Africa and the
Transatlantic Slave Trade
Slavery
has long existed in human societies, but the transatlantic slave trade is
unique in terms of the destructive impact it had on Africa. How did it shape
the fortunes of an entire continent?
Beginnings
From the
middle of the 15th century, Africa entered into a unique relationship with
Europe that led to the devastation and depopulation of Africa, but contributed
to the wealth and development of Europe. From then until the end of the 19th
century, Europeans began to establish a trade for African captives.
At first
this trafficking only supplemented a trade in human beings that already existed
within Europe, in which Europeans had enslaved each other. Some enslaved
Africans had also reached Europe, the Middle East and other parts of the world
before the mid-15th century, as a result of a trade in human beings that had
also long existed in Africa.
It is
estimated that by the early 16th century as much as 10 per cent of Lisbon's
population was of African descent
Many of
these African captives crossed the Sahara and reached Europe and other
destinations from North Africa, or were transported across the Indian Ocean.
The
transatlantic slave trade began during the 15th century when Portugal, and
subsequently other European kingdoms, were finally able to expand overseas and
reach Africa. The Portuguese first began to kidnap people from the west coast
of Africa and to take those they enslaved back to Europe.
It is
estimated that by the early 16th century as much as 10% of Lisbon's population
was of African descent. After the European discovery of the American continent,
the demand for African labour gradually grew, as other sources of labour - both
European and American - were found to be insufficient.
The
Spanish took the first African captives to the Americas from Europe as early as
1503, and by 1518 the first captives were shipped directly from Africa to
America. The majority of African captives were exported from the coast of West
Africa, some 3,000 miles between what is now Senegal and Angola, and mostly
from the modern Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon.
Enslavement and racism
Island,
c.1805 © Historians still debate exactly how many
Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic during the next four
centuries. A comprehensive database compiled in the late 1990s puts the figure
at just over 11 million people. Of those, fewer than 9.6 million survived the
so-called middle passage across the Atlantic, due to the inhuman conditions in
which they were transported, and the violent suppression of any on-board
resistance. Many people who were enslaved in the African interior also died on
the long journey to the coast.
The total
number of Africans taken from the continent's east coast and enslaved in the
Arab world is estimated to be somewhere between 9.4 million and 14 million.
These figures are imprecise due to the absence of written records.
The
forced removal of up to 25 million people from the continent obviously had a
major effect on the growth of the population in Africa. It is now estimated
that in the period from 1500 to 1900, the population of Africa remained
stagnant or declined.
The human
and other resources that were taken from Africa contributed to the capitalist
development and wealth of Europe.
Africa
was the only continent to be affected in this way, and this loss of population
and potential population was a major factor leading to its economic
underdevelopment.
The
transatlantic trade also created the conditions for the subsequent colonial
conquest of Africa by the European powers and the unequal relationship that
still exist between Africa and the world's big powers today.
Africa
was impoverished by its relationship with Europe while the human and other
resources that were taken from Africa contributed to the capitalist development
and wealth of Europe and other parts of the world.
The
unequal relationship that was gradually created as a consequence of the
enslavement of Africans was justified by the ideology of racism - the notion
that Africans were naturally inferior to Europeans.
This
ideology, which was also perpetuated by colonialism, is one of the most
significant legacies of this period of history.
West Africa before European intervention
Africa's
economic and social development before 1500 may arguably have been ahead of
Europe's. It was gold from the great empires of West Africa, Ghana, Mali and
Songhay that provided the means for the economic take-off of Europe in the 13th
and 14th centuries and aroused the interest of Europeans in western Africa.
The West
African empire of Mali was larger than Western Europe and reputed to be one of
the richest and most powerful states in the world.
In the
14th century, the West African empire of Mali was larger than Western Europe
and reputed to be one of the richest and most powerful states in the world.
When the
emperor of Mali, Mansa Musa visited Cairo in 1324, it was said that he took so
much gold with him that its price fell dramatically and had not recovered its
value even 12 years later. The empire of Songhay was known, among other things,
for the university of Sankore based in Timbuktu.
