At
the end of the 14th century Europeans started to take people from
Africa against their will. Initially they were mainly used as servants
for the rich. The Europeans justified the taking of slaves by arguing
that they were providing an opportunity for Africans to become
Christians. By the 17th century the removal of slaves from Africa
became a holy cause that had the full support of the Christian Church.
When Spanish and Portuguese sea-captains began to explore the Americas
they took their African servants with them. Some of these Africans
proved to be excellent explorers. The most important of these was
Estevanico,
who led the first European expedition to New Mexico and Arizona.
The people living in the Americas resisted the attempt by the Europeans
to take over their land. One of he most important struggles took place
in Cuba in 1512. The Cubans, led by Chief Hatuey, were eventually
defeated by the superior weapons of the Spanish.
It is estimated that over a million people lived in Cuba before the
arrival of the Europeans. Twenty-five years later there were only
2,000 left. Large numbers had been killed, while others died of starvation,
disease, committed suicide or had died from the consequences of being
forced to work long hours in the gold mines.
After the arrival of the Europeans there was a sharp decline in the
local population of most of the islands in the Caribbean Sea. This
created a problem for the Europeans as they needed labour to exploit
the natural resources of these islands. Eventually the Europeans came
up with a solution: the importation of slaves from Africa. By 1540,
an estimated 10,000 slaves a year were being brought from Africa to
replace the diminishing local populations.
British merchants became involved in the trade and eventually dominated
the market. They built coastal forts in Africa where they kept the
captured Africans until the arrival of the slave-ships.
The merchants obtained the slaves from African chiefs by giving them
goods from Europe. At first, these slaves were often the captured
soldiers from tribal wars. However, the demand for slaves become so
great that raiding parties were organised to obtain young Africans.
(1)
Ottobah Cugoano, Narrative of the
Enslavement of a Native of Africa (1787)
I was early snatched away from my native country, with about eighteen
or twenty more boys and girls, as we were playing in a field. We lived
but a few days' journey from the coast where we were kidnapped, and
consigned to Grenada. Some of us attempted, in vain, to run
away, but pistols and cutlasses were soon introduced, threatening,
that if we offered to stir, we should all lie dead on the spot.
We were soon led out of the way which we knew, and towards evening,
as we came in sight of a town. I was soon conducted to a prison, for
three days, where I heard the groans and cries of many, and saw some
of my fellow-captives. But when a vessel arrived to conduct us away
to the ship, it was a most horrible scene; there was nothing to be
heard but the rattling of chains, smacking of whips, and the
groans and cries of our fellow-men. Some would not stir from the ground,
when they were lashed and beat in the most horrible manner.
(2)
Olaudah
Equiano,
was captured and sold as a slave in the kingdom of Benin in Africa.
He wrote about his experiences in The Life of Olaudah Equiano the
African
(1789)
Generally,
when the grown people in the neighbourhood were gone far in the fields
to labour, the children assembled together in some of the neighborhood's
premises to play; and commonly some of us used to get up a tree to
look out for any assailant, or kidnapper, that might come upon us;
for they sometimes took those opportunities of our parents' absence,
to attack and carry off as many as they could seize.
One day, when all our people were gone out to their works as usual,
and only I and my dear sister were left to mind the house, two men
and a woman got over our walls, and in a moment seized us both; and,
without giving us time to cry out, or make resistance, they stopped
our mouths, and ran off with us into the nearest wood. Here they tied
our hands, and continued to carry us as far as they could, till night
came on, when we reached a small house, where the robbers halted for
refreshment, and spent the night. We were then unbound; but were unable
to take any food; and, being quite overpowered by fatigue and grief,
our only relief was some sleep, which allayed our misfortune for a
short time. he
first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast, was
the sea, and a slave ship, which was then riding at anchor, and waiting
for its cargo. These filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted
into terror, when I was carried on board. I was immediately handled,
and tossed up to see if I were sound, by some of the crew; and I was
now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that
they were going to kill me.
(3)
Mungo Park was a Scottish explorer who
went to Africa to find the source of the River Niger. He wrote about
his experiences in his book Travels to the Interiors of Africa
(1799).
The
slaves are commonly secured by putting the right leg of one, and the
left of another into the same pair of fetters. By supporting the fetters
with string they can walk very slowly. Every four slaves are likewise
fastened together by the necks. They were led out in their fetters
every morning to the shade of the tamarind tree where they were encouraged
to sing diverting songs to keep up their spirits; for although some
of them sustained the hardships of their situation with amazing fortitude,
the greater part were very much dejected, and would sit all day in
the sort of sullen melancholy with their eyes fixed upon the ground.
(4)
Alexander Falcolnbridge visited Africa in the 1780s. He wrote about
what he saw in his book An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast
of Africa (1788).
When the negroes whom the black traders have to dispose of are shown
to the European purchasers, they first examine them relative to age.
They then minutely inspect their persons, and inquire into their state
of health; if they are afflicted with any infirmity, or are deformed,
or have bad eyes or teeth; if they are lame, or weak in the joints,
or distorted in the back, or of a slender make, or are narrow in the
chest; in short, if they have been afflicted in any manner so as to
render them incapable of such labour they are rejected. The traders
frequently beat those negroes which are objected to by the captains.
Instances have happened that the traders, when any of their negroes
have been objected to have instantly beheaded them in the sight of
the captain.
(5)
John
Brown , aged 87, interviewed as part of the Federal
Writers Project in 1937.
Most of the time there
was more than three hundred slaves on the plantation. The oldest ones
come right from Africa. My grandmother was one of them. A savage in
Africa - a slave in America. Mammy told it to me. Over there all the
natives dressed naked and lived on fruits and nuts. Never see many
white men. One day a big ship stopped off the shore
and the natives hid in the brush along the beach. Grandmother was
there. The ship men sent a little boat to the shore and scattered
bright things and trinkets on the beach. The natives were curious.
Grandmother said everybody made a rush for them things soon as the
boat left. The trinkets was fewer than the peoples. Next day the white
folks scatter some more. There was another scramble. The natives was
feeling less scared, and the next day some of them walked up the gangplank
to get things off the plank and off the deck. The deck was covered
with things like they'd found on the beach. Two-three hundred natives
on the ship when they feel it move. They rush to the side but the
plank was gone. Just dropped in the water when the ship moved away.
Folks on the beach started
to crying and shouting. The ones on the boat was wild with fear. Grandmother
was one of them who got fooled, and she say the last thing seen of
that place was the natives running up and down the beach waving their
arms and shouting like they was mad. The boat men come up from below
where they had been hiding and drive the slaves down in the bottom
and keep them quiet with the whips and clubs. The slaves was landed
at Charleston. The town folks was mighty mad because the blacks was
driven through the streets without any clothes, and drove off the
boat men after the slaves was sold on the market. Most of that load
was sold to the Brown plantation in Alabama. Grandmother was one of
the bunch.
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