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Slave Coast of West Africa

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Slave Coast of West Africa
historical region
Coordinate location6°25′48″N 2°55′48″E Edit
Map
A 1729 map wey dey show de Slave Coast
Dem still mark de Slave Coast for dis c. 1914 map top by John Bartholomew & Co. of Edinburgh.
Major slave trading areas of western Africa, 15th–19th centuries

De Slave Coast be a historical region along de Atlantic coast of West Africa, wey dey encompass parts of modern-day Togo, Benin, den Nigeria. E dey locate along de Bight of Biafra den de Bight of Benin wey dey locate between de Volta River dem de Lagos Lagoon.[1][2]

Na dem derive de name from de region ein history as a major source of African people dem sell into slavery during de Atlantic slave trade from de early 16th century to de late 19th century.[3] During dis time, dis coastal area cam be a major hub give de export of enslaved Africans to de Americas. Na European powers, wey dey include de Portuguese, British, Dutch, den French, establish forts den trading posts insyd de region make e facilitate de slave trade. Na dem name de area so secof to de high volume of enslaved people dem transport from ein shores, profoundly wey dey impact both de local societies den de broader Atlantic world.

Na dem estimate de Slave Coast e be de point of departure give approximately two million enslaved Africans, wey dey represent about 16% of de estimated 12.5 million individuals dem transport to de Americas during de transatlantic slave trade. Dis dey equate to an average of around 20 individuals wey dey leave de Slave Coast each day for over two centuries. Na a significant number of dese individuals, likely more dan half, embarke from de beach south of Ouidah, wich lack formal port facilities. Na de oda primary port from wich slaves embark be Lagos.[4] Na dese figures represent those wey survive de conditions per prior to departure, wey dey include de harsh waiting den loading periods.

Na oda nearby coastal regions dem historically know by dema prime colonial export be de Gold Coast, de Ivory Coast (anaa Windward Coast), den de Pepper Coast (anaa Grain Coast).

Historical background

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European contact den initial trade

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Na European sources begin dey document de development of trade insyd de "Slave Coast" region den ein integration into de transatlantic slave trade around 1670.

Insyd de 18th century, na intermarriage between European residents den African women be primarily linked to de European forts dem establish insyd Ouidah.[4] While na chaw European personnel either die anaa dem returned home after short tenures, those wey na dem stay longer often form relationships plus local women wey na dem get kiddies.

Transatlantic slave trade

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Na de transatlantic slave trade lead to de formation of an "Atlantic community" of Africans den Europeans insyd de 17th, 18th, den 19th century.[5] Roughly na dem purchase twelve million enslaved Africans by European slave traders from African slave merchants during de period of de transatlantic slave trade. Na dem transport enslaved Africans to de Americas make dem work on cash crop plantations insyd European colonies. Ports wey na export dese enslaved people from Africa dey include Ouidah, Lagos, Aného (Little Popo), Grand-Popo, Agoué, Jakin, Porto-Novo, den Badagry.[6] Na dese ports trade slaves wey be supplied from African communities, tribes den kingdoms, wey dey include de Allada den Ouidah, wich na later dem take over by de Dahomey kingdom.[7]

Abolition

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Na de transatlantic slave trade insyd West Africa begin to decline earlier dan insyd oda regions.[8] While na dem generally consider de flow of captives from Atlantic Africa first e be restricted by legislation den diplomatic den naval pressure over several decades insyd de early 19th century, na de decline insyd West Africa start even before na dem enact abolition laws. Na chaw powerful slave-trading countries begin abolitionist campaigns insyd 1807, while na de volume of slave shipments begin dey decline insyd West Africa from 1787. Na dis be due to colonial legislation wey dey create favorable circumstances for abolition den greater economic opportunities, such as de cash crop revolution, wey dey empower former slaves. Na dis process influence de enforcing of abolition thru legislation insyd de remaining countries wich na dem be involved insyd de trade.

Human toll

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Na dem sanso dey bell de coast "de White man's grave"[9][10] secof de mass amount of death from illnesses such as yellow fever, malaria, heat exhaustion, den chaw gastro-entero sicknesses. Na dem document intermarriage insyd ports like Ouidah wer na Europeans be permanently stationed. Na communication be quite extensive among all three areas of trade, to de point wer na even dem fi track individual enslaved people.[11]

Na de trans-Atlantic slave trade result insyd a vast den unknown loss of life for African captives both insyd den outsyd de Americas. Na dem think say over a million people die during dema transport to de New World.[12] Na more die soon after dema arrival. Na de number of lives lost insyd de procurement of slaves remain a mystery buh fi equal anaa exceed de number of people wey survive to be enslaved.[13]

Na modern historians estimate say na dem transport between two den three million people out of dis region wey na dem trade dem for goods like alcohol den tobacco from de Americas den textiles from Europe as part of de triangular trade.[14] Na historians note dat though official records dey state dat na dem transport twelve million enslaved Africans to de Americas from Africa, na de actual number of slaves purchased by European slave traders be considerably higher.[15][16][17] Alongsyd oda forms of trade, dis complex exchange sanso foster cultural exchanges between dese three regions, wey dey involve religions, architectural styles, languages, den knowledge.[18] In addition to de enslaved people, na free men use de exchange routes take travel to new destinations, wey na both slaves den free travelers help blend European den African cultures. After na dem abolish de institution of slavery by successive European governments, na de transatlantic slave trade continue for a time, plus independent traders wey dey operate insyd violation of dema countries dema laws.

