Africa is one of the origins of humankind. In the multi-polar world where ancient civilizations developed, Africa occupies a place
. The Nile River Basin gave birth to the ancient Egyptian civilization. The coast of North Africa It was once an integral part of the ancient Mediterranean civilization. After the 7th century AD, the spread of Islamic culture in North Africa, the coast of East Africa and Sisu Dan made the economies of these areas There was a new prosperity in culture. In the vast sub-Saharan region, after long-term and stable development, black culture with a unique style was formed. By the 16th century,
Africa Like Eurasia, it is already in various stages of pre-capitalist development. Without the invasion of colonialists
African society will evolve and develop along its own trajectory.
In ancient times and the Middle Ages, black people were sold to Southern Europe, the Arab world, Persia, South Asia and other places via the Sahara trade route, the Nile River and the Indian Ocean.
p>It is a common phenomenon, not unique to black people. There are also white people who are sold to black people as slaves.
However, the invasion of modern colonialism disrupted the normal social development process in Africa. With the With the rise of capitalism, Africa became a place for commercial hunting of black people. The black slave trade developed into a specialized industry and a special historical phenomenon. For hundreds of years, Thousands of black Africans left their homes and traveled across the ocean
and were trafficked to the Americas, the Indian Ocean, and Asia to work in plantations and mines run by colonists.
Other blacks Died during slave hunting, slave raiding wars and trafficking. The African people and their social and economic life
suffered unprecedented catastrophe. Productivity was severely damaged. However, the evil colonialism and capitalist system
It prospered with the sale and enslavement of black Africans. Marx once pointed out that Africa became a place for commercial hunting
Black people are one of the main factors in the primitive accumulation of capital and mark capitalism.
The dawn of the era of production. Later, the black slave trade and black slavery in the Americas accumulated funds for the industrial revolution. Therefore,
it can be said that capitalism is stained from head to toe. The black slave trade lasted for about four centuries. Except for a few countries such as Austria, Poland and Russia, almost all European countries and the United States successively Participated in this criminal activity. Looking at the development process of the black slave trade, it can be roughly divided into three periods: the first period from the middle of the 15th century to the middle of the 17th century;
The 17th century The second period from the middle to the early 19th century was the second period. Due to the development of American plantations, the slave trade reached its climax during this period; from 1807 to 1808, the United Kingdom and the United States passed bills prohibiting the slave trade.
After that, the slave trade entered the third period. At this time, the slave trade was legally prohibited, but the slave smuggling
trade flourished. Until July 1890 in Brussels The meeting made a resolution to abolish the African slave trade
The black slave trade was officially terminated.
If divided according to the different nature of trade determined by the different stages of early capitalist development,
Then the entire history of the black slave trade can also be divided into three stages: from the 15th to the 17th century, the feudal royal family of Spain and Portugal, and then the Netherlands, Britain, France and others used chartered companies as the basis. Commercial capital represented the dominant position
, and the slave trade was a monopoly trade; in the 18th century, industrial capital broke through the monopoly of commercial capital, and the slave trade entered free trade. stage; after the Industrial Revolution, due to the emergence of modern large-scale industry, the slave trade was legally abolished. In the 19th century, the slave smuggling trade became prevalent.
This chapter describes the period from the 16th century to the 19th century The prevalence of the slave trade in the first 300 years of this century and its impact on the historical development of the world and Africa.
1, 10
The black slave trade in the sixth century and the first half of the seventeenth century
In 1441, a Portuguese expedition led by Antao Gon?alves and Nunotristo
The team robbed 10 black Africans on the coast near Cape Brown and brought them back to Lisbon for sale. This was the beginning of the black slave trade. In the second half of the 15th century, the Portuguese trafficked black slaves from the coast of West Africa. Slaves were sent to their home countries to serve as domestic and agricultural laborers, or were trafficked to newly established sugar cane plantations on Atlantic islands such as Madeira, the Canary Islands and Cape Verde Islands. There were about 500-1,000 slaves traded every year①. However, until the beginning of the 16th century, the value of the Portuguese slave trade in West Africa was far less than that of gold, ivory, and pepper.
