SUGAR

S

LAVERY

Review

Spanish Empire Established

Spanish Monopoly Challenged Claims the Treaty of

Tordesillas 1494 gave them all rights in MOST of Americas [including Caribbean]

Origins in Papua New Guinea

Reached China & India Chewed for energy

4th Century reached Mesopotamia & Persia

7th century Arabs spread it across Middle East, Nile Delta & Mediterranean

1400’s grown on West African Islands

Accounts put sugar cane arriving as early as Columbus’ voyages

1700s was the peak of sugarcane production using African Slave labour in the Caribbean

Why the Caribbean ? •

•

QUESTION: Would the production process at the time be mechanized or manual?

Part 2:

Driving Question

Did Europeans enslave Africans because they were racist or did they become racist because they enslaved Africans?

RAC ISM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efI6T8lovqY

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THE “TRIANGULAR” TRADE SYSTEM

CaptureMiddle Passage

Auction

Slavery was driven by economic. The increase demand for sugar, tobacco & cotton required an increase

in production, which meant an increase in plantations in the Americas. An increase in production drove

producers to source cheap and efficient labor to meet demands.

THE MIDDLE PASSAGE The moment of being captured was shocking, however; he experience Africans face during the middle passage across the Atlantic was a horrifying introduction to what their unfortunate fate now is.

C o n d i t i o n s

- Under

fed/malnutrition

- Stocked up in

smelly confined

space below

deck

- Whippings

- Women were

raped

- Sick slaves

killed to collect

insurance

AFRICA Major Cultural Regions

Queen Nzinga (Nzinga Mbande), the monarch of the Mbundu

people, was a resilient leader who fought against

the Portuguese and their expanding slave trade in

Central Africa.

During the late 16th Century, the French and

the English threatened the Portuguese near monopoly on the

sources of slaves along the West African coast, forcing it to

seek new areas for exploitation. By 1580 they had already

established a trading relationship with Afonso I in the

nearby Kongo Kingdom. They then turned to Angola, south of

the Kongo

http://www.blackpast.org/gah/queen-nzinga-1583-1663

“Two thousand years of history (history)Could not be wiped away so easily”

Society & Plantation life

1

6Segregation born

Social Composition of a sugar plantation

Whites

• Owners or attorney Inhabitants of Great house; overseer; bookkeeper; indentured servants

Blacks with possibly a few

mixed coloured

• Domestic Slaves

Blacks• Skilled slaves

• Field slaves Blacks

Slave Control in the Caribbean

Why the need for slave control? The arrival of new African slavesto the Caribbean resulted in an increase in the African slavepopulation in the territories. This resulted in the increase fear amongstthe “plantocracy” towards slaves outnumbering their ability toproperly control them. With this, a series of “black code” and “PoliceLaws” policies were implemented in the British, French and SpanishCaribbean.

Social Organisation of the British Caribbean Society in 18th

Century -Born in Europe, or in the Caribbean of European parent

-held all the political power

-controlled most of the land

-Mixed European & African parentage born in the Caribbean -separate from whites by law-limited amount of land -no political power

-Born in Africa or of African parents in the Caribbean

-Separated from whites by law-No political power

-no legal rights

Constantly resisting condition

Manumission

Burdon Archives of British Honduras Vol 1-Earliest 1800

W C S• Women were forced mainly into domestic household

work

• 1- nursing & raising children

• 2- cleaning the house

• 3- cooking

• …….this made them a greater subject for abuse like rape and beatings.

- Women also worked in the field

• - Often cheaper for planters to purchase slaves already adults. However- In the cases of children born into slavery they were placed in “Pikni Gangs”.

“Police Laws”: British Caribbean Suppression of Culture

• Blocked traditional celebrations by prohibiting music, dancing or buying alcohol

• Illegal to blow horns, beat drums or assemble in large numbers

Restriction on mobility

• Illegal to carry weapons

• Tickets giving destination & time of return

Break up of the Family and African leadership

• Mixed gangs- Africans with different backgrounds & languages

• Rotate males to prevent leadership roles

Europe [capital they stolen from

Americas]

Africa [labour –forced]

Americas [land & raw materials]