How Did Slave Resistance End The Slave Trade? Flashcards
Types of slave resistance
. Involved attacks from the shore
. Insurrections aboard ships
. Suicide - refusing to eat, dying in despair, jumping off slave ships
. Keeping alive their African religious beliefs, names, languages, music and stories
. Haitian slaves fused their African religion with Catholicism and created vodoo
. Slaves practised their own beliefs and it seemed to their owners they practiced Christianity
How many mutinies occurred between 1699 and 1865?
. Over 50 major mutinies occurred on slave ships in the Middle Passage between 1699 and 1865
What % of ships experienced an insurrection
As many as 10% of slave ships experienced an insurrection
How many acts of violent resistance by Africans against slave sips occurred?
. 485 acts
. 93 cases attacks from the shore, by ‘free’ Africans against ships or longboats
. 392cases of shipboard revolt by the enslaved
What % of insurrections took place from 1698 to 1807 and how many were planned rebellion?
. 90%
. Involved more than 360 ships
. 22 instances of planned rather than actual rebellion
What happened to rebellion participants?
. Publicly killed ‘by progressive mutilation, slow burnings, breaking on the wheel.’
. Slaves were also ‘tortured or starved to death in cages.’
What happened to slaves on Antigua who rebelled?
77 slaves were burned alive in 1736
Tacky
400 were executed for joining Tacky, a slave who led a rebellion in Jamaica in 1760
Barbados resistance
. In 1649 on Barbados, the Africans planned to free themselves and establish an independent African territory by killing the white population of the island
. The plot failed and the ringleaders were executed
How much had the African slave population grown on colonies and what did this mean?
. By 1700 the African population had grown in the colonies by 80%.
. This also meant an increase in uprisings
Why was resistance difficult?
Enslaved Africans who escaped were often quickly recognised as runaways and returned to be punished by their owners
Average amount of slave revolts on the Carribean
. There were hundreds of slave revolts.
. In the Caribbean, they averaged at least 2 per year during the period 1789-1815
Where did the pattern of resistance continue to?
Continued in the West Indies, South America, and along the east coast of North America
Haiti background
. Haiti was France’s wealthiest overseas colony largely because of its productions of sugar + coffee
. There were 30,000 free black people in 1789 and the slave population was close to 500,000
When and where did the Haitian Revolution begin?
Uprising began in 1791 in the French colonial territory of St Domingue
Why did the Haitian Revolution begin?
Partly a consequence of the French Revolution and partly a backlash against the brutality of slave owners
What happened to L’Overture?
Napoleon Bonapart dispatched General Charles Leclerc + 40,000 French troops to capture L’Overture who was taken to France where he died in prison in 1805
How did the Haitian Revolution fighting end?
Jean Jacques Dessalines, one of L’Overture generals led the revolutionaries at the Battle of Vertieres on November 18th 1803 where French forces were defeated
Impact of the Haitian Revolution in the UK
Slowed down abolition in the UK as it became patriotic to own slaves
Who withdrew his support from Wilberforce’s campaign in Parliament as a result of the Haitian Revolution?
William Pitt, prime minister
How did the British governing body in the Caribbean react to the Haitian Revolution?
Colonial Assembly in Jamaica resolved to abandon the use of metal collars for shackling slaves whilst also strengthening the militia/armed force.
What was the colonial assembly in Jamaica?
A formal gathering of official representatives of the British Crown in each colonial possession.
Where in the British Caribbean did a slave revolt occur in 1790?
British Virgin Islands
Which parliamentary leader died in 1806?
William Pitt
Who became prime minister in 1806?
William Grenville
What was the wheel?
Thea form of torture where bones were dislocated and the body pulled apart on a wheel
What did a group of enslaved Ashanti do?
In 1767 they cut their own throats following their sale
What did L’Overture do at the start?
Led a slave army which burned the plantations defeating both militias + French troops
When did the slaves first rebel and what progress did they make?
August 21st 1791, controlled 1/3 of island in 1792
What happened in 1793?
The slaves held off the French forces and the British who arrived to conquer the colony
Why did the slave withdraw and when?
1798 after a series of defeats by L’Overture forces
What did L’Overture do in 1801?
Expanded the revolution beyond Haiti conquering the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo
What was the result of the Haitian revolution?
. On January 1st 1804 Dessalines declared the nation independent naming it Haiti
. France was the first to recognise its independence and it emerged as the first black republic in the world
What was Haiti the first of?
. First independent state in Latin America
. First Nation to be created as a result of a successful slave rebellion
. But was one of the most impoverished states
