Chronology of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Brief overview

After my first post, the logical historical step will be to proceed to the transatlantic slave trade, which almost every historian agrees was the most brutal practice the human race ever inflicted on its peers. However, it is my least favorite topic, so I will just give a brief overview and recommend a few articles and movies that will help readers who do not know a lot about the topic and want to learn and make up their own minds about it. I highlighted in the previous post that the first African slaves arrived The Americas at the dawn of the 16th century, marshalled by Portugal and Spain. I will attempt to establish a chronology on how the trade evolved, got to its peak and eventually declined.

• In the 1480s, the Portuguese had kidnapped or traded many slaves, and populated their island colonies off the coast of Western Africa. They eventually used those island colonies to take many captives back to Portugal to be sold as servants

• In the 1500s, Spain and Portugal started establishing colonies in the New World, which will lead to the depopulation of large parts of the Caribbean during the European conquest. The natives also died rapidly from the harsh nature of the forced labor. As a result, a massive number of African captives will be shipped in horrendous conditions to replace the enslaved natives in the New World

• In the 1600s, due to the increasing nature of the trade, the Dutch, English and French also established colonies in the new world and became major participants in the Transatlantic slave trade. A large percentage of their human cargo is taken from the region of West Africa between the Senegal River and the Niger River. Demand for slave labor also rises sharply during this period due to the growth of sugar plantations in the Caribbean and the tobacco plantations in the Chesapeake region of North America

• In August 1619, the first Africans in English America are brought to the Jamestown colony in Virginia. They came aboard a Portuguese ship sailing from Angola to Mexico. While the ship was sailing through the West Indies, it was attacked by Dutch and English sailors and the latter captured the 50 slaves aboard (Men, women and children) and brought them to the outposts of Jamestown, where more than 20 of the slaves were purchased.

• The 1700s saw the largest number of enslaved Africans taken to the Americas. Historians estimate the number accounted for three-fifths of the total volume of the Transatlantic slave trade

• In the 1780s, the peak of the trade is reached, with an estimated average of 78000 enslaved Africans are brought to the Americas annually during this decade. Half of those numbers are transported by British ships alone. The French and Portuguese traders also transported a significant number of enslaved people during this period.

• In 1789, Olaudah Equiano (a former enslaved educated African who bought his own freedom in 1766) publishes what many now consider being the first significant work about an enslaved person’s life, titled The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano; or, Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself. The book becomes famous and known for its graphic descriptions of the suffering endured by African captives on the transatlantic voyages, to help turn public opinion against the slave trade.

• In 1807, Great Britain abolishes the slave trade in its colonies and territory

• In 1808, the Congress of the United States bans the importation of slaves into the country.

• In 1817, Spain signed a treaty with Britain agreeing to abolish the slave trade. The Spanish ban on the trade went into full effect in 1820, although illegal smuggling of enslaved persons subsequently occurred into Spanish colonial possessions

• In 1833, Great Britain passed the Slavery Abolition Act, which abolished slavery in most British colonies, freeing more than 800,000 enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and South Africa as well as a small number in Canada. The act does not explicitly refer to British North America. The aim is rather to dismantle the large-scale plantation slavery that exists in Britain’s tropical colonies.

• In 1839, the US navy seizes the Spanish ship called Amistad off the coast of New York, and discovers that Africans on board have killed several members of its crew and taken over the ship. Despite attempts by US president Martin Van Buren to send the mutineers to Cuba, abolitionists demand a trial, insisting that the men are free under international law, and winning the case. The US government appeals to the Supreme Court, and in 1841, defending counsel John Adams successfully argues that the men must be freed. Donations helped the surviving Amistad rebels to return to Sierra Leone

• In 1850, Brazil outlaws the slave trade. As slavery remains legal in the country, the smuggling of enslaved Africans into Brazil continues for several more decades.

• During the American Civil War (1861–65) a Northern blockade of the Confederate states prevents Caribbean smugglers from importing enslaved Africans. The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declares that the enslaved people in the Southern states are free. The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution formally abolishes slavery in 1865. However, many former Confederate states continue to enact laws that keep Blacks subservient to whites

• Brazil formally abolishes slavery on May 13, 1888.

The abolition of slavery in Brazil more or less marked the official end of the transatlantic slave trade. We observe nowadays that Brazil has the largest population of African people, unlike popular belief that it’s the United States. Countries like Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and other Caribbean countries are vestiges of slavery. The end of slavery was supposed to be the salvation of African people, but it turns out it created another wave of assault from the Europeans. With the trade over and the need for another source of income, the Europeans turn another dark page in African history, perhaps the darkest. They realized Africa still remains an unconquered continent, which could hold many treasures. This leads us to our next topic, which is the Scramble and Partition of Africa.

I recommend you read Frederick Douglass's book and those of former slaves describing their experiences.

If you prefer watching, I will recommend Roots, Twelve Years A Slave, Amistad and Harriet. Now, the movies are pretty graphic and I wouldn't watch them myself. But it's a better way to picture how the Transatlantic Slave Trade worked and the cruel treatment of the enslaved Africans.