Trade in other African products.
The Treaty of Tordesillas signed between Spain and Portugal in 1494 was the first treaty between great powers to carve up the world
. 370 leagues west of the Cape is the dividing line between the two countries' spheres of influence. The two countries' spheres of influence in the Americas are bounded by 46 degrees west longitude. From then on, Africa, Asia and Brazil belonged to Portugal.
The rest of the Americas belonged to Spain.
In the 16th century, in the process of expanding and plundering the West Indies and the American continent, the Spaniards
The people carried out inhumane massacres and tried to enslave the Indians, but failed.
The Spanish found that the Indians were not suitable for heavy field labor, and a black slave could carry four people
Indians. In order to meet the labor demand for the development of tropical crop plantations and mineral deposits there
they decided to import black people from Africa. In 1501, less than 10 years after Columbus discovered the New World, In 1998,
Hispaniola imported the first batch of black slaves from Portugal. This was the beginning of the slave trade to the Americas.
It was also the beginning of the black slave trade in the Americas. The beginning of the system. In 1518, the first slave ship from Africa arrived in Western India, starting the direct slave trade between Africa and the Americas. By 1540, Spanish America
The number of black slaves imported into the colony each year may have reached 10,000①.
The Portuguese slave trading activities on the west coast of Africa in the 16th century were mainly in two areas: one was the Shangqiu Islands
Inner Asia, that is, from the Cape Verde Islands to the coast of Sierra Leone. Santiago Island, the largest island in the Cape Verde Islands
was once the center of trade in Upper Guinea. Some originally settled in the Cape Verde Islands Europeans gradually moved to the coast of Upper Guinea and even went up the Gambia River. They established many small strongholds in this area to engage in slave trade and other commercial activities. The other is the mouth of the Congo River and the area south of it. At the beginning of the 16th century, not only
Portuguese merchants, but also Portuguese missionaries, teachers, and craftsmen sent there at the invitation of King Alfonso of the Congo
(tailors, shoemakers, masons, brickmakers), etc., all engaged in trafficking in the name of helping Congo develop its economy
The reality of slave activities. By 1526, the domestic situation in Congo became very bad , so much so that Alfonso wrote to the King of Portugal
telling: "There are many merchants in every corner of this country. They will destroy this country. People
are being enslaved and robbed every day. Even members of the nobility and royal family were not immune to plunder."①
Sao Tome Island became a slave trading base in the Gulf of Guinea and the coast from Congo to Angola in the 16th century. In 1493
, Europeans began to settle on the island②; in 1499, the first sugar cane plantation was established. In the first half of the 16th century, it became the main source of European cane sugar. Since the 1620s, Santos The Portuguese merchants of Meihe Pulin went deep into the interior of San Salvador, possibly as far as Malebo Lake on the Zaire River ③
and Ndongo in the south, engaged in trafficking. Slavery activities. Black slaves shipped from the Bay of Benin, Congo, Angola and other places
① Philip D.Curtinamp
; Steven Feierman etc., African History ("African History"), London1978, p.217.
② League (English), Portuguese is légua. One league in Portuguese is equal to 6000 meters; used for navigation The medium distance is 1 league (Légua Maritima) etc.
At 5557 meters.
① Elizabeth Donnan ed., Documents Illustrative of the History of Slave Trade to America ("American Slave Trade to America") History
Documents"), Washington 1930, vol.I, p.17.
① Jan Vansina, Kingdoms of the Savanna ("Kingdoms of Savanna"), The University of Wis-consin Press 1966, p.52.
② Philip D. Curtin, The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census ("Atlantic Slave Trade"), The University of Wisconsin
Press 1975, p.115.
③ That is, Stanley Lake.
