History Exam 2023 July (Slave Trade) Flashcards
What year did European explorers sail along the coat of africa? Who mainly went and what were they trying to find?
1400, Portugal, Asia
What did explorers want when they went to africa and what were they going to do with it
Cheap spices/other rare things to sell for large profit in africa
What did Portugal do while travelling along the coast of west africa?
They made agreements with several African kingdoms to take part in trade
Durning what year did the Portugueses take control of what country and with whose help?
1500s, west - south Angola, help of the kingdom of Congo
How did rulers make profit
But putting taxes on goods coming in and out of their nation + entry fees
What happened in late 1400 - early 1500 (in transatlantic slave trade)
Portagal + Spain - followed by - British, Dutch, French conquered large parts of north/south america
What were the large plantations growing? Who did the work
Sugar, tobacco, coffee, work done by native Americans slaves
What wiped out the pre - conquest population of slaves and what percentage was wiped out?
Mistreatment + small pox, 90%
What was the prime location for slaves
West africa
What are the 4 reasons west africa was the prime place for slaves
- Climate - similar to American plantation
- Most Americans already exposed to disease
- Journey across Atlantic was more direct
- Several European countries already did slave trade with west African kingdoms
What religion spread to west africa and in what century? What did they also believe in traditional religious
Islam, 8th century, believed in creator, spirts + ancestors
What years was West Africa a thriving trade centre and why
1300 - 1400, spices + salt in demand = plentiful in west africa
How long has West + North Africa traded
Hundreds of year
What part of africa traded with European sailers long before the other part
North africa
What did Europeans sought? Who were the 1st European sailers to go to West Africa and in what year?
Salt, gold, ivory, bronze + others, Portuguese in 1400
How long has slavery existed in africa
Since ancient times
True of false - there is only one type of slavery
False
What varied from time to time and place to palce in Africa
Customs + laws
What are the 4 types of slavery
Debt, military, domestic, criminal slavery
What is Debt slavery
Pawnship, if a person borrows money + agrees to enslave themselves/family member to pay back debt (often includes children as servents)
What is military slavery
Boys taken from young age to work for military + trained to be professional soliders, can earn freedom in serving
What is domestic slavery
Slaves that work at farmers/house of owner - often paid percentage of earnings = pay for freedom
What is criminal slavery
People who convicted crime = sentenced to period of enslavement time depends on seriousness of crime committed
What does the treatment of slaves depend on
If they were born in a family / if they were captured/bought
Why did people face harsher lives
Many informal and formal rules often protected the former from being sold or mistreated while the latter faced harsher lives
What happened to children of slaves in most societies
Weren’t automatically made into slaves themselves
What kingdoms/empires gained a lot of wealth from slave trade - where were they created + when
In 800s + 1500s AD - several powerful empires/kingdoms in Western, Northern and Eastern Africa
What network grew linking towns + cities and where were captives transported to
Large slave trading network, slaves transported to Arabia, Indian + Europe
How many people and in what part of africa where captured + transported and by who
10 million, west and east africa, slave raiders + traders
In slave trade where were merchants from and where did they settle? And what was built to control + manage trade
Arabia, Persia, India - settled on coast of East Africa, ports where built
In what year was the number of slave transported to North and South America low?
1600s
What happened in the 1700s in the transatlantic slave trade
Huge increase in slave trade from west Africa to america
What was the average number of people who got captured, sold, and transported across the Atlantic?
60 000
What did the triangular trade involve?
Exchange of people and goods between Europe, Africa and America
What did European ships bring to different African ports and what did they exchange for
Cloths, beads, metals, guns and exchanged for slaves
What ocean where slaves transported across? What were slaves sold for?
Transported across Atlantic to America, sold for sugar, tobacco, coffee, cotton and other raw material
Where were the materials from the triangular trade transported to
Europe, completing the triangle
Why did some countries have an advantages when capturing slaves
Because some countries had modern weapons like guns
What happened to people who didn’t want to get involved in the capture of slaves
They were forced to take part and protect themselves from enslavement
What did profit change in the capture of slaves
Profit changed laws + punishment
What happened when some convicted a minor crime in the capture of slaves
They were sentenced by leaders then sold into slavery
Who were slave traders?
Powerful men who barter + exchange household slaves for goods
How did some West African try to escape slave traders?
By disfiguring, eating dirt, poisoning selfs, suicide - but it was difficult to escape well organised men
Where were captives taken
Ports along the coast of West Africa - held in a cage before being sold
How did many people die at sea
Disease, starvation / maltreatment before getting far
What happened when slave ships came into the ports? What happened when slaves got sold or didnt?
Port captives would clean + inspect slaves and those who got sold would be transferred onto the slave ship after being tied up / chained and those who didn’t get sold where murdered on the spot
How did slave ship owners make their journey profitable
The pack as many people as possible and chained them together so there was no movement
How did people die on slave ships
Food was inadequate which made slaves suffer, die of starvation and the crowded conditions cause diseases
What did the slave ship owners take from the slaves lives
Their insurance
What did the crew of Zong do? When did it happen
In 1781 they murdered 133 slaves, threw them overboard because they ran out of water and food
Why did some people throw themselves overboard when they had the chance?
Because they preferred death to enslavement
Why were small groups of slaves taken to the deck
They were taken to the deck to exercise/dancing (even the weak and ill) and if you didn’t you would get beaten or whipped
Where were many slaves sold to rather than plantations
The were often sold to seasoning camps
What were seasoning camps used for
They were used to break independence and identities of slaves
What were the slaves forced to learn at seasoning camp/plantations
They were forced to learn new languages, customs, skill to work at plantations
What was the treatment like at seasoning camps?
It was brutal and harsh even fro minor violations, 25% died in 2 years but being broken made it go to 50%
Where were slaves sold
At public auctions
How did dealers clean up slaves?
They cleaned and oiled their bodies
What were potential buyers allowed to do to slaves and what did they look for
Potential buyers where allowed to inspected bodies themselves they looked for injury, weakness or disease
How did sales often end with slaves and what did new owners do to slaves
Sales often ended with separation of family friends who managed to stay together and new owners gave slaves new names and brand them
What are primary and secondary sources
Primary = original record from the past by someone who was involved or witnessed the event
Secondary = an interpretation of the primary source and someones else understanding that wasn’t in the event
What does BC and BCE stand for
Before christ - before common era
What does AD and CE stand for
Anno Domini - Common era