African enslavers
Historians
have long debated how and why African kingdoms and merchants entered into a
trade that was so disadvantageous to Africa and its inhabitants.
Some have
argued that slavery was endemic at that time in Africa and that, therefore, a
demand from Europe quickly led to the development of an organised trade.
The
European demand for captives became so great that they could only be acquired
through initiating raiding and warfare
Others
have queried the use of the term 'slave' when referring to servitude in African
societies, arguing that many of those designated slaves by Europeans had
definite rights, and could sometimes own property or rise to public office.
Africans
could become slaves as punishment for a crime, as payment for a family debt, or
most commonly of all, by being captured as prisoners of war. With the arrival
of European and American ships offering trading goods in exchange for people,
Africans had an added incentive to enslave each other, often by kidnapping.
There is
no doubt that Europeans were not capable of venturing inland to capture the
millions of people who were transported from Africa. In the areas where slavery
was not practised, such as among the Xhosa people of southern Africa, European
captains were unable to buy slaves.
On the
African side, the slave trade was generally the business of rulers or wealthy
and powerful merchants, concerned with their own selfish or narrow interests,
rather than those of the continent.
At that
time, there was no concept of being African. Identity and loyalty was based on
kinship or membership of a specific kingdom or society, rather than to the
African continent.
Rich and
powerful Africans were able to demand a variety of consumer articles and in
some places even gold for captives, who may have been acquired through warfare
or by other means, initially without massive disruption to African societies.
However,
by the mid-17th century the European demand for captives, particularly for the
sugar plantations in the Americas, became so great that they could only be
acquired through initiating raiding and warfare.
There is
no doubt that some societies preyed on others to obtain captives in exchange
for European firearms, in the belief that if they did not acquire firearms in
this way to protect themselves, they would be attacked and captured by their
rivals and enemies who did possess such weapons.
African resistance
However,
some African rulers did attempt to resist the devastation of the European
demand for captives. As early as 1526, King Afonso of Kongo, who had previously
enjoyed good relations with the Portuguese, complained to the king of Portugal
that Portuguese slave traders were kidnapping his subjects and depopulating his
kingdom.
King
Agaja Trudo of Dahomey not only opposed the trade, but even went as far as to
attack the forts that the European powers had constructed on the coast.
In 1630,
Queen Njingha Mbandi of Ndongo (in modern Angola) attempted to drive the
Portuguese out of her realm, but was finally forced to compromise with them.
In 1720,
King Agaja Trudo of Dahomey not only opposed the trade, but even went as far as
to attack the forts that the European powers had constructed on the coast. But
his need for firearms forced him to reach an agreement with the European slave
traders.
Other
African leaders such as Donna Beatriz Kimpa Vita in Kongo and Abd al-Qadir, in
what is now northern Senegal, also urged resistance against the forced export
of Africans.
Many
others, especially those who were threatened with enslavement, as well as those
held captive on the coast, rebelled against enslavement and this resistance
continued during the middle passage. It is now thought that there were
rebellions on at least 20 percent of all slave ships crossing the Atlantic.
The African Diaspora
The
transatlantic slave trade led to the greatest forced migration of a human
population in history. Millions of Africans were transported to the Caribbean,
North and South America, as well as Europe and elsewhere. An 'African Diaspora'
or dispersal of Africans outside Africa was created in the modern world.
Africans
from the continent and the Diaspora have sometimes organised together for their
common pan-African concerns, for example against slavery or colonial rule.
Those in
the Diaspora have often maintained links with the African continent, while
forming an important part, and sometimes the majority, of new nations.
Africans
from the continent and the Diaspora have sometimes organised together for their
common pan-African concerns, against slavery or colonial rule for example, and
so over time a pan-African consciousness and various pan-African movements have
developed.
In recent
years the African Union, the organisation of African states, has recognised
that the Diaspora, as well as Africans from the continent, must be fully
represented in its discussions and decision making.