References

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  1. ↑ Law (1989), p. 46
  2. ↑ "Change and Continuity in Coastal Bénin", West Africa During the Atlantic Slave Trade : Archaeological Perspectives, Bloomsbury Academic, 2001, doi:10.5040/9781474291064.ch-005, ISBN 978-1-4742-9104-0, retrieved 2020-08-31
  3. ↑ "The history of the transatlantic slave trade". National Museums Liverpool. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Law, Robin; Mann, Kristin (1999). "West Africa in the Atlantic Community: The Case of the Slave Coast". The William and Mary Quarterly. 56 (2): 307–334. doi:10.2307/2674121. ISSN 0043-5597.
  5. ↑ Law (1991), p.307.
  6. ↑ Mann, K (2007). "An African Family Archive: The Lawsons of Little Popo/Aneho (Togo), 1841-1938". The English Historical Review. CXXII (499): 1438–1439. doi:10.1093/ehr/cem350. ISSN 0013-8266.
  7. ↑ Lombard, J (2018). "The Kingdom of Dahomey". West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century. Routledge. pp. 70–92. doi:10.4324/9780429491641-3. ISBN 978-0-429-49164-1. S2CID 204268220.
  8. ↑ Commercial Agriculture, the Slave Trade and Slavery in Atlantic Africa. Boydell & Brewer. 2013. doi:10.7722/j.ctt31nj49.19. ISBN 978-1-84701-075-9.
  9. ↑ Fric, Explorador (1906). "45. Notes on the Grave-Posts of the Kadiueo". Man. 6: 71–72. doi:10.2307/2787741. ISSN 0025-1496. JSTOR 2787741.
  10. ↑ McCoy, Tim. (1977). Tim McCoy remembers the West : an autobiography. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-8155-2. OCLC 16866452.
  11. ↑ Law, Robin. The Slave Coast of West Africa 1550–1750: The Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on an African Society. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1991. p. 319.
  12. ↑ Quick guide: The slave trade; Who were the slaves? BBC News, 15 March 2007.
  13. ↑ Stannard, David. American Holocaust. Oxford University Press, 1993.
  14. ↑ Zhu, Wei; Li, Lin Lin; Songyang, Yiyan; Shi, Zhan; Li, Dejia (9 March 2020). "Table 1: Two hundred thirty-two differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened from three profile datasets". PeerJ. 8: e8731. doi:10.7717/peerj.8731/table-1.
  15. ↑ Ronald Segal, The Black Diaspora: Five Centuries of the Black Experience Outside Africa (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995), ISBN 0-374-11396-3, p. 4. "It is now estimated that 11,863,000 slaves were shipped across the Atlantic." (Note in original: Paul E. Lovejoy, "The Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on Africa: A Review of the Literature", in Journal of African History 30 (1989), p. 368.)
  16. ↑ Eltis, David and Richardson, David, "The Numbers Game". In: Northrup, David: The Atlantic Slave Trade, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin Co., 2002, p. 95.
  17. ↑ Basil Davidson. The African Slave Trade.
  18. ↑ Le Goaer, Olivier; Tamzalit, Dalila; Oussalah, Mourad Chabane; Seriai, Abdelhak-Djamel (2008). "Evolution styles to the rescue of architectural evolution knowledge". Proceedings of the 3rd international workshop on Sharing and reusing architectural knowledge. Shark '08. New York, New York, USA: ACM Press. pp. 31–36. doi:10.1145/1370062.1370071. ISBN 978-1-60558-038-8. S2CID 12522305.

Bibliography

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  • Commercial Agriculture, the Slave Trade and Slavery in Atlantic Africa. Boydell & Brewer. 2013. doi:10.7722/j.ctt31nj49.19. ISBN 978-1-84701-075-9.
  • Fuglestad, Finn (2018). "Introduction". Slave Traders by Invitation. Oxford University Press, pp. 1–18. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190876104.003.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-087610-4.
  • Law, Robin, "Slave-Raiders and Middlemen, Monopolists and Free-Traders: The Supply of Slaves for the Atlantic Trade in Dahomey c. 1750-1850", The Journal of African History, Vol.30, No. 1, 1989.
  • Law, Robin. The Slave Coast of West Africa 1550–1750: The Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on an African Society. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1991.
  • Law, Robin; Mann, Kristin (1999). "West Africa in the Atlantic Community: The Case of the Slave Coast". The William and Mary Quarterly. 56 (2): 307–334. doi:10.2307/2674121. ISSN 0043-5597

Read further

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  • Law, Robin and Kristin Mann. "African and American Atlantic Worlds". The William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., 56:2 Apr. 1999, pp. 307–334.
  • Shillington, Kevin. History of Africa. 2nd Edition, Macmillan Publishers Limited, NY USA, 2005.
  • St Clair, William. The Door of No Return: The History of Cape Coast Castle and the Atlantic Slave Trade. BlueBridge.
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