The Slave Ship

The Slave Ship: A Human History By Marcus Rediker (Penguin, 2007)

I wanted to make our understanding of the slave trade concrete, to see it as a human history—hence the subtitle of my book -- because I believe that the human capacity to live with injustice depends to some extent on making it abstract. The existing scholarship on the slave trade is outstanding, but a lot of it is statistical, which can occlude the horror of what one group of people is doing to another for money. (Marcus Rediker, interview)

Eric Foner's review of The Slave Ship by Marcus Rediker states: Rediker certainly knows his ships: how and where they were built, how a normal trading vessel was transformed into a slave ship by the addition of cannon and the building of a ‘barricado’, a barrier across the main deck behind which armed crewmen could retreat in the event of an uprising. He takes us on a tour from stem to stern, from captain’s quarters to the levels below decks where slaves were incarcerated. He knows the crew and their tasks – the mates, carpenters, gunners and common sailors. And he knows how slaves were captured, transported and terrorized.

The Slave Ship makes it clear that while Europeans financed, directed and profited from the trade, it could not have functioned without the active participation of rulers and traders in Africa. Domestic slavery and the trading of slaves across the Sahara to Arab merchants existed centuries before Europeans arrived in West Africa. But the rise of the transatlantic trade transformed African societies. By the 18th century, militarised states like Asante and Dahomey had come into existence that thrived by warring on and enslaving their neighbours. The trade exacerbated class tensions within African societies, as merchants and rulers profited from selling commoners to the slavers. (continue reading the entire Foner article here.)

La Rochelle slave ship Le Saphir ex-voto, 1741

La Rochelle slave ship Le Saphir ex-voto, 1741.

An ex-voto is a votive offering to a saint or to a divinity. It is given in fulfillment of a vow (hence the Latin term, short for ex voto suscepto, "from the vow made") or in gratitude or devotion. Ex-votos are placed in a church or chapel where the worshiper seeks grace or wishes to give thanks. The destinations of pilgrimages often include shrines decorated with ex-votos.

Ex-votos can take a wide variety of forms. They are not only intended for the helping figure, but also as a testimony to later visitors of the received help. As such they may include texts explaining a miracle attributed to the helper, or symbols such as a painted or modeled reproduction of a miraculously healed body part, or a directly related item such as a crutch given by a person formerly lame. There are places where a very old tradition of depositing ex-votos existed, such as Abydos in ancient Egypt.  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex-voto]

Cross section of decks, "tight packing" of slaves, storage areas. This ship sailed from La Rochelle in 1784, picked up about 500 Africans from north of the Congo River, and sold its slaves in Saint Domingue.



La Rochelle harbour in 1762. Joseph Vernet. Musée de la Marine.

Because of its western location, which saved days of sailing time, La Rochelle enjoyed successful fishing in the western Atlantic and trading with the New World, which served to counterbalance the disadvantage of not being at the mouth of a river (useful for shipping goods to and from the interior). Its Protestant ship-owning and merchant class prospered in the 16th century until the Wars of Religion devastated the city.[23]

The period following the wars was a prosperous one, marked by intense exchanges with the New World (Nouvelle France in Canada, and the Antilles). La Rochelle became very active in triangular trade with the New World, dealing in the slave trade with Africa, sugar trade with plantations of the West Indies, and fur trade with Canada. This was a period of high artistic, cultural and architectural achievements for the city.

Reconstruction drawing of Fort St. Louis.

Robert de La Salle departed from La Rochelle, France, on 24 July 1684, with the aim of setting up a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi, eventually establishing Fort Saint Louis in Texas.[24]

The city eventually lost its trade and prominence during the decades spanning the Seven Years' War, the French revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. During that period France lost many of the territorial possessions which it had had in the new World, and also saw a strong decrease in its sea power in the continuing conflicts with Britain, ultimately diminishing the role of such harbours as La Rochelle. After abolitionist movements led by such people as Samuel de Missy, the slave trade of La Rochelle ended with the onset of the French Revolution and the war with England in the 1790s, the last La Rochelle slave ship, the Saint-Jacques being captured in 1793 in the Gulf of Guinea.[25] In February 1794, the National Assembly legislated the Universal Emancipation decree, which effectively freed all colonial slaves.

In 1809, the Battle of the Basque Roads took place near La Rochelle, in which a British fleet defeated the French Atlantic Fleet.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Rochelle]

Portugal in the World - Mozambique Island

7 Wonders Travel
The wonders of Portugal in the World - Mozambique Island

On the voyage by Portuguese wonders in the world back to Africa, to Mozambique Island. This was the last stopover of Vasco da Gama before arriving in India, and the island has given the country its name. Due to the rich history it holds, the Island of Mozambique was considered by UNESCO World Heritage Site. 2009-05-21 15:33:33



As Maravilhas de Portugal no Mundo - Ilha de Moçambique @ RTP 2009

Lagos (Portugal)

Prince Henry established a slave market and fort in Arguin Bay (West Africa) in 1445 and the enslaved Africans were brought back to Portugal. When a large slave auction was held in Lagos (Portugal)  in that same year it was described by one witness as a "terrible scene of misery and disorder". By 1455, Eight-hundred Africans were transported to Portugal annually.

By the 1470s Lisbon, Portugal's capital city, became the country's main slave port. The Portuguese slave trade started then not as a trans-Atlantic trade but as an old world trade, supplying slaves to Lisbon and hence onwards to Spain and Italy. In 1539, twelve thousand African slaves were sold in the city's markets. This differed from other European countries' experience of the trade which developed much more in their colonies.

Lisbon also thrived off the businesses associated with slavery, with Portuguese goods exchanged for slaves, goods traded for slaves and goods produced by the slaves. People invested in the trade, and profited, and the Royal family took its share through taxation. African slaves were employed in a variety of occupations but increasingly they were to be found in urban employment such as domestic service.

Old Slave Market, Lagos, Portugal

In one corner of The Praca da Republica, under the arches of the old customs house is what was Europes first Slave Market. (mercado de escravos). The market opened in 1444 and it is said that within a hundred years up to 10,000 slaves were being shipped from Africa every year just to meet Portugusese demand alone. the customs House now serves as an art Gallery. (source:http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/p/m/1b2a0b/#ixzz1pxQnp3Au)

Formerly a custom house, the Antigo Mercado de Escravos, today, serves as a stark reminder of the arcade slave market which was housed inside this Romanesque structure during the Age of Exploration. The monument is located on the main square of the historic part of the city and is, perhaps, one of a kind custom house in Europe.

Portugal, Lisbon, Museu da Cidade City Museum in Palacio Pimenta, azueljos showing a slave cooking

Mystic Seaport

Mystic Seaport is a re-created 19th-century port village and maritime museum. Popular attractions include a replica of the slave ship Amistad. (Photograph by C Borland/PhotoLink/Getty Images)

New Amsterdam (New York)

New Amsterdam / New York