160 likes | 401 Views
The Root of All Evil. 18.4 | Slavery . The (brief) History of Slavery. Slavery has existed since the beginning of human civilization Slavery has enslaved all peoples and ethnicities
E N D
The Root of All Evil 18.4 | Slavery
The (brief) History of Slavery • Slavery has existed since the beginning of human civilization • Slavery has enslaved all peoples and ethnicities • Ex: Mediterranean cultures (Christian and Muslim) enslaved many people; mostly Greeks, Bulgarians, Turkish PoWs, and Tartars – but also Africans • Not all slavery was dehumanizing and exploitive, nor based on race • Ex. Greeks during Roman times (Polybius) and Janissaries during the Ottoman period • Slavery in the New World however, was a very different monster
Population Changes • Pre-1492 • Western Hemisphere • 54 million • 1650 • Western Hemisphere • 6 million
Establishment of American Slavery • Spanish and Portuguese depopulation of the Americas • Labor, extermination, disease, et cetera • A need to fill the labor pool • 1518 – first Spanish ship sailed to America specifically to deliver Africans • Importation of African slaves on large scale late 1500s • 1619 Jamestown begins importation of slaves • Sugar plantations in the West Indies and Brazil absorbed most of the slave influx • By 1725, the population in the West Indies was 90% slave labor – in a place where Africans were not native
Plantation Economy • From Maryland, to the West Indies, to Brazil • Large estates using slave labor to cultivate cash crops for economic gain – Remember Roman latifundia? • Slaves seen as property, treated poorly, bred as animals, treated as animals, and sold, just like animals • American racism develops during this time period • Unique in that British colonies were such heavily populated areas that were forming new social identities (unlike other, less populated and disconnected colonies) • Created a culture of racism unique, but not uncommon
The Source of Slaves • Myths of European infiltration • Europeans unable to penetrate African interior • Diseases, logistics, knowledge • Europeans in contact with African slavers for centuries • 1300s Cyprus, to Crete, to Sicily, to Spain, to Portuguese Sao Tome – set the standard of slave use c. 1500 • Oriental and Occidental Slave Trade • Africansenslaving and selling Africans to Asia and Europe
The African Side of the Slave Trade • Africans dominated the African interior • Tribal rivalries led to numerous conflicts, and enslavements • High-value commodities were sold in the African economy, to the Asian economies, and to the European economies at the trade ports established by Europe • As European demand grew, African enslavement grew • Corrupt chieftains would enslave entire villages to turn a profit
The Slave Trade • Triangular Trade • Middle Passage • 1500s-1800s an estimated 10 million slaves
Manufactured Goods Slaves Raw Materials
LatinAmerican “classes” Parts of North, Central, and South America dominated by Spain and Portugal
Latin American Social Classes • The Upper Class • Peninsulares • Spanish and Portuguese officials born in Europe • Creoles • Decedents of the former who owned land and business in the Americas
Latin American Social Classes • The Lower Class • Mestizos • European and Native American mix • Mulattoes • European and African mix • Numerous other mixes • All considered inferior to Upper Class
North American “classes” White and Black
The End of Slavery? • Abolition of slavery • The French Empire– 1794 • Britain – 1807 • The British Empire – 1833 • USA – 1860s • Russia (serfs) – 1861 • Brazil – 1888 • The formal end of African indigenous slavery occurred in 1928 in Sierra Leone • Modern Slavery