The New World and The Atlantic Slave Trade

Hello again lovely people, hopefully you are all fit and well this May morning, and most importantly, hopefully you are all ready for a good read into Jamaican history. Let's get to it!

The Triangular Trade - Trans Atlantic Slave Trade

Photo: Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Atlantic Slave Trades beginnings can be found in the 1400s or if you prefer, the 15th century. The 1400s was a very interesting time in which the world began to seem more modern, but was still tinged by the superstitions and sentiments of the old world. To paint the picture of how the world was in the 1400s, we will list some of the main events that characterise the century within the occidental world.

On the first year of the century, King Henry IV began his English reign, and the Welsh were still fighting for their independence against the kingdom of England.

King Henry IV of England

Photo: DK Findout

In 1439, the Gutenberg printing press is built, allowing for the mass production of print and books for the first time, which would have far-reaching consequences for society and began the printing revolution.

Prior to this, each book would have been laboriously copied by hand in the daylight hours which meant books were scarce and highly valued! More importantly, the printing press made information less fragile and easier to transmit amongst the population - everyone became smarter and more knowledgeable. The barriers of knowledge that were in situ previously began to crumble gradually.

In the 1450s, after being successfully besieged by the Ottoman Empire at Constantinople, the last remnants of the Roman Empire, The Byzantine Empire, would be consigned to history (Constantinople is the historical name for modern day Istanbul).

In 1460, Italian artists began to use oil paints instead of tempura to colour their art and by 1482, the famous Birth of Venus is painted by Sandro Botticelli.

Birth of Venus

Photo: Sandro Botticelli

In 1492, the Spanish crown would bankroll Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the Indies. Instead, he would discover the New World and land in the Caribbean, mistakenly thinking he had arrived somewhere near India.

Throughout the century, thousands of women would be persecuted for being witches and would be burnt at the stake or hung for little more than suspicion and superstition. It was a violent and draconian time in which people were still being publicly executed, and you could potentially be sentenced to hanging, drawing and quartering.

The world of the 15th century was colourful, brutal, and intolerant. The 1400s mark the point in which the world begins to look abit more like something we would recognise today, something abit less medieval.

Portuguese Beginnings

One of the first recorded incidences of African slave trafficking (and perhaps the beginning of the Atlantic Slave Trade) was perpetrated by a young Portuguese captain named Antam Goncalvez in 1441, who following a voyage in which he acquired skins and oils from Africa, brew a plan with his crew to return and kidnap some of the natives to make greater profits.

Antam went from sailing merchant to marauding slaver over the span of one voyage.

Goncalvez would then lead a raiding party to Ras Nouadhibou between Western Sahara and Mauritania, kidnapping approximately a dozen Berbers and returning them to Portugal. At this time, it was custom to ransom captives and as such, the captives were allowed to negotiate the terms of their release.

Perhaps emblematic of the fact that traditions of slavery, raiding and ransom were long present in the Mediterranean shores of both continents and within Africa before this event, the captives, rather than offering money for their ransom, promised to give ten slaves in exchange for their free and safe return. Purportedly, these Berber captives explained that these slaves would not be Moors like themselves but would be black and of the Gentile lineage. Truly a morally bankrupt time in which no one had any real fear of the Gods~.

Swayed by the offering of the Moor captives, Goncalvez returned his captives to West Sahara and received ten sub-Saharan Africans or black Africans, who were already enslaved, whom he transported back to Portugal for re-sale and greater profit in 1442. A few years later by the mid-century as more mariners returned with West African captives, and the practice became common, captives began to be sold publicly in Portuguese markets.

Some Silver Shall Spur Salvation

As the enslavement and sale of Black Africans grew in popularity within Portugal, the practice became public and by 1455, even the Pope; head of the Roman Catholic Church and the man closest to God, was issuing public decrees addressing the treatment of Black Gentiles.

Pope Nicholas V

Photo: Peter Paul Rubens

In his Papal Bulls, the Pope determined that Portugal had the right to enslave sub-Saharan Africans, to not only serve as a natural deterrent but to provide a Christianising influence and further instructed the Portuguese king, Alfonso to:

“…invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ wheresoever placed, and the kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities, dominions, possessions, and all movable and immovable goods whatsoever held and possessed by them to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery, and to apply and appropriate to himself and his successors the kingdoms, dukedoms, counties, principalities, dominions, possessions, and goods, and to convert them to his and their use and profit.”

