Demography of Slavery and the Slave Trade

Home , Atlantic slave trade, Mainland, Middle Passage, Slave market

Demography of Slavery

• Origins of slavery • Dimensions of the Slave Trade • Demographic Impact on Africa • Middle Passage • Regional differences in slave demography • Economics of slavery in the U.S.

Domesday book, 1086

1 13th Century Slave Market in present day Yemen

2 Earliest representation of the people of the new world

3 Slave Exports from Africa to Americas

7,000,000

6,000,000

5,000,000

4,000,000

3,000,000

2,000,000

1,000,000

- 1500-1600 1601-1700 1701-1800 1801-1900

Embarkations by country: Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (2008)

1,400,000

1,200,000

1,000,000

Spain / Uruguay 800,000 Portugal / Brazil Great Britain Netherlands U.S. A. 600,000 France Denmark / Baltic

400,000

200,000

5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 6 7 0 2 0 2 5 2 5 6 5 6 6 7 7 7 8 8 8 -1525 -1550 -1 -1650 -1 -1775 -1 1 6 1 6 6 1 1 0 2 0 2 2 5 5 551-1 576-1 651-1675676-1 701-1 776-1800801-1 826-1 15 15 1 1 16 16 1 1 1 17 17 1 1 1 18

4 Embarkations by country: Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (2008)

2,000,000

1,500,000 Denmark / Baltic France U.S.A. Netherlands 1,000,000 Great Britain Portugal / Brazil Spain / Uruguay

500,000

5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 6 2 5 7 0 2 5 7 0 2 5 7 0 2 5 6 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 -1 -1 -1 1 6 1 2 5 501-1 526-1 551-1 576-1 601-1 626-1 651-1 676-1 701-1 726-1 751-1 776-1 80 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 18 18

5 Inferring mortality: Latest figures from Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (2008)

• Total embarked: 12,521,336 • Total disembarked: 10,702,565 • Implied death date: 14.52%

Percent of Slaves Dying by Time Period 35

0 5 0 5 0 5 6 0 2 5 7 0 6 6 6 6 6 7 825 8 -1525 -1550 -1575 -1 -1 -1775 -1800 -1 -1850 1 6 1 6 1 1 6 1 6 0 2 5 7 0 5 7 0 2 626-1 651-1 676-1 701-172726-1750 851-1 15 15 15 15 16 1 1 1 1 1 17 17 18 18 1

6 Percent of Slaves Dying by Importing Country

0 Spain / Portugal / Great Britain Netherlands U.S.A. France Denmark / Uruguay Brazil Baltic

Destinations of Slaves in the Atlantic Trade

5% 12%

Caribbean Brazil Central, South America 50% North America

33%

7 Disembarkations by destination: Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (2008)

1200000

1000000

800000

Mainland North America British Caribbean 600000 French Caribbean Other Caribbean Spanish Americas Brazil 400000

200000

0 5 5 0 5 0 5 25 5 7 0 2 5 7 5 5 6 7 7 7 7 866 -1600 -1625 -1650 -1 -1 -1825 -1850 -1 6 1 6 1 6 1 6 1 7 0 2 5 0 2 5 551-1575 6 6 6 8 8 8 1501-11526-11 1 1 1 1 167 1701-11726-11751-11776-18001 1 1

8 Disembarkations by country: Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (2008)

2,000,000

1,800,000

1,600,000

1,400,000 Brazil 1,200,000 Spanish Americas Other Caribbean 1,000,000 French Caribbean 800,000 British Caribbean Mainland North America 600,000

400,000

200,000

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 -1525 -1575 -1625 -1675 -1725 -1 -1 1 1 1 1 1 6 6 0 5 0 5 0 526-1 576-1 626-1 676-1 726-1 77 82 851-1866 15 1 15 1 16 1 16 1 17 1 1751-17751 1801-18251 1

9 10 Slave Market on the African Coast, early 18th cent.

Sale of Enslaved Africans and Transport to Slave Ship, mid-18th cent.

11 12 13 14 15 Slave Population of British Colonies

1680 1750

Caribbean 76,000 295,000

North America 9,000 247,000

16 Total Slave Disembarkations by 1680 and 1750

1680 1750

Caribbean 113,976 948,097

North America 4,070 161,121

Ratio of Slave Population to Disembarkations

1680 1750

Caribbean 0.66 0.31

North America 2.21 1.53

17 Hypotheses: Mortality higher in West Indies, due to • disease environment • dietary deficiencies (protein, thiamine, vitamin A, and calcium), and overall caloric intake • brutality of work conditions on large plantations with absentee owners • Easy availability of additional slaves from Africa • Infanticide/suicide as slave resistance

Hypotheses: Fertility lower in West Indies because of • African lactation practices and taboos on intercourse after giving birth, reinforced by continued high importation from Africa • dietary deficiencies leading to late menarche and low fecundity • skewed sex ratios • absence of slave breeding by planters • work conditions—excessive labor reduced fecundity

18 Crude Birth Rates among slaves, early 19th century:

– Jamaica: 23 – United States: 53

Measuring the brutality of slavery

• Fogel and Engerman, Time on the Cross: – 0.7 whippings per slave per year

• Herbert Gutman, Slavery and the Numbers Game: – Same data, one slave whipped every 4.56 days

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Slaves on Smith's Plantation, Beaufort, South Carolina. Photographed in 1862

26 Interior view of a slave pen, showing the doors of cells where the slaves were held before being sold. Slave pen, Alexandria, Va. Photographed between 1861 and 1865

27 Brazilian sugar mill in the 1830s

28 Newly Enslaved Africans, Brazil, 1830s

Brazilian Plantation

29 Slave Market, Brazil, Ca. 1825

Slave Market, Brazil, 1830s

30 Newly Arrived Slaves, Surinam, 1770s

Sale of a Slave Woman and Her Children, Surinam, 1839

31 Slave Auction, Martinique, 1826

Slave Auction, New Orleans, 1839

32 Slave Market, Muscat (Oman), 1840s

Slave Market in Zanzibar, East Africa, 1873

33 Slave Market, Zanzibar, 1864

Slave Market, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1819-1820

34 Slave market, Charleston SC, 1850s

Slave Dealer, Alexandria, Virginia, 1863 or 1865