blast iu 17 november 18 & 19, 2010 a presentation by kevin t. brady, ph.d. geographic and...
TRANSCRIPT
BLaST IU 17 November 18 & 19, 2010BLaST IU 17 November 18 & 19, 2010
A presentation by Kevin T. Brady, Ph.D.
Geographic and Economic Causes
of Large Scale Slavery
Geography Causes
Isolated Peoples
The Slavs
TraditionsTraditions
Western Europe
• Rome
• Occident
• Non-Centralized
• Interaction
Eastern Europe
• Byzantium
• Orient
• Centralized
• Isolation
Slavery is an Historical Norm
The most continuously productive sources of slaves in human history:
The Dalmatian Coast
The Dalmatian Coast
The Dalmatian Coast
Dubrovnik was the Western Bastion
Western Europe and the Middle East took slaves from the Dalmatian Coast for six centuries.
This slave trade was abolished in 1418
Dubrovnik was the Western Bastion for the Slave Trade
Centuries before the
African slave trade,
Turkish raiders took
hundreds of
thousands of Russians
as Slaves.
Slavs were so widely sold into bondage, the word SLAV
becomes the word for SLAVE in many Western European languages.
It also becomes the word for SLAVE in ARABIC.
SLAV = SLAVE
It was cheaper to send grain from Russia to the Dalmatian
Coast along the Dnieper River and the Black Sea, through the Dardanelles and into the Adriatic then it was to
take grain from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik.
Dnieper River to Dalmatia
•SarajevoSarajevoToTo
•DubrovnikDubrovnik
There is a big escarpment a few miles in from the Adriatic Sea.
Grooves within the mountains leave the Slavs isolated.
Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire
Slavery in
AFRICA
Africa Has A Smooth Coastline
Especially, Sub-Saharan Africa: Very few harbors for Ocean-Going Vessels
Very Little Trade – Isolated Villages
• There’s a lack of Navigable Rivers or Streams
• Escarpments and Rift Valleys
• Most of Africa is on a plateau
Rivers of Africa
Rivers of Europe
North American Rivers
Africa has a shorter coastline than Europe.
• It has the shortest coastline of all continents.
• It has a lack of indentations for natural harbors.
• The rivers produce large, shallow mouths full of sand.
• Ocean-going vehicles are unable to enter rivers.
• They must anchor far from the coast and row ashore.
There are no major port cities in Africa throughout history; thus,
no great trading cities lasted over time.
Roman ships couldn’t even sail up the Nile because it was too shallow.
Tsetse Fly
Kills most of the beasts of burden that would help with long and difficult
transportation. The beasts’ manure would also serve as fertilizer and help
farmers produce a surplus to sell.
Most things do not hold value during long transportation. Only certain things can hold value as they are transported to the coast; thus, they become
Africa’s greatest exports:
•Through Nigeria, slaves on the Slave CoastSlave Coast
•Through Ghana, gold on the Gold CoastGold Coast
•Through Corte Ivories, ivory on the Ivory Ivory CoastCoast
Islamic Slave Traders
• Like in Dubrovnik, Arab and Turkish slave traders would purchase slaves to sell throughout Arabia and the Ottoman Empire.
• 14 Million Africans were taken to Moslem regions and sold.• Most were young women who were sold into harems.• Enslaved men were turned into eunuchs and would guard the
women.• Many Africans were taken by Moslem slave traders in the
west as Moslems encroached further south into sub-Saharan Africa.
Transatlantic Slavery
• After slavery had died out in western Europe, Europeans perceived a need for cheap labor.
• They began to purchase slaves in Africa and transport them to the Caribbean and Brazilian sugar plantations.
• Most of the enslaved Africans were male.• Their life expectancy was 5 years in the sugar plantations.• This was a major reason for the continued slave trade.• There was very little reproduction under such harsh, brutal
conditions.
Geography and Transportation Costs
• Lead to Large-scale slavery in Africa.• At any given time there were more enslaved
men and woman in Africa than there were enslaved Africans outside of Africa.
• Isolated peoples were always in danger of falling victim to raiders.
• It’s difficult to interact with others to form defensive alliances.
AIHE © 2010