Slaves either stayed in local plantations to work or were transferred to the Gold Coast, Madeira Islands, and Verde The Cape Islands and the mainland of Portugal began to be directly transported to the Americas in the 1630s. In the mid-16th century, it became
the main transfer station for African slaves to be trafficked to the Americas. Sao Tome The island reached the peak of its prosperity between 1530 and 1560. It was one of Portugal's main overseas territories at that time. Slaves and sugar cane were its two major wealth. Curtin
Quoted by N Deere Estimates suggest that during the entire slave trade period, Sao Tome transported 100,000 slaves
①. In 1576, the Portuguese established Fort S?o Miguel as a base in the Bay of Luanda. From then on, black slaves south of the mouth of the Congo River
were trafficked directly to the Americas, instead of being transshipped through Sao Tome Island. This gradually developed into the slave trade between Angola and Congo.
One of the centers.
By the last quarter of the 16th century, the South Atlantic trading system of exporting slaves directly from Africa to the West Indian Islands and the American continent had been established. It exported slaves to Europe and the American continent. The slaves exported from the Atlantic islands (Madeira, Canary and Cape Verde Islands) only accounted for 17② of the total exported from Africa. The slaves exported to Europe after 1600
, most of them were also transferred to the West Indies. At the same time, from the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th century, the source of slaves in America quickly shifted from West Africa to the Congo and Angola. At least two factors are worth mentioning
And: First, S?o Tomé's sugar cane plantations faced competition from Brazil and gradually declined by the late 16th and early 17th centuries, which meant that the Gulf of Guinea itself had less demand for Congolese Angolan slaves. Secondly, from the beginning of the 17th century, the Portuguese began to resort to military operations in the interior of Luanda, either through direct plunder, or through trade with local Africans. And obtained a new source of slaves. However, until the middle of the 17th century, the demand for African slave labor in the Americas and the resulting number of slave trade were after all
Limited.
2. Reasons for the prosperity of the black slave trade after the mid-seventeenth century
In the history of early capitalist development, direct slavery in the Americas was once the European bourgeoisie
p>Basics of industry. Since the mid-17th century, in Europe, due to the development of capitalist factory handicrafts and changes in people's living habits (for example, coffee became the main beverage, sucrose consumption increased, etc.), To the tropics
>
The demand for products increased day by day, which led to the huge development of plantations in the West Indies and the American continent to produce tropical products. This became the reason for the prosperity of the slave trade.
The first group of British immigrants came to Barbados in 1625 and planted tobacco, cotton, indigo and other crops.
Sugar cane was first introduced in 1641, and Barbados was called the "Mother of the West Indian Sugar Islands". Here The number of black slaves imported into the country doubled as a result. After that, sugarcane cultivation was rapidly extended to the Leeward Islands and Jamaica, and Antigua and other islands. After sugarcane was introduced to British Spain For more than two decades after India was colonized, sugar accounted for nearly half of the total value of London's imports from colonial plantations①, surpassing tobacco. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Jamaica The development of plantations gradually replaced the status of Barbados, and the number of black slaves imported into Barbados also exceeded that of Barbados. The ratio of slaves to whites was as high as 10 to 1②. In the French West Indies, in 1635, Guarantee Drop
Tobacco was first introduced to the island, and after the mid-17th century, sugar cane, coffee and other tropical crops were introduced. By the end of the 17th century, plantation slavery had become a common practice in the West Indies. Economic basis. Therefore, in the 50 years in the second half of the 17th century alone, the number of slaves sold to Europeans on the Atlantic coast of Africa exceeded the total of the previous 200 years. ① Curtin, op.cit., p.20.
② Curtin, op.cit., p.116.
① K.G.Davis, The Royal African Company ("Royal African Company") , London1957, p.15.
② Daniel P.Mannix, Black Cargoes, A History of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1518-1865 ("Black Cargoes: The Atlantic
Slave Trade History"), New York 1962, p.52.
and ③. The 18th century was the prosperous age of West India and the golden age of the development of plantation slavery. West
India It became the main supplier of sugar to Europe and an important overseas economic pillar for European powers.
