Urban Slavery in West and West Central Africa during the Transatlantic Slave Trade

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Martin A. Klein
Keyword(s):  
Slave Trade ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Transatlantic Slave Trade ◽  
West Central ◽  
Urban Slavery

scholarly journals Origins, Admixture Dynamics, and Homogenization of the African Gene Pool in the Americas

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 1647-1656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mateus H Gouveia ◽  
Victor Borda ◽  
Thiago P Leal ◽  
Rennan G Moreira ◽  
Andrew W Bergen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Differentiation ◽  
Gene Pool ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Demographic History ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
The United States ◽  
Transatlantic Slave Trade ◽  
West Central ◽  
Historical Factors ◽  
A Genome

Abstract The Transatlantic Slave Trade transported more than 9 million Africans to the Americas between the early 16th and the mid-19th centuries. We performed a genome-wide analysis using 6,267 individuals from 25 populations to infer how different African groups contributed to North-, South-American, and Caribbean populations, in the context of geographic and geopolitical factors, and compared genetic data with demographic history records of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. We observed that West-Central Africa and Western Africa-associated ancestry clusters are more prevalent in northern latitudes of the Americas, whereas the South/East Africa-associated ancestry cluster is more prevalent in southern latitudes of the Americas. This pattern results from geographic and geopolitical factors leading to population differentiation. However, there is a substantial decrease in the between-population differentiation of the African gene pool within the Americas, when compared with the regions of origin from Africa, underscoring the importance of historical factors favoring admixture between individuals with different African origins in the New World. This between-population homogenization in the Americas is consistent with the excess of West-Central Africa ancestry (the most prevalent in the Americas) in the United States and Southeast-Brazil, with respect to historical-demography expectations. We also inferred that in most of the Americas, intercontinental admixture intensification occurred between 1750 and 1850, which correlates strongly with the peak of arrivals from Africa. This study contributes with a population genetics perspective to the ongoing social, cultural, and political debate regarding ancestry, admixture, and the mestizaje process in the Americas.

Africa, Slavery, and the Slave Trade, Mid-Seventeenth to Mid-Eighteenth Centuries

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Eltis
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Atlantic World ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
The South ◽  
Transatlantic Slave Trade ◽  
The Third ◽  
West Central ◽  
Major Supplier

Which of the major components of the Atlantic world — the Americas, Africa, and Europe — was most immediately affected by the integration of the Old and New Worlds that Columbian contact triggered? On epidemiological grounds alone the Americas would be the choice of most scholars, with Europe, at least prior to the eighteenth century, the least affected. In terms of dramatic economic, demographic, and social consequences of the early stages of Atlantic integration, Africa lies somewhere between the two. Yet if we shift the focus to changes in the nature and size of connections between the continents as opposed to changes within them, the most striking developments between the 1640s and the 1770s relate to Africa, not Europe or the Americas. The Slave Coast was a major supplier of slaves to transatlantic markets. West Central Africa, by far the largest supplier of slaves to the Americas, experienced two diasporas. Captives from the northern ports went to the colonies of northern Europeans, those from Luanda and Benguela in the south went to Brazil. By the end of the third quarter of the eighteenth century, the transatlantic slave trade was close to the highest level it was ever to attain.

The Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on Africa: A Review of the Literature

1989 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul E. Lovejoy
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
Minor Importance ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
West Central ◽  
Atlantic Slave Trade ◽  
The Impact

Recent revisions of estimates for the volume of the trans-Atlantic slave trade suggest that approximately 11,863,000 slaves were exported from Africa during the whole period of the Atlantic slave trade, which is a small upward revision of my 1982 synthesis and still well within the range projected by Curtin in 1969. More accurate studies of the French and British sectors indicate that some revision in the temporal and regional distribution of slave exports is required, especially for the eighteenth century. First, the Bight of Biafra was more important and its involvement in the trade began several decades earlier than previously thought. Secondly, the French and British were more active on the Loango coast than earlier statistics revealed. The southward shift of the trade now appears to have been more gradual and to have begun earlier than I argued in 1982. The greater precision in the regional breakdown of slave shipments is confirmed by new data on the ethnic origins of slaves. The analysis also allows a new assessment of the gender and age profile of the exported population. There was a trend toward greater proportions of males and children. In the seventeenth century, slavers purchased relatively balanced proportions of males and females, and children were under-represented. By the eighteenth century, west-central Africa was exporting twice as many males as females, while West Africa was far from attaining such ratios. In the nineteenth century, by contrast, slavers could achieve those ratios almost anywhere slaves were available for export, and in parts of west-central and south-eastern Africa the percentage of males reached unprecedented levels of 70 per cent or more. Furthermore, increasing numbers of slaves were children, and again west-central Africa led the way in this shift while West Africa lagged behind considerably.This review of the literature on the demography of the slave trade provides a context to assess the revisionist interpretation of David Eltis, who has argued recently that the slave trade and its suppression were of minor importance in African history. It is shown that Eltis' economic arguments, based on an assessment of per capita income and the value of the export trade, are flawed. The demography of the trade involved an absolute loss of population and a large increase in the enslaved population that was retained in Africa. A rough comparison of slave populations in West Africa and the Americas indicates that the scale of slavery in Africa was extremely large.

