The Atlantic system and Africa, 1550-1800

Plantations in the West Indies Plantation Life in the Eighteenth Century Creating the Atlantic Economy Africa, the Atlantic, and Islam

Learning Objective: After reading and studying this chapter you should be able to discuss: 1. Be able to discuss the development and structure of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in Central and South America. 2. Be able to compare and contrast the English and French colonies of North America with each other, as well as with the Spanish and Portuguese colonies.

3. Be able to discuss the connection between sugar production in the West Indies and the growth of the Atlantic slave trade, list the factors that combined to create the Atlantic economy, and describe the participation of Africans in the Atlantic economy. 4. Be able to describe some of the key elements of the Columbian exchange and assess the impact of such transfers.

Focus Questions: How important was sugar production to the European colonies of the West Indies and to the expansion of the African slave trade? What effect did sugar plantations have on the natural environment and on living conditions? What was the relationship between private investors and European governments in the development of the Atlantic economy? How did sub-Saharan Africa's expanding contacts in the Atlantic compare with its contacts with the Islamic world?

Plantations in the West Indies

Colonization Before 1650

Spanish attention shifted from exploitation of the region to colonizing the American mainland English colonization societies founded small European settlements English colonies prospered rst, largely by growing tobacco for export

Two changes improved the colonies prospects. One was the formation of *chartered companies France and England gave groups of private investors monopolies over trade to their West Indies colonies in exchange for the payment of annual fees

By 1600 Brazil was the Atlantic worlds greatest sugar producer The dutch were ghting for their independence from the Spanish crown, which then ruled Portugal and Brazil. As part of that struggle, the Dutch government chartered the *Dutch West India Company in 1621 to carry the conict to Spains overseas possessions

The company prospered by supplying the plantations with enslaved Africans and European goods and carrying the sugar back to Europe From African coasts the Dutch shipped slaves to Brazil and the West Indies By 1654 Portuguese armies had driven the last of the Dutch sugar planters from Brazil. Some of the expelled planters transplanted their capital and knowledge of sugar production to small Caribbean colonies

Sugar and Slaves

The English colony of Barbados best illustrates the dramatic transformation that sugar brought to the 17th century Caribbean Exported 15,000 tons of sugar a year During the rst half of the 17th century, 10,000 slaves arrived from Africa a year

Slavery was not born of racism: rather, racism was the consequence of slavery The shift from European labor and African labor was the initial lower cost of the latter Indentured ServantsPoor European men and women were willing to work for little in order to get to the Americas

Plantation Life in the Eighteenth Century

The technological, environmental, and social transformation of these island colonies illustrates the power of the new Atlantic system

Technology and Environment

What made the sugar plantation a complex investment was that it had to be factory as well as a farm The process from cane to raw sugar Jamaica specialized so heavily in sugar production that the island had no import most of its food Repeated cultivation of a single crop resulted in depletion of the soil

The plantations of this period were not a stable form of agriculture but rather gradually laid waste to the landscape By the 18th century, all domesticated animals and cultivated plants in the Caribbean Many of these new animals and plants were useful additions to the islands

Slaves Lives
Power resided in the hands of a *plantocracy, a small number of very rich men who owned most of the slaves and most of the land The protability of a Caribbean plantation depended on extracting as much work as possible from the slaves.

On a typical Jamaican plantation about 80 percent of the slaves actively engaged in productive tasks Only 2 or 3 percent of the slaves were house servants Women often formed the majority of the eld laborers Skilled slaves received rewards of food and clothing or time off for good worksome privileged slaves acted as drivers

Rebellious slaves who refused to workogging, connement in irons, mutilation, iron muzzle Life expectancy for slaves in 19th century Brazil was only 23 years (m) and 25.5 years (f) The harsh conditions of plantation life played a major role in shortening slaves lives The greatest killer was disease from contaminated food and water

*Seasoning the period of adjustment to the new environment One-third, on average, died of unfamiliar diseases Slaves also brought malaria Such high mortality greatly added to the volume of the Atlantic slave tradenew slaves needing to be bought every year or two to replace the dead

Slaves on most West Indian plantations were African-born. As a result, African religious beliefs, patterns of speech, styles of dress and adornment, and music were prominent parts of West Indian life European planters tried to curtail African cultural traditions French and Portuguese sought encouraged to adopt Catholic religious practices

Free Whites and Free Blacks

Free people fell into three distinct groups great whites grands blancs large plantation owners little whites petits blancs retail merchants Free blackssimilar occupations as the petits blancs A surprising number of the more prosperous black artisans and small land owners also owned slaves

The richest planters put their plantations under the direction of managers and lived in Britain *Manumissiona grant of freedom to an individual slave or group of slaves The largest group of freed slaves had purchased their freedom, especially France, Spain, and Portugala right protected by the courts

Creating the Atlantic Economy

Capitalism and Mercantilism

Changes in the type and number of ships crossing the Atlantic illustrate the rise of this new system Two European innovations enabled private investors to fund the rapid growth of the Atlantic economy Capitalismthe ability to manage large nancial resources, particularly banks and stock markets

The capitalism of these centuries was buttressed by *mercantilism, policies adopted by European states to promote their citizens overseas trade and accumulate capital in the form of precious metals, especially gold and silver Chartered companies were one of the rst examples of mercantilist capitalism Dutch East India Company and Dutch West India Company

In 1672 a royal charter placed all English trade with West Africa in the hands of a new *Royal African Company (RAC) French and English governments also used military force in pursuit of commercial dominance, especially to break the trading advantage of Dutch in the Americas

Military and diplomatic pressure also forced Spain after 1713 to grant England and later France monopoly rights to supply slaves In the 1660s England passed a series of Navigation Acts that conned trade with its colonies to English ships and cargoes

The Atlantic Circuit

At the heart of this trading system was a clockwise network of sea routes known as the *Atlantic Circuit EuropeAfricathe Americasback to Europe Prevailing winds and currents drove the circuit

Middle Passagethe section of the Atlantic Circuit from Africa to the Americas European interests dominated the Atlantic system People spooned sugar into popular new beverages tea, coffee, and chocolate driving up the demand

The ow of sugar to Europe depended on another key component of the Atlantic trading system: the ow of slaves from Africa 17th century mercantilist policies placed much of the Atlantic slave trade in the lands of chartered companies

Although it was in the interests of the captain and crew to deliver their slave cargo in good condition whippings, beatings, and even executions were used to maintain order Crew members in close contact with the slaves were exposed to the same epidemics and also died in great numbers

Africa, the Atlantic, and Islam

The Gold Coast and the Slave Coast

European visitors to Africas Atlantic coast were interested more in trading than in colonizing or controlling the continent African kings and merchants sold slaves the growing slave trade did not lead to substantial European colonization

Although preferences for merchandise varied, Africans greatest demands were for textiles, hardware, and guns Most slaves were prisoners of war, which were sold by the victors as their war prots Europeans, both Scottish and Irish, were brought into slavery in the Americas as well

The Bight of Biafra and Angola

The densely populated interior of the Bight of Biafra brought Prisoners usually seem to have been a byproduct of African wars rather than the purpose for which the wars were fought

Severe droughts also brought more Africans into slavery The organization of the Atlantic trade was based on a partnership between European and African elites