SLAVES: A POPULAR ITEM OF TRADE1450-1500 1000 African slaves brought annually to Portugal

1500s Earliest sugar plantations in the Americas

1518 First boatload of slaves brought directly to Africa on a Spanish ship

16th c. 275,000 slaves exported from Africa, 2000/year to Americas alone.

17th c. > 1 million slaves taken from Africa

18th c. 6 million

19th c. 2 million (despite British laws like the Abolition of Slave Trade Act, 1807, and Slavery Abolition Act, 1833)

100-day voyage across Atlantic

10% mortality rate

Causes of death:• Unsanitary conditions• Rebellions• “Disposal” in case of lack of food• Disease

DEHUMANIZING AFRICANS: THE MIDDLE PASSAGE

BIG PROFITSFrom the early 16th to the 19th centuries, a total of 10 million slaves were brought to the Americas from Africa.

About one half of all slave trade was carried out by Britain. The rest of the slaves were brought in by French, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, and American ships.

DEHUMANIZING AFRICANS: THE LANGUAGE OF COMMODIFICATION

In the 1770s, Quakers were among the earliest opponents of slavery

In the 1790s, Revolutionary France briefly abolished slavery

Slavery continued in Americas until the late nineteenth century. The US had laws to prevent slaves from running away. By an 1850 law, American officials who failed to arrest an alleged runaway would be fined $1000. So would anyone helping a runaway slave.

1865 Slavery abolished in the US

1888 Slavery finally ended in the Americas, with abolition in Brazil

PERSISTENCE OF SLAVERY