into rollers so they often got their fingers trapped in the rollers
• Role of a house slave

  -Cook clean all day

  -Clean up after own

  -Female slaves were taken advantage by male owners

  -Often treated better than other slaves due to their relationship with the family
• Living conditions on plantations

  -Houses barely furnished

  -Lived in hot made of Stone or wood
• Slave driver advantages

  -Better houses, mosquito curtains, pillow, mattress

  -Small shed for cooking in
• Preparation of slaves for auction

  -Scrub til a layer of skin removed

  -Whip scars filled in with hot tar

  -Rubbed with oil

  -Head shaved to hide true age
• Middle passage treatment

  -Only allowed on deck for one to 2 hours a day for air and exercise

  -Locked under deck very overcrowded with low ceilings

  -Fed two times a day

  -Only allowed a pint of water a day

  -Women had childbirth under board

  -disease spread very quickly e.g. Scarlet fever
• Slave factories

  eg- el mina and cape coast castle

  conditions

  -kept in dungeons

  -Kept in Constant near darkness

  -chained day and night with shackles attached to the ankles of 2 male slaves
• Triangular trade journey

  -Leave Britain sailed to France and Spain to buy wine and brandy, then sail to Africa to trade cargo for slaves, then sail to the West Indies saves were sold at auctions to plantation owners

  -Ships sealed back to Britain with slave produced goods like tobacco, cotton and sugar
• Allowances

  religion-

  -one day off a month

  allowed to go to church on Sundays

  culture

  • story telling

  family

  -marriage between slaves encouraged in the late 18 century

  -plantation owners encouraged slaves to have kids so they were new slaves
• African tribes

  Ashanti empire

  -built up a trade with Europe in which they would trade their own people that were prisoners to sell to Europeans for cloth and guns

  Kingdom of dahomey

  -organise raids in neighbouring lands to capture people to sell as slaves to Europeans
• Impact of slave trade on African societies

  -Racism-propaganda used by supporters meant that racist ideas about African inferiority lasted for years

  -Culture-crafts were destroyed with cheap European imports as they couldn’t compete

  -Less food supply-land was left uncultivated due to the loss of young farmers

  -Tribal conflict-encouraged war upon tribes as European weapons caused some to be more powerful than others

  -Inbalance in population-young and fit Africans enslaved leaving all order Africans

  -Decrease in population- young fit africans away so less people to reproduce
• Reasons for Caribbean suffering as a result of a slave trade

  -Beauty of the land was destroyed-lots of plantations

  -Animals habitats were destroyed-plantations wiped out their habitat

  -arwaks wiped out-died due to disease from the Europeans

  -Racism-created the idea of white superiority between the owners and the slaves

  -overreliance on sugar production-Barbados was exporting 93% of sugar made
• Reasons for continued support for the slave trade

  -Brought many jobs for shipyards-threaten 4000 marine jobs if abolished

  -Products were in high demand-people fearedthey couldn’t live without it

  -Would cause economic damage-Bristol city estimating to lose 60% of its trade

  -Feared free slaves would cause them to get revenge-didn’t want what happened in Saint Dominic to happen to them

  -mps Had financial interest in the trade-wished it to continue

  -people thought slaves had it easier-felt they were more hard-working so should keep receiving luxuries
• arguments against slave trade

  -Broke several of the 10 Commandments

  -Could be produced cheaper by free workers in Bengal

  -God created mankind as brother and sisters

  -It was inhumane
• Abolitionists

  William Wilberforce-MP was in a position of power to bring the suffering of Africans to attention, introduce a bill to Parliament every year from 1789 to 1806

  Granville Sharp- political reformer who saved Africans from being sent back to slavery-fought legal battles

  jasiah wedgewood-Businessman, who designed an emblem for the abolition Society Called am I not a man and a brother?
• Abolitionists


  People who campaigned to end slavery
• Thomas Clarkson


  • Dedicated his life to ending slavery
  • Grew up in a religious household where slavery was morally wrong
  • Used public talks using an African box to show cruelty towards slaves - manacles, leg irons and thumbscrews
• Thomas Clarkson interviewed over 20,000 people involved in the slave trade to gather evidence against it
• Olaudah Equiano


  • Captured as a slave at age 11
  • Escaped and then learned how to read and write
  • Wrote an autobiography in 1789 about his slave experience
• John Newton


  • Former slave ship captain who turned angelic priest after he had a violent fever aboard a voyage and asked for God's mercy
  • Claimed it was the turning point in his life
  • Wrote a book of hymns, including 'Amazing Grace'