"AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE, THE"   Term Paper ID:20072 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: (Basil Davidson). Reviews works on roots of European-African relations, 1450-1850, as basis for development & demise of slave trade.... More...

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Paper Abstract: (Basil Davidson). Reviews works on roots of European-African relations, 1450-1850, as basis for development & demise of slave trade. Paper Introduction: This study will provide a review of Basil Davidson's The African Slave Trade. The study will discuss significant issues from the book. Davidson explores the period between 1450 and 1850, roughly, in order to discover the roots of the relationship between Europe and Africa. With respect to the question of this complex and contradictory relationship, Davidson writes that "the most potent and illuminating (answers) are provided by the curious tale of Europe's dealings with Africa, and Africa's with Europe, in the period between the middle of the fifteenth and the middle of the nineteenth centuries" (12). Specifically, Davidson explores the Congo kingdoms, the city-states of the East Coast, and some of the societies of the Guinea Coast. Focusing on the slave trade from these areas, the author calls that trade "the greatest and Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The records, however, are not exclusively European-oriented, andDavidson makes effective use of this "other side of the story" as well.Particularly moving are accounts of runaway slaves who showed that theywere courageous, intelligent, and anything but "armed with so much passiveobedience" One of the major points made by Davidson in this book is thegreat gulf between the portrait of the Africans painted by Europeans andthe actual reality of those Africans. Andthey led with growing awareness to a new social consciousness, to apolitical awakening, to a rebirth of African culture and social confidence. This, in the light of imperialist aims, was their supreme irony" (269). Thespirit of African independence and self-respect was broken not byPortuguese military prowess, but by the long ensnarement of the slavingyears" (171). most influenced by technological progress on the other"(48). they persisted." The Spanish, forexample, continued in the trade: "It would seem that no fewer than onemillion slaves were put ashore in Cuba in the years between 1791 and 184 "(91). For example, in writing of the overwhelming human sufferingwhich the men experienced when forcibly separated --- probably forever ---from their beloved wives, one slave-trade-justifier writes, with a cold-blooded cruelty that would bring pride to a Nazi: "Africans being the mostlascivious of all human beings, . thatglimpse of human cattle in slaving ships compared with this other scene ofbold and skillful pioneering . may it not be imagined, that thecries they let forth at being torn from their wives, proceed from the dreadthat they will never have the opportunity of indulging their passions inthe country to which they are embarking?" (14). The book is divided into seven parts. Davidson points out that in many cases theAfricans did not fall passively to the onslaught of the slave traders:"True enough, the lands behind the coast were subdued to their command; butthe victory was long delayed, and came in the end only by default. Therecould . . . . It is no wonder, then, that when independence came at last to thenations and peoples of Africa in the mid-twentieth century, there wasexpressed tremendous antagonism towards the Europeans who had inflictedsuch suffering and exploitation upon Africans for those long centuriesduring and after the slave trade. At first, the slave trade was only a small part of theoverall commerce that was taking place along the coasts of Africa. that the coastal peoples seldom suppliedslaves from their own ranks. Yet slaving(is) - - . Altogether, the vast project of civilizing andChristianizing Africa has ended in a melancholy failure. Davidson in the final section of his book points out that despitecenturies of slavery-shaped experience in Africa, the Africans maintained aspirit of independence. The next three parts of the book focus on the three regions of Africamentioned earlier "and where the coming of Europe had profound and oftendecisive influence on Africans, on the way they lived, and on what theybelieved or hoped of the outside world" (19-2 ). . be only one answer to the problem: and that was outrightannexation" (2 -2 1). . Davidson writes that as the slave trade became more structured andorganized, the impact of the Europeans on African societies and culturesintensified. Boston: Little, Brown, 198 .----------------------- 3 However, the final message of Davidson is that Africans have throughthe centuries never been completely crushed by the cruel inhumanity of theEuropeans, from slavery to colonialism. . Another argument aimed at justifying the slave trade also serves onlyto dramatize the cold-blooded inhumanity of the slave-traders themselves,at the very moment they are trying to portray the slaves as inhuman: "(Theslaves) are more insensible than others towards pain and natural evils, aswell as towards injurious and unjust treatment. Davidson grants that, in European terms, the culture of theAfricans of the sixteenth century was less than fully developed but, inAfrican terms, there did exist a rich civilization which was left in ruinsin many places. 