North America imported the first batch of black slaves in 1619, but for a long time to come, the number of black slaves in North America
Slavery did not develop. The reason was the slow development of the plantation economy, and the initial enslaved objects
They were mainly poor white indentured servants. It was not until 1661 that the Virginia Colonial Assembly took the lead in passing the law
p>case, determined that black people were lifelong slaves. By the 18th century, the rapid development of the British cotton spinning industry greatly promoted the cotton planting industry in the United States, thus greatly promoting the slave trade and making it possible to raise black people. It became the main industry in various slave states. In the second half of the 18th century and the 19th century, the huge development of the cotton textile industry caused by the Industrial Revolution increased the demand for American cotton. Rapidly growing, cotton plantations in the southern United States rapidly expanded from the coastal lowlands to the red soil hilly areas, then to the black soil belt of Alabama, and across the Mississippi Valley to Texas. At this time, the center of gravity of the slave plantations gradually shifted from the West Indies to the North American continent, and the United States became the main importer of black slaves. The development of slavery in the southern cotton plantations of the United States also became a major issue in the 19th century. The black slave trade
An important reason for the enduring popularity of the private trade.
There are two reasons for the prosperity of the black slave trade that need to be mentioned:
First , plantation slavery in the Americas was the product of special historical conditions. Historically, when a socio-economic form is dominated by the exchange value of the product rather than the use value, that is, in developed countries
In a commodity economy, slaves will be used in large numbers in the field of production, such as the slavery of ancient Greece and Rome.
On the contrary, in self-sufficiency
In a self-sufficient natural economic state, surplus labor is limited by the scope of demand
large or small, and the nature of production itself does not create unlimited demand for surplus labor.
This type of slavery has the nature of a mild patriarchy, as was the case with patriarchs in the ancient East and sub-Saharan Africa
Slavery (also translated as domestic slavery) is like this. And the plantations in the Americas Slavery is different from any developed slavery in history. It is not connected with the general commodity economy, but is involved in the world market dominated by the capitalist mode of production. .This market makes the export of their products their primary interest. Therefore,
it must be governed by the laws of capitalist economics and needs to continuously expand reproduction to survive.
As for America As far as the cash crops of plantations are concerned, it is only beneficial to operate them on a large scale using a large number of slaves on vast naturally fertile lands that require simple labor. Therefore, plantations must continue to develop outwards.
Slavery will have vitality only if new fertile land is continuously cultivated. As mentioned above, since the mid-17th century,
Plantation slavery in West India and the American continent has continued They can exist and develop only by opening up new territories
. Therefore, they also need to continuously import black slaves to increase the supply of labor.
Secondly, in addition to the constant flow of plantations In addition to the factors of expansion and renewal, another important factor is that the death rate of slaves
is too high and needs to be constantly replenished. Since American plantation slavery is combined with the capitalist mode of production,
As Marx said, it means adding a layer of cultural disaster of over-labor on top of the barbaric disaster of slavery. Due to the need of capital to endlessly pursue profits, the enslavement of workers not only breaks through The moral limit
was exceeded, and the physical limit was exceeded. Economic interests became the reason why slaves were tortured to death. In some places, black people were exhausted after only seven years of overwork.
Life. In other words, the black labor force must be renewed every seven years. Moreover, due to the low price of slaves, farmers would rather buy slaves from outside than let them. Slaves give birth to children and realize the reproduction of labor force itself. Many farmers admit frankly:
"It is cheaper to buy than to reproduce." ① Therefore, there are very few children on the plantation, and the death rate of slaves often exceeds that of birth
The rate. In St. Vincent, there are 2,656 black births and 4,205 deaths in a year. Therefore, in places where tropical crops are grown, black lives are regarded as insignificant. It is exactly how many Western India, which has become a huge source of wealth in the past century
③ Paul E. Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery, A History of Slavery in Africa ("Transformations of Slavery: A History of African Slavery"), Cambridge 1983, p. 46.
① Mannix, op.cit., p.52.
Excessive agriculture swallowed up millions of Africans. The British abolitionist William Fox in 1792 The British people revealed that for every pound of sugar, they ate two ounces of human flesh②.
