Slave trade Flashcards
(22 cards)
why did the slave trade start?
The slave trade started because the West Indies grew sugar to trade but they needed workers to work on the plantations.
At first they used the natives and also criminals or prisoners, however they would be set free when their sentence ended.
From the 1650s onwards they began to ship black slaves from Africa to do the plantation work.
how was the slave trade organised?
The triangular Trade Route went between Europe, Africa and the Americas.
Europe to Africa took manufactured goods to trade to African Chiefs for slaves, Guns etc
Africa to the Caribbean took slaves to trade for raw goods with the plantation owners, Cotton, Sugar etc
The Caribbean to Britain took raw materials which would be traded for Manufactured goods, before the circle started again.
what was the effect of the slave trade on British ports
The slave trade brought a great amount of wealth to the ports involved, such as Liverpool, Bristol and London. The ships often would make very large profits, which led to the areas / cities where the trade was, to prosper. The slave traders + merchants built fancy houses.
what was the effect of the slave trade on African societies?
Some African societies such as Dahomey became rich from exploiting the slave trade. They organised raids to capture slave which they would sell and trade for guns and ammunition.
what are some aspects of african life that changed because of the slave trade
answers can be ———->
-farming became growing crops for food on slave ships
-native crafts died out because they could not compete with the cheap European goods.
-Chiefs and kings began exploring their own people
-tribal wars became worse
-law and justice were corrupted - more crimes were punishable by being made a slave
what were the effects of the slave trade on west indian plantations?
The native people were wiped out by European diseases from all the new slaves who came to work on the plantations
the slaves would be worked very hard to grow and harvest the sugar cane.
what was a slave factory
permanent trading posts set up by Europeans who would live there and collect slaves to sell to passing ships.
what were the conditions like on the middle passage
the slave traders crammed in the slaves as tight as possible
the slaves were chained
sickness was everywhere
they were made to dance for exercise
they were whipped and treated very harshly
the food was very poor
what was the importance of sugar in the slave trade?
sugar was the reason that so many slaves were taken - because they need people to do the hard labour of growing the sugar cane
what was the impact of the Caribbean trade on the british economy? -banking, ports, shipbuilding and textiles
Ports such as London, Bristol and Liverpool prospered as a direct result of involvement in the slave trade
Some merchants became bankers and many new businesses were financed by profits made from slave trading
The ship building industry prospered because of the slave ships that were being built
The cotton industry was expanded and lots of money and jobs were created by the factories that made raw cotton into material.
how did the slave trade impact on the caribbean islands themselves
the economy was damaged because of the concentration on sugar production
the people’s cultures were wiped out by the colonialists
colonised countries still struggle to be full financially self sufficient
what were the living and working conditions like on the plantation for the slaves
the houses they lived in were small
they had poor food
they had to work even if they were pregnant
they had to work if they were sick
what were some small forms of resistance that the slaves used on the plantations
feigning illness, working slowly, producing shoddy work, and misplacing or damaging tools and equipment.
why did slave owners fear revolt?
Resistance from the slaves was expensive for the plantation owners as it affected production.
On the plantations, enslaved people greatly outnumbered their white ‘masters’ and the owners may have felt physically threatened by this.
what were the origins of the abolitionist movement
The Quakers were the first group to oppose the slave trade.
The abolitionist movement began as a more organized, radical and immediate effort to end slavery than earlier campaigns. It officially emerged around 1830
how did the abolitionist movement have support from parliament and outside?
William Wilberforce in Parliament, and by Thomas Clarkson in the country as a whole, launched the formal campaign to abolish the slave trade.
why did people argue against the slave trade - humanitarian, economic, Christian
Humanitarian
Enslaved people were denied their freedom and their human rights. Many British sailors died on the triangular trade. The slave trade brutalised all who took part in it.
Christian
The Bible taught that people should treat each other with kindness and love. God created humankind as brothers and sisters.
Economic
British industry no longer depended so heavily on the slave trade. British trade, with its colonies in India and the Far East, was growing rapidly.
what were some methods of the abolitionists - meetings (3) + evidence gathering (6)
Meetings
they had a network of groups in different areas, who put out/used
-public meetings
-the publication of pamphlets
-petitions.
Evidence Gathering
Thomas Clarkson investigated slave ships and
collected evidence such as
-iron handcuffs
-branding irons
-thumbscrews
-a diagram of a slave ship showing the cramped conditions
-evidence from former slaves (Equiano)
-first hand accounts from slavers themselves
what were the effects of the French Revolution on the progress of the abolitionists passing their bill?
the revolution delayed the campaign
the French revolutionists had similar ideas about freedom as the abolitionists, so the government became scared and made it hard for the abolitionists to meet.
Britain needed a lot of money to pay for the war with France. Ending the slave trade would cost the country too much money.
how did slave revolts set the abolitionists back
A revolt of enslaved people on the French colony of Saint Domingue frightened the British government. Led by Toussaint L’ouverture the freed enslaved people set up an independent nation called Haiti.
who defended the slave trade
MPs - Some MPs were planters themselves or had business interests which made money out of slavery. The planter MPs were wealthy and powerful enough to bribe other MPs. They did this to get their support in blocking abolitionist bills passing through Parliament.
Merchants and workers - Many people’s jobs in ports such as Bristol and Liverpool depended on the business created by the slave trade.
African rulers - They played a key role in the slave trade and also tried to defend it.
