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NATIONAL WATERFRONT MUSEUM “Traed mewn Cyffion”: Cymru a Chaethwasiaeth “Everywhere in Chains…”: Wales and Slavery (touring version text) INTRODUCTION - 1 - Everywhere in Chains…”: Wales and Slavery This exhibition looks at how Wales has been involved with slavery for at least 2,000 years. It is especially concerned with the role played by Welsh people in both supporting and opposing the transatlantic slave trade from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. The transatlantic slave trade flourished from the early sixteenth century (about 400 years ago)until two hundred years ago when, in 1807, the British parliament passed an Act to abolish trading slaves within the British Empire. Campaigns to stop slavery had been started by black and white people more than thirty years before the Act was finally passed. Even after 1807 the slaves already living in British colonies were not actually set free until 1834. Slavery remained legal in some other countries for more than another fifty years. Today illegal slavery still continues in many parts of the world – even in Wales. (144 words) Think about it When the British decided that slavery was wrong, they had to change their whole way of thinking about human rights. In the ‘Think about it’ panels we will ask you questions and give you facts that will make you think too. Glossary Some of the words used in this exhibition are not words we use very often. We will explain them in panels like this. INTRODUCTION 2 - A long history of slavery in Wales Most societies have exploited slave labour at some stage in their history. This is also true of Wales. A slave chain discovered in Llyn Cerrig Bach, Anglesey, was made to fit four people. It can be dated to the Iron Age (about 2,300 years ago). When the Romans invaded (about 2,000 years ago), they brought their own slaves with them - slaves from nations across the Roman Empire in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. After the Romans left, the British continued to keep slaves and were also at risk of being enslaved by invaders. One Welsh-speaking man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Ireland about 1,600 years ago would later become St Patrick, Ireland’s Patron Saint. Welsh law books from the time of the tenth century king Hywel Dda contain references to the ownership of slaves. They show that about 1,000 years ago it was acceptable in Wales, a Christian civilisation, to own slaves. (158 words) Think about it Attitudes change. The slave trade was abolished 200 years ago. Capital punishment was abolished less than 50 years ago. What do you think might change in the next 50 years? Glossary Slavery – Being under complete control of another person, without rights, freedom or choice. INTRODUCTION - 3 - African slaves for colonies in the Americas From the fifteenth century (about 600 years ago), the Portuguese were taking African people as slaves to work on sugar plantations on Atlantic islands such as Madeira. From the sixteenth century the Portuguese sent slaves to work in their colonies in Brazil. The Spanish sent slaves to their Caribbean colonies. In the seventeenth century (about 400 years ago) the French, Dutch and British began to create colonies in North America and the Caribbean. They exported people from Africa to work on plantations too. Although the British were late starters, they soon became one of the dominant slaving nations. The slave trade was driven by the growth of capitalism and consumerism. The growing European market for products such as tobacco, sugar and cotton quickly developed into an economic system known as the ‘Triangular Trade’. Estimates of the numbers vary greatly but at least 12 million Africans were taken abroad by force to be slaves. (153 words) Think about it The number of people taken from Africa across the Atlantic Ocean and into slavery was at least 12 million. This is more than four times the number of people living in Wales today. Glossary Capitalism – An economic system where production and distribution is run by privately owned companies which invest some or all of the profits in the business. SUPPORTING SLAVERY – 4 – Welsh people and slavery overseas Life in the West Indies could be dangerous and short for both Africans and Europeans. However, ambitious white people from modest backgrounds could often make lots of money and rise rapidly up the social ladder. Many Welsh people became involved in the trade through different professions. A successful planter was Nathaniel Phillips, who owned three plantations in Jamaica and over 700 slaves. In 1793 he bought the Slebech estate, near Haverfordwest, as his British home, using money made in Jamaica . Many Welsh mariners served on the ships transporting slaves, including Thomas Philips (died 1713) of Brecon. He was commander of the slave ship Hannibal. The sailors worked closely with ‘Factors’ or middlemen stationed