Africa and the Atlantic World (The Slave Trade) Flashcards
What was the African Diaspora?
The dispersal of Afrian peoples and their descendants throughtout the western hemisphere.
What main crops were plantations used for in the Americas?
Sugar and tobacco
Examples of cash crops produced in plantations in the Americas:
Sugar, tobacco, rice, indigo, cotton, coffee
How did plantations function?
They specialized in one specific crop but also produced food for their local communities. Their purpose was to profit from their cash crops.
Who were the physical laborers of the plantations?
African and African-American slaves
Which peoples governed the plantations?
European and Euro-American peoples
What were the main causes of death for slaves on the plantations?
Yellow fever, malaria, brutal working conditions and horrible sanitation and nutrition.
What was a reason why slaves had low rates of reproduction?
Plantations owners mostly imported male slaves.
In what place were the conditions for slaves “better” than in South American plantations and why?
North America. Less disease and less harsh conditions in some ways. However, only about 5% of people were sent to North America.
What did North American planters encourage?
They encouraged the slaves to form families by importing large numbers of female slaves.
Why did the North Americans support these slave families?
Because the prices of fresh slaves rose dramatically by the 18th century.
Who was Thomas Peters?
One of the many slaves who resisted against slavery.
What was a mild way of slaves rebelling against their masters?
Working slowly in the plantations and occasionally sabotaging plantation equipment. This was costly to the slave owners.
What was a serious way for slaves rebelling against their masters?
They ran away.
What were slave runaways called?
Maroons.
What did the slave runaways do after they ran away?
They gathered in mountainous, forested, or swampy areas and built their own self-governing communities.
How did maroons retaliate against plantations?
They often raided nearby plantations for weapons, tools, provisions, and fellow slaves to increase their numbers or to provide labor within their own communities.
What made the maroons militarily successful in the Americas?
Many of them had gained military experience in Africa.
Where today has descent from 18th century maroons?
Saramaka people of Suriname.
Why did slave revolts scare the slave owners?
The slaves outnumbered the supervisors of plantations and brought a lot of death. However, the slave revolts did not help that much in ending slavery because the ruling elites had guns and military forces.
What is Saint-Domingue?
A French sugar colony that abolished slavery as an institution after a slave revolt. (1793)
What modern day country is Saint-Domingue in?
Haiti.
Did any other slave revolts bring the same results as the Haitian revolution?
No.
Island of Hispaniola: two modern day countries and year Spanish established plantations there
Haiti and Dominican Republic (1516)