Njinga a Mbande: Power and War in 17th-Century Angola

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selma Pantoja
Keyword(s):  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
Trade Routes ◽  
West Central ◽  
Historical Figure ◽  
And Gender

Njinga a Mbande (1582–1663) is the most famous and controversial historical figure in the history of the West-Central Africa region during the 17th century, the region of present-day Angola. Her political trajectory contributes to the understanding of the troubled context of the Portuguese expansion in the region and the establishment of the Atlantic slave trade. The Ndongo state was at the very core of this struggle, a state mainly comprised of the Mbundu peoples. It was also the Queen’s original birthplace and a major area in the dispute for ensuring control of the trade routes between the inland and coastal regions. The Portuguese arrived in the region in 1575, and settled on the coast. Luanda was the first area of the Portuguese occupation. From there the Portuguese waged wars of conquest, moving toward the sertão (hinterland). On the Portuguese side, the action unfolded in the constant attempt to control the sobas, the local authorities, the construction of fortresses in the Mbundu territory, and the wars that were initially meant to obtain captives and form an African Army (Guerra Preta). The army would later serve Portuguese interests in controlling the routes and fairs (i.e., the hubs, or centers, of slave trade). On the Mbundu authorities’ side, even before the queen’s reign, and later on at her command, the struggles took many forms: the deterrence of the fairs’ functioning; the disorganization of the “tax” system, in which the Portuguese charged the sobas; and the welcoming of hundreds of escaped slaves, as well as other central actions such as wars and diplomatic negotiations. Njinga a Mbande took on the title Ngola (1624), the position of greatest authority and prestige in the Ndongo. In 1626, after a major campaign by Portuguese settlers, she was expelled from her territory. But by 1631 she re-emerged as a leader, now in another region, Matamba, an important base for her attacks on the areas controlled by the Portuguese. From this region, she made a peace agreement, governing until her natural death at the age of 82. In the 21st century, historiographical questions abound: how was the leadership of this female figure viewed in terms of legitimacy and gender identity within the power structures of the Ndongo, how was her image publicly projected throughout the region, how did she rise in prominence in European reports, and what was her fundamental impact on the oral tradition of different peoples of West-Central Africa. The presence of Queen Njinga crossed the Atlantic and figures in the imagery of popular and mythical narratives in the Americas.

Slave Exports from West and West-Central Africa, 1700–1810: new estimates of volume and distribution

1989 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
West Coast ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
The West ◽  
Commodity Production ◽  
West Central ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Demographic Effects

Using new evidence on the British, French and North American slave-carrying trades, this article seeks to revise Lovejoy's recently published estimates of the levels of slave exports from West and West-Central Africa in the eighteenth century. The figures suggest that Lovejoy's estimate of the total volume of slave exports from the west coast of Africa to America between 1700 and 1810 was probably reasonably accurate, being only 8 per cent lower than the total indicated here. However, the new data reveal temporal and coastal distributions of slave exports that differ substantially from those proposed by Lovejoy. In particular, they suggest that previous work significantly understated levels of slave exports between 1713 and 1740, and again in the 1760s and 1770s. Contrary to earlier findings, in fact, it appears that slave exports from the west coast of Africa to America in the decade prior to the War of American Independence were very similar to levels attained after 1783. Furthermore, in terms of coastal distributions, it seems that the Bight of Biafra and West-Central Africa, particularly the Loango coast, contributed much more substantially to the slave traffic to America during the early decades of the century than was previously assumed. These revisions of Lovejoy's figures have important implications for movements in slave prices in Africa and for assessing the demographic effects of the trade on the slave-supplying regions. In addition, they help to improve our understanding of the relationship between the slave trade and changes in sugar and other commodity production in America during the eighteenth century.

scholarly journals AFRICA AND THE PRICE REVOLUTION: CURRENCY IMPORTS AND SOCIOECONOMIC CHANGE IN WEST AND WEST-CENTRAL AFRICA DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

2016 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
TOBY GREEN
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Socioeconomic Change ◽  
The Past ◽  
Modern Economy ◽  
West Central ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Social Uses

AbstractThe past decade has seen much ink spilled on global interconnections in the early modern economy, especially those linking European and Asian economies. But this Eurasian concentration has excluded Africa from the discussion. This article addresses this absence by showing that West and West-Central Africa were integral to the global price revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Considering evidence from West and West-Central Africa reveals how the price revolution was a genuinely global phenomenon, with increasing imports of locally-used currencies that created inflation in line with the inflation of gold and silver in Europe and Asia. The article argues that the coexistence of exchangeable value and other social uses of currencies also contributed to a relative depreciation in Africa's global economic strength. Also related to this phenomenon were the rise of an export slave trade and changes in the production and distribution of West and West-Central African cloth industries.

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