'So far as the sum of human misery inAfrica was concerned, . TheEuropeans at each phase of their racial and continental inhumanity had aready justification and rationalization. in thebalance of power between African societies on one hand, and Europeansocieties . . As Davidson has it, colonialism was a natural and even inevitableextension of the kind of thinking about Africa and Africans whichoriginally gave rise to and justified the slave trade: "These colonialyears were always humiliating, often harsh, sometimes terribly wasteful.But they were relatively few: less than a third of the duration of themajor period of the slave trade. influence bore heavily, perhapsdecisively, on the destiny of many African societies . Europeans... . , 'are now in the same state of barbarism as when they werefirst discovered . . . . . . The slave trade left parts of Africa in "ruin," as Davidson writes.Incredibly, after bringing about that ruin, the European surveyed hishandiwork and blamed the Africans, in the age-old custom of putting theresponsibility for the crime on the victim: "In the wake of the trade andall its ravages, the European visitor to the West Coast (of Africa) couldobserve little but ruin. . In this examination of the specific regions of Africa, the authorpoints out significantly that the slave trade did not simply affect theAfricans of some distant century. Part One deals with Africa asit existed before the slave trade took effect, and with the differencebetween the structures of the nations of Africa and Europe at that time. At every step of the process, then, the Europeans were essentially indenial about the truth of the situation they were engendering, both interms of slavery and in terms of the impact of that slavery on Africa. In short, there are noneso well adapted to be the slaves of others, and who therefore have beenarmed with so much passive obedience" (14). At each point of the slave trade the European, in order to distancehimself from the cruelty and inhumanity he is purveying, portrays theAfrican as some creature which is not human at all. . What I havetried to offer here, accordingly, is an unsentimental inquiry into somecharacteristic aspects of African history in several regions where slavingwas of major importance" (12). Works CitedDavidson, Basil. . . What happened instead was a change . . " This difference "suggests how widelythe reputation of peoples can stand apart from their ability" (18-19). These African countries,he wrote . Theauthor writes that this racist ignorance has continued into the twentiethcentury, for still today "European societies are commonly referred to as'developed' and African societies as 'undeveloped' --- rather as though thewhole growth and evolution of mankind in Africa since the most remote StoneAge had never been" (48-49). . Nomatter what a nightmare slavery itself was, one European wrote, it was abetter situation than the slave would have experienced if he would havebeen left in Africa to fend for himself: "The trade could . . One would think thatall possible aspects of this issue of Europeans trading slaves to the WestIndies and the Americas must have been covered and covered in detail byhistorians, but Davidson correct that misimpression: "Many writers haveinvestigated the European and American side of the slaving experience, butlittle or nothing has been written on the consequences of the slave tradefor Africa itself. . . are oncemore forged across the world. . Withrespect to the question of this complex and contradictory relationship,Davidson writes that "the most potent and illuminating (answers) areprovided by the curious tale of Europe's dealings with Africa, and Africa'swith Europe, in the period between the middle of the fifteenth and themiddle of the nineteenth centuries" (12). The colonization process was based onthe same lie which governed the slave trade --- that the Africans wereignorant children at best, vicious savages at worst, who did not know whatwas good for them and needed to be controlled by the European: "Theideology of colonial conquest . Davidson explores the period between 145 and 185 , roughly, in orderto discover the roots of the relationship between Europe and Africa. bring 'anaccess of happiness' to Africa. The truth is contrary to the European self-justifyingclaim that the Europeans were in Africa to "save" or "civilize" theAfricans: "Prisoners of a poor and antiquated European aristocracy, theAfricans of these lands were condemned to lose their own civilization ---limited though it was --- without the chance of gaining better lives."This reality extends into the twentieth century: "Even by the 195 s therewas fewer than one in every hundred Africans of Angola who had achieved therank of assimilado and was thus admitted to the 'rights of civilization'"(171). The reason for this was that the risk of loss wasalways great with a cargo as perishable as sardine-packed slaves. it is probable that the trade in slaves betweenthat continent and America scarcely added to it. see the cause of their own...liberation in the liberation of the Africans . Evenwhen slavery became much more important, however, it remained a part of thebigger picture of trade and economics which included Europe, Africa and theNew world: "The profits of the slaving aspect of the circuit trade wereseldom a major interest; and they do not seem, in themselves, to havefounded great fortunes. from the people in their rear; and these in turn, while deliveringsome captives from their own region, looked for their main supply to otherpeoples still further into the interior" (123). . For example, the author