in the trading forts on the African coast. Among them was Samuel Davies of St Dogmaels, who was a factor on the Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1736. Soldiers guarded the forts and the captives to be sold as slaves. Amongst them was Enoch Thomas from Carmarthenshire. He served in the Royal African Colonial Corp during the 1770s. (171 words) Think about it Why did people travel so far from Wales to work? Why did they become involved with such a terrible thing as the slave trade? Glossary Mariner – A sailor. Factor – Someone who arranges deals between people who want to buy and sell goods. SUPPORTING SLAVERY – 5 - Investing the profits from slavery The rapid growth of industry in Wales during the eighteenth century was, in many cases, paid for by profits from slavery in the West Indies and the Americas. Richard Pennant (c.1737-1808) invested his profits from sugar and rum to finance and expand the Penrhyn slate quarry, in Gwynedd. He also built the harbour of Port Penrhyn at Bangor. Later, his family rebuilt Penrhyn Castle. Anthony Bacon, a merchant from London, bought slaves to work for the British government. In 1759 he used his profits to create the ironworks at Cyfarthfa in Merthyr Tydfil. Forges in places such as Bassaleg, near Newport, produced ‘Voyage iron’, small iron bars which were traded for slaves. Copper mines in Anglesey and copperworks in Swansea, Penclawdd and Holywell benefited heavily. Copper and brass goods included bracelets known as ‘manillas’, which were used to buy slaves on the West African coast. In mid Wales, the flourishing woollen industry produced ‘Welsh Plains’, a heavy, coarse woollen cloth. The material was traded in Africa and also used to make clothes for slave workers on the plantations in the Americas. (181 words) Think about it Communities all over Europe developed around industries which were set up using profits from slavery. Some of our greatest developments were financed by the trade in human lives. Glossary Plantation – A large crop-growing farm, usually producing just one type of crop such as cotton, sugar, tobacco or coffee. SUPPORTING SLAVERY – 6 – Luxury goods for Welsh markets Slavery has been closely linked to the rise of capitalism. People working in industry earned higher wages and the market for luxury goods in Britain began to grow. The cheapest way of producing some of these goods was with the use of slave labour. Most of the coffee consumed in Britain came from slave plantations. Between 1750 and 1820, sugar became Britain’s largest single import. Nearly all of it was produced in the West Indies by slave labour. A money-making sideline of the sugar plantations was rum. In the 1790s the West Indies took 24% of the copper exported from Britain, 90% of which was from Wales. This copper was used to make pans and stills for sugar and rum production. Tobacco, cotton, indigo (a blue dye), rice and hardwoods such as mahogany were produced using slave labour. All of these products became cheap, staple goods for ordinary working people as well as for the rich. It could be argued that the consumer society of today has its origins in the eighteenth century and slavery. (175 words) Think about it Slave-worked plantations produced vast amounts of sugar at low cost and, as sugar became cheaper to buy, more people could afford to use it. Tooth decay became much more common in Britain from the eighteenth century. Glossary Rum - An alcoholic drink made by fermenting and distilling molasses, a by- product of sugar production. Still – Equipment in which fermented liquids are heated and then cooled to increase their alcohol content. OPPOSING SLAVERY – 7 - The Abolition Movement The abolition movement in Britain grew out of the ‘Committee for Abolition of the African Slave Trade’ which was formed in 1787. Its leaders were William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp. The Welsh attitude to the campaign varied. Many people depended on the slave trade for their livelihoods, either directly or indirectly. Others, aware that their local landlord owned slaves in the West Indies, were reluctant to condemn the trade publicly. Many more people simply did not know about slavery, or care about the enslavement of foreign people thousands of miles away. But many people did support abolition, and some were very vocal about their opposition to the trade. They included the bard Edward Williams (Iolo Morgannwg, 1747-1826), and Baptist minister Morgan John Rhys (1760- 1804), from Llanbradach. Women played an important role in anti-slavery committees and even boycotted sugar from the West Indies when they were shopping. In 1807 the British Parliament finally passed an act to ban the transport of people from Africa to the colonies. (168 words) Think about it Would you stop using something as a protest? In the 1980s many people refused to buy apples and other goods from South Africa in support of the anti-apartheid movement.