African tribes and the slave trade
The Economist:
Most European states have tried to face up to the past, but slavery's legacy is in some ways even more poisonous in places like modern Ghana. A smokescreen still covers the African role in this pernicious trade. It is an awkward fact that the traffic could not have existed without African chiefs and traders. Europeans rarely went far from their forts; slaves were brought to them. Indeed, when the Europeans arrived the slave trade and slavery were already integral parts of local tribal economies. One of the few Ghanaian historians to touch these issues, Akosua Adoma Perbi, writes that “slavery became an important part of the Asante state [the Gold Coast's most powerful] right from its inception. For three centuries, Asante became the largest slave-trading, slave-owning and slave-dealing state in Ghana.”
When the Portuguese arrived on the scene in 1471, they were intermediaries, bringing slaves (and other goods) from Senegal and Benin along the coast to Ghana to sell them in exchange for gold to the Asante and other local peoples. The Asante then mounted slave-trading expeditions to get labour for gold mines.
The forts themselves were not owned by the Europeans; the land on which Cape Coast Castle was built was rented to the British by the local chief for a monthly sum. It was in the interests of the Europeans to respect local customs and laws, as that included the institution of slavery. This meant that they could take slaves but not, for instance, kill animals for amusement; when one officer, James Swanzy, shot a crocodile there was a huge fuss and compensation was paid.
Most of the slaves sold to Europeans in later centuries were men and women captured in battles between tribes like the Asante and the Acan. Many of the captives were kept as slaves by the victors, where they were treated relatively well and could gain some social standing within their new families. Still, the proliferation of wars between the tribes was, as Ms Perbi writes, “mostly aimed at acquiring slaves for sale to the European companies and individual European merchants”. So integral did the slave trade become to the local chiefs' welfare that its abolition hit hard. In 1872, long after abolition, Zey, the king of Asante, wrote to the British monarch asking for the slave trade to be renewed.
Revisionist history and white man’s burden
posted by Adam Lawson @ 12:28 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I have a few questions. What was tribal slavery like before the arrival of Europeans? What kind of slavery existed in areas surrounding Ghana? Do you think the Africans were first intimidated by the white people who came with guns, big ships and black slaves? How did the Europeans get the Africans to trade with them? Do you think the Asante and other groups were exploited by Europeans even though they themselves provided slaves? Also can you please provide me with some resources?
My last question. Tribes in the area of Ghana were heavily involved with the slave trade with Euopeans. Do you think some European states should have to face up to the horrible past of Ghana during those times?
The actual way of slave trade may have begun with the help of African tribal leaders. But facing the truth, the conception of trading men for labor to outside settlements was born by the Europeans who believed themselves as being superior enough to pull this off. If it was just about labor, why were they bound by chains without a choice. Then returning them back to Africa, 2000 apposed to 12 million that were taken from their native lands and most kidnapped. Trying to trace heritage can seem to be impossible for the reason that these individuals taken were stripped of all individualism.
The actual way of slave trade may have begun with the help of African tribal leaders. But facing the truth, the conception of trading men for labor to outside settlements was born by the Europeans who believed themselves as being superior enough to pull this off. Romans were doing it long ago, and african tribes too, morocco's pirates, and the likes... and yes, for outside settlements. First interaction of europeans coming in was just to transport slave made by some "countries" in africa, to other countries in africa, for gold. any one tryin to say it's european invention is wrong. No one remembers Moses then in that case? Slavery is abolished, nothing prevents descendants to go back to africa, and with population growth and better conditions on life out of Africa, they'll be able to bring Africa back up. but it can not work if they just don't want it.
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