The above is what caused Africa to continuously send labor to the Americas, that is, in the 17th century After the Middle Ages
Reasons for the prosperity of the slave trade.
3. Struggles between big powers
During the entire slave trade period, big powers competed for slaves. There was fierce competition for monopoly power and control of the sea. In the 16th century, Portugal monopolized the black slave trade. At the end of the 16th century, the Netherlands rose up and defeated Portugal.
It dominated maritime trade and became the largest in the 17th century. The slave-trading country. The mid-17th century was the heyday of the Netherlands
. At this time, the competition between Britain and the Netherlands began. In the 18th century, Britain became the overlord of maritime trade and also the leader of the Netherlands.
The chief culprit of the slave trade. The struggle between major powers over the slave trade and the hegemonic status of major powers
The replacement of
not only simply reflects changes in their political status and economic strength in Europe, but also reflects a series of changes in early capitalist production methods and exchange methods. .
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Europe was in the era of mercantilism. Commercial capital was closely integrated with state power
to monopolize the foreign trade of various countries. At this time, the slave trade was It was carried out under the charter of various European royal families.
In the 16th century, Spain monopolized the West Indies, and the slave trade to the Americas was carried out by the Spanish royal family issuing charters to merchants
. Since 1513, the sale of licenses to import black people has become a source of income for the Spanish royal family. At that time, King Ferdinand of Spain allowed the delivery of 2 gold coins to transport a black man into the country. .In 1528, the King of Spain officially issued the famous slave trading charter called "Asiento"
②. For more than two centuries after that, this slave trading charter has become the standard of various European countries. The target of all previous wars
At this time, the export of African slaves was basically monopolized by the Portuguese royal family. Lisbon was the world's largest trading center at that time
The center of black slaves. The royal family implemented a contract system. The first contract was granted by the king in 1469
Fernangomez, giving him a monopoly on Guinea trade. In addition, the king also issued a Specialized slave trading licenses
The number was huge. Starting in 1530, Portugal first encountered competition from France, and then from 1553
England. France was mainly interested in Cape Verde Islands and Canary Islands. In October 1554,
British ships sailed to Guinea for the second time and brought back some tall and strong black slaves ③. This was probably Britain
The earliest record of slave trading in West Africa. This was followed by the infamous John Hawkins who went to several countries three times in the 1960s
Slave trading activities in Inner Asia. In order to maintain its trade monopoly, Portugal sent The fleet goes to protect the country's merchant ships, and most Portuguese merchant ships are also equipped with weapons and equipment; on the other hand, in Senegambia, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, Congo and Angola Waiting to set up trading stations and build fortresses along the coast.
The merger of Portugal and Spain from 1580 to 1640 dealt a fatal blow to Portugal's trade monopoly in West Africa. The huge colonial empire was destroyed by other countries. The country was dismembered piece by piece. The Netherlands, which emerged at the end of the 16th century, became Portugal's strong rival. It specialized in sea transshipment trade and was known as the "sea coachman".
② Airy G. Williams: "Capitalism and Slavery", Beijing Normal University Press, 1982, page 177.
① Ducat, a gold coin unit circulated in European countries in the Middle Ages.
② Assiento, that is, the supply contract. As for the year when this name was used, there are some confusing opinions among domestic and foreign scholars. One said it was 1513, another said 1518, and there are even earlier opinions. My work "The Slave Trade and the Development of Early Capitalism" (published in "World History" Issue 1, 1983)
I also used the term "Black Cargoes" to spread rumors. In fact, the name is It was only officially used in 1528. See
UN-ESCO, The Afican Slave Trade from the 15th to the 19th Century ("The Slave Trade in Africa from the 15th to the 19th Century"),
Paris 1979, p.89. (The translation here in the Chinese version is inaccurate). In addition, Donnan, op.cit., vol.I, p.17, note77 can provide support.
③ E.Donnan , op.cit., I, p.9.
