Turbulent Centuries in Africa
Setting the Scene "The first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast was the sea, and a slave
ship which was then riding at anchor and waiting for its cargo. These filled me with astonishment, which was soon
converted into terror when I was carried on board." So wrote Olaudah Equiano. In the 1750s, when he was 11 years
old, Equiano was seized from his Nigerian village by slave traders. He was then transported as human cargo from West
Africa to the Americas.
Enslaved Africans like Equiano formed part of an international trade network that arose during the first global
age. Encounters between Europeans and Africans had been taking place since the 1400s. By then, Africa was home to
diverse societies, and Islam had become an important force in some parts of the continent. As Europeans arrived, they
would bring their own influences to Africa.
European Outposts in Africa
In the 1400s, Portuguese ships explored the coast of West Africa, looking for a sea route to India. They built
small forts along the West African coast to trade for gold, collect food and water, and repair their ships.
The Portuguese lacked the power to push into the African interior. They did, however, attack the coastal cities
of East Africa, such as Mombasa and Malindi, which were hubs of international trade. With cannons blazing, they
expelled the Arabs who controlled the East African trade network and took over this thriving commerce for themselves.
The Portuguese, however, gained little profit from their victories. Trade between the interior and the coast soon
dwindled. By 1600, the once­prosperous East African coastal cities had sunk into poverty.
Other Europeans soon followed the Portuguese into Africa. The Dutch, the English, and the French established
forts along the western coast of Africa. Like the Portuguese, they exchanged muskets, tools, and cloth for gold, ivory,
hides, and slaves.
The Atlantic Slave Trade
In the 1500s, Europeans began to view slaves as the most important item of African trade. Slavery had existed
in Africa, as elsewhere around the world, since ancient times. Egyptians, Greeks. Romans, Persians, Indians, and
Aztecs often enslaved defeated foes. Our word slave comes from the large number of Slavs taken from southern
Russia to work as unpaid laborers in Roman times.
The Arab empire also used slave labor, often captives taken from Africa. In the Middle East, many enslaved
Africans worked on farming estates or large­scale irrigation projects. Others became artisans, soldiers, or merchants.
Some rose to prominence in the Muslim world even though they were officially slaves.
European and African Slave Traders The Atlantic slave trade began in the 1500s, to fill the need for labor in
Spain's American empire. In the next 300 years, it grew into a huge and profitable business. Each year, traders shipped
tens of thousands of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to work on tobacco and sugar plantations in the Americas.
Europeans seldom went into the interior to take part in slave raids. Instead, they relied on African rulers and
traders to seize captives in the interior and bring them to coastal trading posts and fortresses. There, the captives were
exchanged for textiles, metalwork, rum, tobacco, weapons, and gunpowder. The slave trade intensified as the demand
for slaves increased in the Americas and as the demand for luxury goods increased in Africa.
Triangular Trade The Atlantic slave trade formed one part of a three­legged trade network known as the triangular
trade. On the first leg, merchant ships brought goods to Africa to be traded for slaves. On the second leg, known as the
Middle Passage, the slaves were transported to the West Indies. There, the enslaved Africans were exchanged for
sugar, molasses, and other products. On the final leg, these products were shipped to Europe or European colonies in
the Americas. The prosperity of port cities such as Nantes in France, Bristol in England, and Salem in Massachusetts
thus depended in large part on the slave trade.
Horrors of the Middle Passage For enslaved Africans, the Middle Passage was a horror. Once purchased, Africans
were packed below the decks of slave ships. Hundreds of men, women, and children were crammed into a single
vessel. Slave ships became "floating coffins" on which up to half the Africans on board died from disease or brutal
mistreatment.
Some enslaved Africans resisted. A few tried to seize control of the ship and return to Africa. Others committed suicide
by leaping overboard. One African recalled such an incident during the Middle Passage:
"One day ... two of my wearied countrymen who were chained together . . . jumped into the sea; immediately
another ... followed their example. . . . two of the wretches were drowned, but [the ship's crew] got the other,
and afterwards flogged him unmercifully for thus attempting to prefer death to slavery."
—Olaudah Equiano, The Life of Gustavus Vassa
African Leaders Resist Some African leaders tried to slow down the transatlantic slave trade or even to stop it
altogether. They used different forms of resistance. But in the end, the system that supported the trade was simply too
strong for them.
An early voice raised against the slave trade was that of Affonso I, ruler of Kongo in west­central Africa. As a
young man, Affonso was tutored by Portuguese missionaries. After becoming king in 1505, he called on the Portuguese
to help him develop Kongo as a modern Christian state.
Before long, however, Affonso grew alarmed. Each year, more and more Portuguese came to Kongo to buy
slaves. They offered high prices, and government officials and local chiefs eagerly entered the trade. Even Christian
missionaries began to buy and sell Africans.
Affonso insisted that "it is our will that in these Kingdoms there should not be any trade of slaves nor outlet for
them." Kongo, he stated, could benefit from contacts with Europe, but the trade in human lives was evil. His appeal
failed, and the slave trade continued.
In the late 1700s, another African ruler, the almamy of Futa Toro in northern Senegal, tried to halt the slave
trade in his lands. Since the 1500s, French sea captains had bought slaves from African traders in Futa Toro. The
almamy decided to put a stop to this practice. In 1788, he forbade anyone to transport slaves through Futa Toro for
sale abroad. The sea captains and local chiefs protested, and called on the almamy to repeal, or cancel, the law. The
almamy refused. He returned the presents the captains had sent him in hopes of winning him over to their cause. "All the
riches in the world would not make me change my mind," he said.
The almamy's victory was short­lived, however. The inland slave traders simply worked out a new route to the
coast. Sailing to this new market, the French captains easily purchased the slaves that the almamy had prevented them
from buying in Senegal. There was nothing the almamy could do to stop them.
Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade Historians are still debating the number of Africans who were affected by the
Atlantic slave trade. In the 1500s, they estimate, about 2,000 enslaved Africans were sent to the Americas each year. In
the 1780s, when the slave trade was at its peak, that number topped 80,000 a year. By the mid­1800s, when the
overseas slave trade was finally stopped, an estimated 11 million enslaved Africans had reached the Americas. Another
2 million probably died under the brutal conditions of the voyage between Africa and the Americas.
The slave trade caused the decline of some African states and the rise of others. In West Africa, the loss of
countless numbers of young women and men resulted in some small states disappearing forever. At the same time, there
arose new African states whose way of life depended on the slave trade. The rulers of these powerful new states waged
war against other Africans so they could gain control of the slave trade in their region and reap the profits.