history

• Slave


  A person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them
• From 1451 to 1870, about twelve million Africans from West Africa were sent to America as slaves
• Slavery


  A condition in which individuals are owned by others, who control where they live and what work they do
• Slave trade


  The procuring, transporting, and selling of human beings as slaves, in particular the former trade of black Africans as slaves by European countries and America
• People were captured in West Africa and were transported as slaves across the Atlantic Ocean
• Slave traders bought their slaves on the west coast of Africa from Africans who had captured ordinary people
• The slaves were transported in overcrowded ships and many of them died during the voyage
• Plantation owners in America needed a huge labour force to be able to keep up with Britain's demand for raw materials
• The raw materials produced on the plantation, like sugar, rice, cotton and tobacco, were shipped to factories in Europe
• Manufactured goods were then sold in Europe and in West Africa
• Slaves were sold at auctions, just like cattle
• The slaves were treated very poorly
• Nat Turner, John Brown and Joseph Cinque

  • Led rebellions against slave owners
• Harriett Tubman


  • Involved in the Underground Railways which helped slaves to escape to the northern states of America
• Britain also benefitted from the trade in slaves and work done by slaves
• West African countries


  • Benin
  • Burkina Faso
  • Ivory Coast
  • Cape Verde
  • Gambia
  • Ghana
  • Guinea
  • Guinea-Bissau
  • Liberia
  • Mali
  • Mauritania
  • Niger
  • Nigeria
  • Senegal
  • Sierra Leone
  • Togo
• The first Europeans arrive in West Africa in the 1400's
• Before this time, there had been advanced and powerful civilisations in West Africa, including the empire of Mali, Ghana and Songhai
• Most West Africans lived in settled farming societies, growing food to feed themselves and their families, and trading any surplus
• West Africans had become wealthy by trading with Arabs from North Africa and East Africa
• There was strong political control and they had powerful armies which conquered neighboring communities and incorporated them into their territories
• Timbuktu was a world-famous Islamic learning centre
• Long before the beginning of the slave trade to America, West Africa had well-developed and highly organised societies
• The people of the Songhai Empire were skilled in medicine, mathematics and astronomy
• Craftsmen and artisans produced beautiful artwork throughout West Africa, famous for its bronze, ivory and gold works of art
• The region had three distinct empires, Mali, Ghana and Songhai

  
• Slaves in West Africa before the Europeans


  People who were captured in battle, were criminals, were bought to perform unskilled work or domestic labour, or might later become soldiers
• Arab Muslims raided and traded for black African slaves in West Africa, sending thousands to North Africa, parts of the Middle East and southern Europe
• Later, kings like Mansa Musa, raided their weaker neighbours and sold their captives as slaves, also keeping slaves of their own to use as soldiers and workers in gold mines and on farms
• Slaves were usually exchanged for horses, with 15 or 20 slaves traded for one Arabian horse
• Britain established several colonies in North America, which became the original states of the USA and the early provinces of Canada
• Slaves from Africa were first brought to the American colonies during the 1600s to work on the plantations in the American South
• Tobacco plantations


  • Smaller than sugar plantations, required only about 20 or 30 slaves
• Sugar cane plantations


  • Large, often with more than 50 slaves
• Rice plantations


  • Large, required at least 30 slaves per plantation, but the land was unhealthy for slaves due to being wet, swampy and full of disease
• Cotton plantations


  • Became very popular due to high demand for cotton and the invention of the cotton gin
• Some American states, such as Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, had huge cotton plantations, where slave overseers were often very cruel
• Reasons for using slave labour

  The South had huge plantations and needed many more workers than the North, plantation owners preferred workers with no claim to the crops, and as slaves were property the owners had power to treat them as they wished
• Corn, pigs and other types of food were provided for slaves, but many died due to overwork and cruel punishment as the owners didn't care as long as there was a good supply of slaves
• Slaves were often bought from African slave traders, who were powerful men bartering or exchanging household slaves for goods, but slaves were also hunted and captured against their will by the European traders