Portugal’s decadent feudal system cannot stand up to the competition from the booming Dutch commercial capital. In terms of business system
Portugal consists of king
Household monopoly and private contract management are no match for the Dutch joint-stock companies which received royal support
. The Netherlands established the West India Company in 1621. This company was allowed to monopolize all of Africa
trade and the right to develop Dutch territories in the New World. In 1634, the Netherlands occupied the Caribbean island of Cura?ao, and it has since become a stronghold for transporting black slaves to the Americas. After Portugal regained its independence in 1640, the Netherlands
Land's large-scale illegal import replaced the legal trade of "Assiento" and became the main source of slave supply in the Americas.
It established or seized strongholds on the coast of West Africa, crowding out Portuguese power. In its heyday,
it controlled 18 trading posts along the West African coast. In 1637, the Netherlands captured Elmina from Portugal and used it as its headquarters. Located in the capital, it monopolized the slave trade and other commercial activities in West Africa. In 1642, the Netherlands captured Achim, the last Portuguese stronghold on the Gold Coast. The island of Sao Tome also fell to the Netherlands
Hands. From then on, the era when Portugal dominated the West African coast was over.
After the Portuguese power was expelled from West Africa, it turned south of the equator, focusing on Cabanda, Luanda, and Benguela
It was based in Mozambique and Angola, specializing in slave trading activities between Angola and Mozambique and Brazil.
Until the second half of the 19th century, it was still an important slave trading country.
The Netherlands reached the peak of its commercial prosperity in the mid-17th century. Its trade investment exceeded that of Britain
15 times, its ships exceeded Britain's 10 times, and its total merchant ship tonnage accounted for 3/3 of the world's total tonnage. 4①, its shipbuilding technology and capabilities ranked first in the world. It was the largest slave-trading country at the time, continuously supplying black slave labor to West India, becoming West India's independent nation. Necessary conditions for the prosperity of tropical cash crop plantations since the mid-17th century.
In addition to the Netherlands, commercial capital in various European countries have also established joint-stock companies with royal charters. /p>
Involved in slave trade and other commercial activities.
The British chartered the first joint stock company to engage in trade with Guinea in 1618 - London's Non-Trading Expedition
The British Royal Company of Explorers for Trade in Africa was established in 1660. The revised charter in 1663 mentioned the slave trade for the first time as part of the company's legal activities①. This year It signed a contract with the Asiento agent to provide 3,500 slaves per year②. However, it was not until the establishment of the Royal African Company in 1672 that Britain operated slaves on a large scale. Trade. The Royal African Company was the largest and last joint-stock monopoly on trade with Africa during the British mercantile period. It was also the company with the most privileges and patents. The company Granted a monopoly on land and trade from Cape Brown to the Cape of Good Hope for one thousand years (until 2672!). The company had the right to build and manage forts, trading posts, and plantations in Africa; decided
Peace wars with pagan countries; raising armies; imposing martial law. The targets mentioned by the company are gold, silver
and black people③. Its activities in West Africa are centered on the Gold Coast, 17 settlements were established in this area. ④. After the British captured Cape Coast from the Swedes in 1664, they built it into a settlement second only to the Netherlands
Egypt at that time. The most powerful and best-defended European stronghold in West Africa, Elmina became the capital of the Royal African Company's Gold Coast trade and the seat of its general agent. It is estimated that during the first 40 years of the company's prosperity ( 1672
—1713), sent more than 500 ships carrying goods worth 1.5 million pounds to Africa,
sold 100,000 slaves to West Indian plantations, cast 500,000 guineas in gold coins⑤.
① Guber et al.: "The New History of the Colonial Protectorate", Volume 1, Volume 1, New China Book Company, 1949, page 24.
① E.Do
nnan, op.cit., vol.I, p.88.
② Davies, op.cit., p.43.
③ Davies, op.cit., p .98.
④ Davies, op.cit., p.245. However, the table on pages 247-248 of the book only lists the names of 16 residence places.