Quite the mouthful indeed, and a sweeping endorsement of Portuguese Empiricism by the Pope. This served to legitimise the slave trade under Catholic beliefs of that time. Allow me to translate this quote into more easily digestible language:

"Do whatever you want to any Arab, Muslim or anyone else that is not a catholic."

"Take anyway any movable goods they owe and utilise any that can not be moved so that they can be used for your own profit or gain."

"Take away everything of high regard, value, or clout to benefit the Portuguese monarchy and its successors, and reduce the victims to perpetual slavery and decrepitude ."

I wonder how much the Pope and the church stood to gain from such a public announcement?

To further elaborate on the questionable morality of the Pope, and further, where the priorities of the brass of the church laid, there was a culture within the Roman Catholic Church at the time of "paying for salvation" through indulgences.

An indulgence was a way to reduce the amount of punishment one had to undergo for his sins in the afterlife. Initially when introduced, one simply had to perform specific good works and prayers to receive an indulgence. This was purportedly most often repeating a specific prayer but could also include a pilgrimage to a particular place or the performance of good deeds. The indulgences were granted in proportion to the devotion and diligence with which the good works were performed and the prayers were recited.

"As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs"

By the 1400s and the time of the aforementioned Pope, the practice of indulgences were being massively abused, mainly through commercialisation which pillaged the coffers of the masses, who were dumb to the ploys of the church.

Quickly springing 100 years into the future, Pope Leo X offered indulgences to people who donated money to rebuild St. Peter's Basilica in Rome (the amazing church that sits in the middle of The Vatican and is the Mercedes Benz car badge of the catholic church) in an aggressive campaign to raise funds for its construction. From this campaign, the following saying was conceived, "As soon as coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs".

Through a monetary donation, one could gain favour with God. Indulgences had become quantified by the immoral clergy, and began to be expressed in terms of days or years. This time represented the equivalent time removed from the person's time in purgatory. Increasing the money making potential of this endeavour, the indulgence even became transferrable to the dead. One might spare their loved one's souls, by reducing the burden of sins committed during their lifetime.

Even pilgrimage became a business. Some locations and churches granted more indulgences than others and this was manipulated by the clergy to their advantage. The entire practice caused a scandal and a protestant uprising.

Satan distributing indulgences

Photo: Jensky Kodex Satan Prodava Odpustky

The reason why the prevalence of this within the church opens up questions of morality is because there was no mention of such a device within the scriptures, or the Bible, yet they were advertised to the general population as a viable means of gaining favour with God.

It was preying upon the hopes and dreams of those who never knew any better. Being unable to understand the Latin that was used during church ceremonies, the population was dependent upon the clergy and this could be and was abused.

So, if it never went without saying beforehand, the heads of the church, were just as morally bankrupt as the slavers that were kidnapping every black person they could find, and they were emblazoned by the Pan European spiritual leader, Pope Nicholas V when he issued that Papal Bull.

By 1455 Portugal was selling up to 800 enslaved Africans per year. Enslaved Africans could be found in North Africa, the Middle East, Persia, India, the Indian Ocean islands, and as far afield as Russia in Europe.

Portuguese slaves were mostly intended for sugar cultivation and as demand increased, so did the need for African slaves. Sugar plantations were established on islands off the African shore such as Sao Tome, with enslaved labour on a scale that foreshadowed the development of plantations in the Americas and West Indies. Europe's first sugar plantation would be established on Sao Tome, and in a 2nd first, it would be the first European plantation laboured on by African slaves.

Sao Tome and Principe

Photo: BBC

Spain Joins The Fray

Whilst the Pope’s bull limited African slave trading to Alfonso of Portugal, Spain would challenge Portuguese West African claims and the authority of the Pope also getting involved with African slavery.

Christopher Columbus was an Italian Genoan explorer who was able to acquire investment from the Spanish monarchy for an expedition to discover a shorter route to India. Departing westward from Spain, Columbus and his crew would accidentally discover the Caribbean and the New World instead. A discovery, far more valuable to the Spanish than any shortcut would have been.

