Systems of Forced Labor

1. Systems of Forced Labor Aim: How did systems of forced labor affect the world between 1450 – 1750? From the title page to abolitionist Anthony Benezet’s book Some Historical Account of Guinea, London, 1788

2. The Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494 & The Pope’s Line of Demarcation

3. West and Central Africa, c. 1500 This map shows the Empire of Songhai (1464–1591), the Kongo Kingdom (c. 1400–1700), and the major kingdoms of the West African forest region. This should look familiar, what do you remember about the Songhai and Kongo empires?

4. Songhay and Kongo Empires The Songhay Kingdom The Kingdoms of the Kongo and MweneMutapa • Empire was formed under Sunni Ali (1464-1492), who extended rule over the entire middle Niger valley. • He developed a system of provincial administration to secure the conquests. • Sunni Ali’s successors were Muslim rulers with the title of askia; by the mid-16th century their state dominated the central Sudan. • Islamic and indigenous traditions combined. • Men and women mixed freely; women went unveiled. • Songhay remained dominant until defeated by Moroccans in 1591. • Muslim influence widely spread- even in regions without Islamic states. • Flourished along the lower Congo River by the late 15th century. • It was an agricultural society whose people were skilled in weaving, pottery making, blacksmithing, and carving. • Division of labor: women dominated crop cultivation and domestic tasks; men cleared the forest, hunted, and traded. • A hereditary central kingship ruled over local non-hereditary chiefs. • By the 9th century began building royal stone courts (zimbabwe). Great Zimbabwe (peak 11th century)- Massive stone buildings and walls were constructed. • Its ruler, the Mwene Mutapa, controlled a large territory reaching to the Indian Ocean. Zimbabwe dominated gold sources and trade with coastal ports of the Indian Ocean network. • Decline of the Kongo Empire was due to rival factions. Decline of Great Zimbabwe is a mystery. What are the "common elements" in African societies?

5. Slave Trade in the Congo To what extent did slavery exist before European contact?

6. African Captives in Yokes Define yokes. What type of slavery does this painting represent?

7. The Portuguese Influence • Trace the stages in which the Portuguese contacted and gained entrance into Africa. • Started off along the African coast – • established trading forts (factories) ex. El Mina – • Allowed trade with interior states – • Opened new markets – • Missionary efforts – • Southern movement.

8. The Portuguese Influence (con’t) The Portuguese sailed down the west African coast and reached the Cape of Good Hope in 1487 Describe Portuguese expansion using the map.

9. The Portuguese Influence (con’t) They set up factories (forts/trading posts staffed by merchants) What other influences did the Portuguese have on African empires? Cape Coast Castle, West Africa

10. The Portuguese Influence (con’t) • They had the consent of the local rulers • Missionaries tried to convert Africans to Christianity • Portuguese were impressed with Gold Coast and Ghana • Portuguese figures appeared in African art • Some slaves went to Portugal but by the 16th century most went to Brazil and Spanish America

11. A Mutually Beneficial Arrangement Ivory Pepper Animal skins Gold Slaves Portuguese Firearms African Rulers

12. The Middle Passage According to this map, which European nations participated in the Atlantic Slave Trade and which countries received slaves? Which country received the largest number of slaves?

13. Slave Ship Plan

14. “Coffin” Position: Slave Ship Onboard a Slave Ship Interior

15. Onboard the Slave Ship

16. Revolt Aboard a Slave Ship

17. African Captives Thrown Overboard Sharks followed the slave ships across the Atlantic! Give reasons why captains would throw captives overboard.

18. The Triangle Trade Compare and contrast the Middle Passage with The Triangle Trade.

19. Notice of a Slave Auction Slave Auction Slaves were brought from Africa for the newly established plantations and the trade became trans-oceanic.

20. Slaves Working in a Brazilian Sugar Mill

21. 30 Lashes How did the slave trade affect the Africans in the New World ? the Kingdoms that they came from?

22. Before European Contact Slaves were used mostly in a domestic capacity Illegal to enslave Muslims (it was done anyway by many Sudanic states) Enslavement of women for harems African rulers usually enslaved their neighbors, not their own people After European Contact Slaves were generally sent to work on plantations (i.e. sugar production) Men were more valuable as slaves (“Indies Piece”) African states expanded their power because they traded and got European guns, pushed into the interior of Africa to capture more slaves (Asante and Dahomey were powerful slaving states) Slavery in Africa Q: Discuss the changes and continuities of slavery in Africa before and after European contact.

23. Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797) 1789  wrote and published, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa the African.

24. The African Slave Trade The forced migration of over 15 million Africans to the New World is one of the most significant outcomes of both the Age of Exploration and the Columbian Exchange that followed. (Kaplan) Analyze the painting. How does this painting interpret the slave experience during the 1450 – 1750 time period?

25. Does slavery exist anywhere in the world today??

26. An Unfortunate Continuity Today… MAURITANIA: New anti-slavery law not enough for real change, activists say http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73936 Slavery is now illegal in Mauritania DAKAR, 24 August 2007

27. Encomienda System What was the encomienda system? How did it work? Gold panning scene from “Montserrat Manuscript” of Oviedo's General History (HM 177, Vol. I, f. 18v.) Book VI, Chapter VII on “Deposits” or “Miscellanies”. Courtesy of the Henry E. Huntington Library (San Marino, USA).

28. Encomienda System Defined A grant of authority over a population of Amerindians in the Spanish colonies. It provided the grant holder with a supple of cheap labor and periodic payments of goods by the Amerindians. It obliged the grant holder to Christianize the Amerindians. Use your own words to define the encomienda system.

29. How did this new Spanish Empire continue the traditions of the older Reconquista? (How did they organize their vast empire?) Define: Reconquista

30. Cycle of Conquest & Colonization Explorers Conquistadores OfficialEuropeanColony! Missionaries PermanentSettlers

31. Describe the various social classes that emerged in colonial Spanish America?

32. The Colonial Class System Peninsulares Creoles Mestizos Mulattos Native Indians Black Slaves

33. Treasuresfrom the Americas!

34. Russian Serfdom http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Yuriev_day.jpg

35. Historical Map of Russia http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/50/3850-004-501E9B41.gif

36. Based on the cartoon, What problems are evident in Czarist Russia? www.ssdec.nsw.edu.au/.../images/socstructure.jpg

37. Is serfdom the same as slavery? (What do you think?)

38. What is a Serf? • Serf is derived from the Latin servus, meaning slave • Even though a serf was technically free, he was really dependent on landowners and in a state of servitude

39. Life was hard for Serfs • Russian landlords demanded an exorbitant amount of crops from serfs and kept the serfs in a state of debt • Legally landowners had to take care of serfs • Even though cruelty against was illegal, it happened anyway. Few landlords were punished for this.

40. Characteristics of Serfdom • Serfs were not racially different from the rest of the population in Russia • In theory landowners were obliged to take care of serfs • The status of serfdom was hereditary • Serfs were chained, beaten, disgraced, separated from family, and overworked. Many died young. • Serfs needed their master’s permission to leave or to get educated

41. Serf Boys • Mostly worked on the farms and in the fields • They were given shoes only in the winter • Some landlords were really cruel and they put an iron collar on the boys, as well as chains on their feet

42. Serf Girls • Less is known about female serfs than male serfs • It is likely they did domestic chores • Attractive girls were selected as house servants • Male landlords could easily abuse them

43. Tsar Alexander II abolished serfdom in 1861 • Tsar Alexander II created a universal military service, and he improved the police • He sold Alaska to the United States in 1867 • He was assassinated in 1881 when a bomb was thrown into his carriage by a revolutionary group called the Narodnaya Volya (The People’s Will) upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/T...

44. Tsar Alexander II was killed on March 13, 1881. This drawing appeared in the Illustrated London News http://encarta.msn.com/media_81572544_761552177_-1_1/Bomb_Attack_on_Alexander_II.html

45. Nikolai Turgenieffon the Emancipation Of Russian Serfs “I can hardly say how happy I was when I saw for the first time my dear, beloved, and deeply respected Russian peasants free at last, and proprietors of the land they had till then cultivated as serfs! What a change! The same creatures, serfs yesterday, became men, conscious of their human dignity; their aspect, their language, are those of free men.” http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Serfeman.html

46. But there were still problems… • Freed serfs were actually still indebted to their former landlords • There were many lands (especially those containing firewood) that were accessible to peasants for a fee • Peasants could get an allocation of land but would have to pay the government (which fronted most of the money to the landlord) over 49 years with interest (this was cancelled in 1907)

47. Task: Directly compare and contrast two of the following labor systems: Slavery Serfdom The Encomienda System