⑤ Davies, op.cit., pp.345-346. "Guineas" (Guineas) is a coin cast by King Charles of England from West African gold. It has the same value as the pound sterling, but its gold content is extremely pure. As for its value in 1694, it was equal to 30 shillings in silver, and was finally fixed at 21 shillings. See Mannix, op.cit.,
The 17th century was the formative period of the French slave trade. France first recorded it The first slave trade to the West Indies
began in 1643. In the second half of the 17th century, chartered companies were widely used by France as a way to organize ocean trade. The Western Indies was established in 1664. The Indian Company and the First Senegal Company established in 1672 were short-lived. Later, three companies played an important role in the French slave trade: the Guinea Company established in 1685. , monopolizing trade in the area south of the Senegal River; the Royal Senegal Company①, established in 1696,
monopolized trade in Senegal; the Royal Company of Saint-Domingue, established in 1698, had no presence on the coast of Africa
Has patent rights, but has the right to sell slaves in the French West Indies. Although the scale of slave trading activities in France in the 17th century was not large
it was a large-scale participant in the slave trade in the 18th century. Pioneer.
Since 1640, in addition to the Netherlands, England, France and Portugal, Brandenburgers, Danes, Swedes
people, Genoese and even The Kurans on the east coast of the Baltic Sea were all involved in slave trading activities. Some of them also organized chartered companies. For example, Denmark established the West India Company in 1625 (probably only appeared in 1642) p>
West African coast), Sweden established the Swedish African Company in 1647, and Brandenburg established the Emden Company in 1882-1883. These companies established a small number of merchants along the West African coast. Station, but the impact was not great,
It failed to pose an actual threat to the hegemony of the Netherlands and later the United Kingdom.
Strictly speaking, the heyday of Dutch maritime dominance was only in the mid-17th century. For more than half a century
before and after. After all, it is just a country that specializes in transshipment trade and commercial capital dominates. It will inevitably decline with the development of other countries. .Due to the development of the factory handicraft industry, the British products have become more competitive, and the national strength has been enhanced due to the development of production. Therefore, the British have become a strong competitor for the Dutch maritime hegemony. .In August 1651, the United Kingdom promulgated the "Navigation Regulations", which stipulated that all imported goods to the United Kingdom could only come directly from the country where the goods were produced, and could only be loaded on British ships or ships of the country where the goods were produced.
Transshipment. This was nothing less than a heavy blow to the Netherlands, which specialized in transshipment trade. The contradiction between the UK and the Netherlands developed into
armed confrontation, and three Anglo-Dutch wars broke out (1652-1654, 1665- 1667, 1672-1674).
As a result, Britain defeated the Netherlands economically and militarily and became a major maritime power.
Commercial capital began to be subordinated to industrial capital at the end of the 17th century The historical process of the United Kingdom is not only reflected in the replacement of the Netherlands as the main maritime trading power by Britain
, but also reflected in the decline of chartered companies' monopoly trade.
As mentioned above, chartered companies In the 17th century, European countries played a prominent role in the foreign trade. During this period, monopoly companies were a powerful means of capital accumulation. However, in the later period, they were subject to various interests of their own countries.
The censure of the group and the increasing number of individual traders (including unlicensed operators, smuggling ships, etc.)
Fierce
competition. The British government had to announce that foreign trade was open to all British merchants in 1698, stipulating that private merchants were required to deliver 10% of profits to the Royal African Company as a means of maintaining and Be wary of the costs of trading stations in West Africa. From then on, the monopoly of the British Royal African Company ended. Therefore, the real winner of the struggle between Britain and the Netherlands was Britain's industrial capital. individual merchants as the backing.
In the 18th century, the slave trade "became the basis of colonial industry and commerce on which European countries relied.
It dominated Western European countries and their colonies relationship; it is one of the most important factors causing wars in this century; it also plays a very important role in the internal affairs of countries engaged in the slave trade"①.
The chartered company gradually declined and finally disintegrated, and individual traders became the main slave traders during this period.
After the decline of the Dutch hegemony, it still carried out slave trading activities on a certain scale, also by individuals
p>
Managed by merchants. Portugal (including Brazil) is still an important slave trading country. It mainly operates slave trading activities from Angola
and Mozambique to Brazil. Britain and France have become the main slave trading countries. A.G. Hopkins estimate
pp.28-29.
