The Atlantic Slave Trade: Crash Course World History #24

CrashCourse
5 Jul 201211:08
EducationalLearning
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TLDRThe video examines the history and economics of slavery, especially the Atlantic slave trade between Africa and the Americas from 1500-1880 CE. It notes the massive scale of the slave trade, with 10-12 million Africans forcibly moved across the Atlantic, and the horrible conditions slaves faced. The video stresses that slavery depended on economic demand, with European traders exchanging goods for African slaves captured by other Africans. It dispels misconceptions of slavery, explaining complex dynamics across history, including how various cultures justified slavery. However, Atlantic slavery was uniquely appalling in its scale and dehumanization of slaves. The video urges grappling with how our ancestors accepted such atrocities, so we can acknowledge the full tragedy of slavery.

Takeaways
  • 😢 Slavery has existed throughout history and involved forced labor and dehumanization
  • 💰 The Atlantic slave trade was driven by economic factors and consumer demand
  • 🚢 Over 12 million Africans were forcibly moved to the Americas; 15% died in transit
  • 🌍 Europeans obtained African slaves by trading manufactured goods
  • 🔗 Slavery was justified using religious, philosophical and scientific arguments
  • 🛢 Key crops cultivated by slaves (sugar, tobacco) were non-essential consumer goods
  • 🚜 Most slaves worked under horrific conditions on agricultural plantations
  • ⚰ Average life expectancy for a Brazilian plantation slave was only 23 years
  • 👪 In some areas, slave populations grew naturally through reproduction
  • 🤕 Slavery involves violent, lifelong domination of displaced persons
Q & A

  • What percentage of slaves brought to the Americas ended up in the United States?

    -A relatively small percentage, around 5%, ended up in the United States. The majority went to Brazil and the Caribbean.

  • What was the average life expectancy for a Brazilian slave working on a sugar plantation?

    -The average life expectancy was shockingly low at only 23 years.

  • Why were slave populations in the United States able to grow through natural reproduction?

    -Living and working conditions were better in the US compared to places like Brazil, so more slaves survived and had children.

  • What is the definition of chattel slavery?

    -Chattel slavery indicates that slaves were movable property that could be bought and sold.

  • How did African rulers obtain slaves to trade with Europeans?

    -Africans captured other Africans from places like villages and cities and then traded them to Europeans in exchange for goods.

  • What jobs did slaves perform in the Americas?

    -Slaves performed all kinds of jobs including housework, crafts, sailing, and the majority worked in agriculture - harvesting and processing crops like sugar.

  • What distinguished Atlantic slavery from other forms in history?

    -The combination of hereditary slave status, racist attitudes, inhumane transport conditions, and harsh/deadly working conditions made Atlantic slavery exceptionally brutal.

  • What evidence did John Green provide that slavery is linked to consumer culture?

    -None of the major crops grown by slaves were necessities for life, rather they were used to produce luxury items for entertainment/pleasure.

  • What religious ideas were used to justify slavery?

    -Passages from the Bible were used, especially the belief that Africans were cursed descendents receiving punishment.

  • Who first connected Aristotelian ideas about natural slaves to Africans?

    -Muslim Arabs first connected the racist belief that Africans were destined to be slaves to the Aristotelian philosophy.

Outlines
00:00
😞 History and Horrors of Slavery

Paragraph 1 provides background on slavery, noting its long history but highlighting the immense scale and brutality of the Atlantic slave trade from 1500-1880 CE. It discusses the number of Africans forcibly transported to the Americas, the difficult journeys and high mortality rates, and destinations where slaves were sold. The paragraph also notes that most slaves were sent to the Caribbean and Brazil, with a relatively small percentage going to the U.S.

05:01
😱 Harsh Working Conditions for Slaves

Paragraph 2 focuses on the extremely harsh working conditions for slaves, especially on sugar plantations in Brazil and the Caribbean. It describes the back-breaking and dangerous labor involved in planting, harvesting and processing sugar cane. The short life expectancy of 23 years for Brazilian slaves is noted as indicative of the appalling abuse.

10:05
😥 Dehumanization and Justifications for Slavery

Paragraph 3 analyzes the fundamental dehumanization of chattel slavery and how Atlantic slavery combined the worst aspects of earlier slave systems. It discusses how various cultures contributed to the racist ideology underlying Atlantic slavery, including Greek, Roman, Christian and Muslim traditions. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing that many groups bear responsibility for this tragedy.

Mindmap
Keywords
💡slavery
Slavery refers to the practice of owning human beings as property and forcing them to work. It is a central theme in the video, which aims to explain the history and impact of slavery, especially the Atlantic slave trade which involved the forcible transportation of 10-12 million Africans to the Americas.
💡Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade refers specifically to the trading of African slaves by Europeans, who shipped them across the Atlantic Ocean under brutal conditions and sold them in the Americas between 1500-1880 CE. The video stresses the sheer scale of this trade and the human suffering involved.
💡Middle Passage
The Middle Passage describes the horrendous voyage across the Atlantic made by slave ships going from Africa to the Americas. slaves were packed in tiny spaces, leading to many deaths.
💡consumer culture
The video argues that the slave economy was focused on goods like sugar, tobacco and coffee that bring pleasure but are not necessities. So slavery fueled the rise of consumer culture.
💡chattel slavery
Chattel slavery refers to a system where human beings are movable property with no rights. The video emphasizes that American slavery was especially dehumanizing because it was chattel slavery.
💡social death
The sociologist Orlando Patterson defined slavery as causing 'social death'. This means slaves lost their culture, ties to homeland, and humanity - key to the cruelty.
💡latifundia
Latifundia were giant Roman slave plantations that set a precedent for the plantation system in the Americas.
💡Zanj
The Zanj were East African slaves imported by Arab Muslims. Attitudes towards this group helped define racialized attitudes toward black African slaves.
💡dehumanization
A key theme is how Atlantic slavery depended on and fueled the dehumanization of Africans, treating them as property or lesser beings rather than human.
💡hereditary slavery
The video argues that key to Atlantic slavery was the belief that slavery was a permanent, inherited condition that blacks were born into.
Highlights

Slavery is as old as civilization itself

10 to 12 million African slaves were forcibly moved from Africa to the Americas

Only about 5% of total slaves were imported to the U.S.

Slaves worked processing sugar, tobacco, coffee - none necessary to sustain human life

Africans were captured by other Africans and traded to Europeans for goods

To understand tragedy of slavery, understand the economics of it

Each slave had 4 square feet of space aboard ships

Life expectancy for Brazilian slave was 23 years

Natural population growth meant owners could sell slaves' children

Definition of slavery: permanent, violent domination of alienated persons

Greeks believed some were naturally slaves, Romans expanded plantations

Bible widely used to justify slavery, curses Ham as "lowest of slaves"

Arabs first to import Africans as slaves on large scale

Spanish and Portuguese spread racist attitudes towards blacks

Blame for slavery extends to whole world over millennia

Transcripts

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