Pick 2 out of 3 topics

· Sumerians had slaves : slaves have been around since the beginning of civilization

· There are still civilizations who have slaves today - seems to be a problem that won't ever go away

· Romans allow for manumission which is master freeing a slave

· Some masters allowed their slaves to go out and work outside the home and the master got a cut of what he made and the slave could save up and buy freedom

· Masters also released slaves for kindness of heart or religious reasons or other reasons

· Once a slave is freed (slave = servus) became a libertus which is a freedman which is another class in Roman society

· When you are freed you take on your owners family name as well as their own name

· Muslims have slaves but the quaran says you can't take another muslim as a slave it has to be outsiders

· So here we are in 1400 - Portuguese are importing a few exotic slaves from Sub Sahara - but - as always - how to get rid of the middlemen?

· Prince Henry Monument : huge  : ship : Prince henry at the front : image

· They had to get exotic black slaves through Sub Saharan trade - deal with the Sahara

· Spanish reach Caribbean - no spices or precious metals - but - SUGAR - made people very rich

· Very  labor intensive  - local native Americans original source of labor - but are quickly used up - because :

· They are overworked (worked to death)

· European diseases

· New source : West Africans!

· Portuguese already had this source

· 1500-1850 : maybe 10 million enslaved West Africans were transported via the MIDDLE PASSAGE of the Atlantic Ocean to the New World

· Local kings saw this as a boom for money

· They could send armies to invade enemies and capture men to sell to slavery - if they came up short they could sell their own men

· In return they got cheap trade goods - cloth

· And weapons : there was a surplus in Europe of guns that were traded for slaves

· Slaves Merchants either want :

· Used regular bases

· Cruised known coastal location

People would recognize the European boat and flag them in to trade

· Goree Port : used for trade

· People who were thrown on ships : Inland people never even seen the ocean now on a small boat to be taken out onto a larger ship : they immediately convert you to Catholicism if on Christian ship

· They are stripped so they are naked to make them more vulnerable - psychological warfare

· Placed with people not in the same language group so you can't talk and plot an escape

· Hundreds crammed commonly naked into slave ships for long journey among foreigners

· Laying down below the deck

· Fed the most basic foods

· If someone is suspected to be sick they would throw them overboard so that others wouldn’t die

· Crew often had sex with females to breed children that would be seen as a higher class of people than slaves because they are part white

· 1807 - Parliament passes anti-slave trading law

· Slavery isn't illegal in England, but you couldn’t ship slaves across the Atlantic

· 1808 - US Congress does the same

· Neither government at this time could enforce these laws

· If you could catch a slave ship with slaves on it then you can seize it in the name of your government : ship would be taken somewhere and sold off : the people who seized it got money and so did the government

· If someone is caught without slaves they get to keep their ship which is very valuable - so if they think they are going to be caught they will throw all the slaves overboard

· Kidnap victims : black slaves take over the ship and they keep one Spaniard to help you get home but they can't man the ship - they are floating around in the ocean - the case goes through the supreme court - they are seen as kidnap victims not slaves and they are able to go home

· One of the sailors who can speak both can speak about what happened to them and leads to them being able to go home

· This is huge for abolitionists of the time : these people were not regarded as slaves

· Slaves in New World - best are West Africans because :

· Many had been farmers (used to hard farm life and had skills)

· Many had been exposed to both European and Tropical diseases

· Bad for everyone : obviously for the slaves but, it retards the south : instead of relying on machinery they are relying on labor

· They are a one crop economy - cotton

· West African economy fragile post 1860's depression

· You depopulated own sections of your country with the slave trade - less farmers etc.