① The full name is the Royal Company of the Senegal, Cape Verde and the Coast of Africa.
② Courland or Kurland is located in the Baltic Sea The east coast is part of the present-day Republic of Latvia.
① E. Donnan, op.cit., vol.2, Preface.
Accounting of British ships in the 18th century Trafficking 2/3 of the total Atlantic slave trade, French ships trafficked 1/5
①.
In Britain, the decline of the Royal African Company and the growth of the power of individual traders concentrated This was reflected in the inversion of the positions of London
and Liverpool in the slave trade. London, where the company was headquartered, had a sharp decline in its leading position in foreign trade. Liverpool was famous for its factory handicrafts and Backed by the development of individual traders,
gradually became the largest slave trading port in Europe. It is close to industrial towns, neighboring Manchester, Birmingham and
The industrial products of the West End of Yorkshire can be transported by water It was easily transported to the Liverpool dock, so it had unique conditions for engaging in overseas trade. In 1750, Liverpool's slave ships accounted for half of the total number of British slave ships.
Above②. In the 10 years from 1795 to 1804, in London, Bristol and Liverpool
Among the three major slave trading ports in the UK, Liverpool accounted for more than 85% of the slave ships and the number of slaves③ .
Before 1713, French slave trading activities were mainly operated by the Senegalese Company and the Guinea Company, and individual traders were not allowed to organize slave trading voyages. After 1713, French individual traders participated on a large scale Slave trading activities. In 1716
France began to abolish company monopoly, open four ports of Rouen, La Rochelle, Bordeaux and Nantes,
allow individual traders to engage in slave trade. Nantes experienced a similar development process to Liverpool and became the largest slave trading port in France. It is believed that France sent more than 3,000 ships in the 80 years after 1713.
Only went to the coast of Africa, from Cape Verde to Angola, from Mozambique to Cape Delgado, and purchased more than 1.25 million slaves
Of which 1 million were transferred to the French Antilles and other places , and the rest died during transportation
1. Nantes accounted for at least half of the total number of slaves traded in France in the 18th century②.
4. Slave trading system, trade routes and routes
The slave trading activities of the colonialists on the coast of Africa were generally from Senegambia (the earliest was the Portuguese slave trading activity based on Altyn Island), but it was not Short, not large in number, did not become
(an important area for the slave trade) developed south and east to the entire West African coast, then south to the Congo, Angola, and finally to East Africa. Slaves were purchased by inland merchants Trafficked to the coast and resold to European and American slave traders through coastal merchants. During the slave trade, based on the original trade routes in the interior, gradually formed and developed.
The coast leads to the interior. Slave trade routes. The slave trade systems along the coast are different. There are three main categories: (1) a system in which colonists directly plunder, such as the Portuguese in Angola; (2) coastal centralized countries are monopolized by the royal family.
The trading system, such as the Gold Coast and the Bay of Benin; (3) The system operated by merchants, typical of which is the Gulf of Biafra in West Africa, and the trading system run by Arabs in East Africa. Slave activities.
The Senegambia region was particularly important in the first century of the slave trade. Before 1600, about 1/3 of the slaves exported from Africa
came from here③.16 Century Portuguese established on the Gambia River and along the coast
① A.G.Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa ("Economic History of West Africa"), London1975, p.94. Various estimates
There is a big discrepancy. The figures provided by Curtin show that the number of slaves transported into the Americas from 1701 to 1810 was 6,051,700. If the death rate during trafficking is added, the number of slaves exported from Africa is about 15%. 7 million people. Among them, Britain exported 2,466,800 people from Africa, accounting for 35.24; France exported 969,100 people, accounting for 13.84; Portugal exported 2,025,500 people, accounting for 28.94. See P.D. Curtin, op.cit., pp. 211, 268.
② Hopkins, op.cit., p.95.
③ Donnan, op.cit., p.623. The slave ships and traders in these three cities Total slave score