argues that populationpatterns today were shaped by the slave trade practice of taking Africansfrom the "intermediate zone." In that zone today there is sparsepopulation, while the areas along the coast in West Africa and in theforest belt beyond the intermediate zone are densely populated. . .'" (91-92).The comment exposes the delusion that the Europeans --- even anti-slavers --- believed that the "project" which was based on cruel and inhumane slaverywas intended to help the Africans. Davidson argues again and again in his final section that the slavetrade continues to have an impact on the lives and cultures of Africans,even after independence. The Europeans saw what theywanted to see, and refused to see what they did not want to see. . Not only did the slave tradersengage in a commerce of cruelty and inhumanity, not only did the slavesplunge into a nightmare world of suffering and horror, but the slave tradealso corrupted African-to-African relationships, turning the Africans intoplayers in the evils of the slave trade: "Both the European and Americanrecords generally agree . It even to some extentmitigated the suffering of the negro in his own home; for once this tradewas set on foot and it was profitable to sell a human being, many a man,woman or child who might otherwise have been killed for mere caprice, orfor the love of seeing blood flow, or a toothsome ingredient of a banquet,was sold to a slave-trader'" (11 ). They purchased or otherwise got hold of them. . . . . . . Part Two deals with the process and expansion of the slave tradeitself, and its demise. This study will provide a review of Basil Davidson's The AfricanSlave Trade. The study will discuss significant issues from the book. . An important part of the book is theargument that the Africa of the twentieth century --- from colonization toindependence and afterwards --- continues to be shaped by the attitudes andpractices of the slave traders. Butslaves were a vital factor in the system, which could not be worked withoutthem; and large profits were undoubtedly extracted from 'fortunate'voyages" (82). The outcome was different. . Focusing on the case of the British,Davidson writes that it took much "moral courage and political ingenuity"on the part of British abolitionists to stop the British slave trade, butthe author adds that "the British were not the only slavers in the world.There were many others; and . They came from proud and noblecivilizations, and they played a significant role in the establishment ofcivilizations in the Western world: "An astounding contrast . Specifically, Davidson exploresthe Congo kingdoms, the city-states of the East Coast, and some of thesocieties of the Guinea Coast. . Therewere many shifts of power and many innovations; yet African societygenerally failed to undergo any radical and basic change of productivesystem or structure. As the slave trade grew, so did the protests against it, specificallythe abolition movement's protests. His typical comment was that of a British navalofficer on anti-slaving patrol in the year 185 . Part Three includes "some of the vivid and densely personalexperience of the old trading partnership, its manners and morals,attitudes, customs and ambitions" (19). . Europeans were offered thepicture of a continental interior that was unredeemedly savage, a pitifulvictim of bloodlust and brutality, powerless to help itself . was to flourish on the notion thatAfricans were incapable of promoting and defending their own cultures.This was not true, but slaving made it true. Ironically, however, the "European records"themselves, even when they are promoting myth and prejudice which would inmost cases tend to justify and legitimize the slave trade, reveal thehorrors of that slavery in ways certainly unknown to the writers of thoseaccounts. Davidson emphasizes in this section the same basic message that hepresses throughout the book --- that the Europeans, particularly thoseresponsible for writing accounts of the slave trade from the tradersperspective, believed that they were doing a service for the Africans. Davidson writes that there is a "difficulty" in that there is a greatdeal of data on the slave trade but "mainly they are European records andthey are colored indelibly by the myth and prejudice which the trade itselfdid so much to promote" (12). . that their coming mustprovide the 'break and change' whereby African society would move into anew form, mercantile and capitalist. Focusing on the slave trade from theseareas, the author calls that trade "the greatest and most fateful migration--- forced migration --- in the history of man" (12). European societies --- including their offshoots in the New World ---then came to see African nations as "hopelessly backward" and, therefore,in need of European control and governance. . Ironically, it was the coming of "outrightannexation" which finally led to the full expression of that independentspirit. The African Slave Trade. " (286). They barely spanned three lifetimes. The Europeans believed --- or convinced themselves --- that they werenot only taking slaves from Africa for their own purposes in the New World,but that they were also, in the process, bringing great improvement to thenations of Africa: "When Europeans first entered on their trading andpolitical missions in Africa, it seemed . . . In fact, says Davidson, the spiritof Africa has encouraged other peoples to seek their own independence,even, ironically in Europe: "The same liberating concepts . 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