Christopher Columbus

Photo: Biography.com

Landing in what he thought was undiscovered territory in The Indies , he named the island he disembarked on San Salvador. The island was already named Guanahani by the native people. Contemporarily the island is referred to as part of The Bahamas!

Quick interjection - The Times reported that a Genoan Friar knew about America a century and a half before the disorientated adventurer set foot in the Caribbean. An account from Genoan sailors in 1340, talks about a country beyond Greenland, 'where giants lived'. The sailors may have been stretching the details about the giants, but they were not exaggerating about a country beyond Greenland.

Christopher Columbus reaches North America

Photo: The Times

Columbus surveyed and explored the area, and studied the indigenous people, before establishing a settlement on modern day Dominican Republic and returning to Europe. This new settlement encroached upon the local Ciguayos people and portended the kind of foreign policy that was going to come in successive years.

Upon his return home, he would inform his investors that the Arawak people had access to gold, and that the primitive nature of the inhabitants made them susceptible to conquest.

...the greatest population loss in recorded human history, a number far greater than that caused by the black plague.

The Spanish arrival to the Caribbean and the Americas, and their treatment of the indigenous peoples would cause a pandemic and mass death event on the continent. The local population numbers would drop by an estimated 80-95%. This is the greatest population loss in recorded human history, a number far greater than that caused by the black plague. Almost all natives that survived illness or battle were forced into labour, this forced labour in conjunction with other factors such as malnourishment was often their demise.

Arawaks fighting Columbus

Photo: Steemit

In The New World, The Spanish and the Portuguese were the trailblazers of slavery, unlike the situation in Africa, in which they were monopolising upon an already well-established business.

Enslavement of Amerindians would increasingly become frowned upon and its outlaw would be considered by The Spanish Crown as the plight of the rapidly diminishing Amerindians became publicised by Priests.

Forced to acknowledge and act upon the loss of the American natives, the Spanish would enact laws to attempt to control the level of damage they were causing and this would cause an increase in the use of African slaves. By 1613, there would be 503 documented African slaves on the island of Jamaica, at that time a Spanish colony.

These new African slaves were believed to be of higher value than Amerindian slaves by the Spanish and Portuguese because of three things:

1. It was believed they were more genetically suitable for physical tasks.

2. Africans were more privy to European customs and ways, the use of horses in industry and cattle, and the farming of staples such as rice

3. Africans were resistant to many of the illnesses that Europeans and Amerindians succumbed to.

These factors would make African slaves the preference and also encourage their mistreatment by European slavers.

Not ignorant to the vast wealth that the Portuguese traders were accruing, other countries, most notably the Dutch and English began trading in the 16th century and competition for sugar and the enslavement trade began. Despite being late to the game, the British would greatly usurp the Portuguese and Dutch as the greatest slavers of the time. Hereafter, it would dominate the selling and purchase of slaves to the Americas and Caribbean, much in the same way it dominated the Game of Empires and had created the greatest Empire of all time.

Winding Down

In summary, here are the key points of what we discussed in today's article.

• The beginnings of Trans Atlantic Slave Trade can be found in the 1400s as Portuguese sailors explored the coasts of North West and West Africa and began raiding and pillaging the regions along the coast.

• The story of Captain Antam Goncalvez is one of the earliest accounts of the capture and enslavement of Africans in Europe.

• The practice of raiding along the African coast, the kidnapping of, and sale of slaves in Portugal all gradually became more popular amongst sailors which led to slaves being sold publicly in Portuguese markets by the mid 15th century.

• The Pope would legitimise the slave trade by endorsing Portuguese Empiricism in his Papal Bull, a public decree that Popes would issue to communicate any subject and exercise his authority.

• The Spanish would challenge Portuguese monopoly within African slave trade and made greater use of African slaves within the New World as they decimated native Amerindian populations to make profits.

• By 1613, 503 African slaves are reported to have arrived on Spanish Jamaica.

• After witnessing the wealth Portugal was amassing, the Dutch and British expeditiously joined in the scramble to acquire African slaves and utilize them in the production of valuable commodities such as sugar, tobacco and cotton.

That's all folks! Come back in the next couple of weeks for the next part of this conception story.