Misplaced Pages

#632367

139-534: In the nineteenth century, sugar was a very important commodity. Its cultivation was the main driver behind the Atlantic slave trade , which transported slaves to plantations, mainly in the Caribbean and South America. The sugar plantations grew sugar cane, and processed this in sugarcane mills that produced raw sugar. The raw sugar still contained impurities that were extracted in the so-called refinery process. At

278-713: A public limited company (in Dutch law a: Naamloze vennootschap ) was then founded to continue his sugar refinery business. Share capital was to be 1,600,000 guilders in shares of 1,000 guilders each. B. Kooij's widow Sara Alida Maria van der Meulen took 1,000 shares for herself and their nine underage children. Joannes Kooij (Barend's father) took 170; Johanna van Marwijk widow of J.H. van der Meulen took 100; Joannes Kooij junior, rope manufacturer 100; Pieter Kooij, steam 'kandij' manufacturer 100; 130 more shares were divided over 9 smaller shareholders. Kooij's widow paid for her shares by bringing in: The steam sugar refinery called 'Java' in

417-472: A cursed people, Africa and slavery, which laid the ideological groundwork for justifying the transatlantic slave trade. The term "race" was used by the English beginning in the 16th century and referred to family, lineage, and breed. The idea of race continued to develop further through the centuries and was used as a justification for the continuation of the slave trade and racial discrimination. Slavery

556-503: A developed factor for enslaving people; nonetheless, by the 15th century, Europeans used both race and religion as a justification to enslave sub-Saharan Africans. An increase of enslaved African people from Senegal occurred in the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th century. As the number of Senegalese slaves grew larger Europeans developed new terminologies that associated slavery with skin color. The Spanish city of Seville had

695-478: A dividend of 3% over its first business year, which ended on 31 March. In 1859, 1860 and 1861 the company also paid a dividend. In 1861 and 1862 the Dutch sugar refineries were in general quite busy. In 1861 114,982,232 kg and in 1862 104,966,259 kg of raw sugar was imported. However, prices began to decline in July 1861. The Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij reacted by letting the "Schoonenburg" refinery on

834-662: A factory with 60 employees began to operate in Groningen. One more sugar factory was built in Rijswijk in 1861–62. The number of staff and machinery of these factories suggests that they were very important competitors, but that's not the case. In these first years, the factory in Zevenbergen produced about 600,000 kg of sugar. Those in Dubbeldam, Rijswijk, and Oudenbosch each about half of that amount. In 1863 and 1864,

973-564: A family clan. In contrast, European slaves were chattel, or property, who were stripped of their rights. The cycle of slavery was perpetual; children of slaves would, by default, also be slaves." Millions of enslaved people from some parts of Africa were exported to states in Africa, Europe, and Asia prior to the European colonization of the Americas . The Trans-Saharan slave trade across

1112-527: A form of protection against enslavement. African resistance movements were carried out in every phase of the slave trade to resisting marches to the slave holding stations, resistance at the slave coast, and resistance on slave ships. For example, aboard the slave ship Clare, the enslaved Africans revolted and drove the crew from the vessel and took control of the ship and liberated themselves and landed near Cape Coast Castle in present-day Ghana in 1729. On other slave ships enslaved Africans sunk ships, killed

1251-679: A fort for the slave trade at the Bay of Arguin . In the Middle Ages , religion and not race was a determining factor for who was considered to be a legitimate target of slavery. While Christians did not enslave Christians and Muslims did not enslave Muslims, both allowed the enslavement of people they regarded to be heretics or insufficiently correct in their religion, which allowed Catholic Christians to enslave Orthodox Christians, and Sunni Muslims to enslave Shia Muslims; similarly both Christians and Muslims approved of enslaving Pagans , who came to be

1390-448: A glorious and advantageous trade this is ... It is the hinge on which all the trade of this globe moves." Meanwhile, it became a business for privately owned enterprises , reducing international complications. After 1790, by contrast, captains typically checked out slave prices in at least two of the major markets of Kingston, Havana, and Charleston, South Carolina (where prices by then were similar) before deciding where to sell. For

1529-583: A justification to Christianize them. In 1452, Pope Nicholas V issued papal bull Dum Diversas which gave the King of Portugal the right to enslave non-Christians to perpetual slavery. The clause included Muslims in West Africa and legitimized the slave trade under the Catholic church. In 1454, Pope Nicholas issued Romanus Pontifex . "Written as a logical sequel to Dum Diversas, Romanus Pontifex allowed

SECTION 10

#1732772507633

1668-405: A large collection of paintings. In 1846 Barend participated in founding the insurance company "Phoenix". At his death in 1855, Barend had parts in all 10 ships that the shipping company managed or owned. The start of Barend Kooij's activities in refining sugar is not that clear. It is known that he had at least three sugar refineries. Two of these were converted to use steam power and became part of

1807-551: A maritime route to "the Indies" (India), where they could trade for luxury goods such as spices without having to obtain these items from Middle Eastern Islamic traders. During the first wave of European colonization , although many of the initial Atlantic naval explorations were led by the Iberian conquistadors , members of many European nationalities were involved, including sailors from Spain , Portugal , France , England ,

1946-500: A more profitable source of labour and encouraging their use. Historian David Eltis argues that Africans were enslaved because of cultural beliefs in Europe that prohibited the enslavement of cultural insiders, even if there was a source of labour that could be enslaved (such as convicts, prisoners of war and vagrants). Eltis argues that traditional beliefs existed in Europe against enslaving Christians (few Europeans not being Christian at

2085-485: A much larger scale than was usual before. In 1846 and 1847 Barend Kooij bought the buildings of the shipyards 'De Oranjeboom' and 'Het Eiland Terschelling' and two houses or buildings on shipyard 'Het Fortuin', all on Bickerseiland in the Westerdok of Amsterdam. He then built the steam sugar refinery Java on these premises. Bickerseiland was situated in the Westerdok , a wet dock that allowed ships to anchor very close to

2224-519: A new and larger market for the already existing trade. While those held as slaves in their own region of Africa could hope to escape, those shipped away had little chance of returning to their homeland. The Atlantic slave trading of Africans began in 1441 with two Portuguese explorers, Nuno Tristão and António Gonçalves. Tristão and Gonçalves sailed to Mauritania in West Africa and kidnapped twelve Africans and returned to Portugal and presented

2363-687: A new large scale sugar refinery was founded. In 1865 the overall situation improved. The Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij processed 13.5 million kg of sugar. In 1867 the situation deteriorated again, but the Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij processed 14 million kg of sugar. In 1868 the Dutch export of refined sugar increased from 78,407,000 kg to 85,400,000 kg. The Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij profited by processing 17,000,000 kg and getting good prices. In 1869 Dutch refined sugar exports further increased to 92,962,500 kg. In 1870 most of

2502-425: A partnership with the name (firma) Marten Udink & Co. was formed. It included Marten Udink, his 23 year old nephew Joannes Kooij, and Hendrik Nijhoff, Marten's 47 year old bookkeeper. Marten brought in 80,000 guilders, and Joannes Kooij and Hendrik Nijhoff each 40,000, which they borrowed from Marten. It is supposed that Kooij and Nijhoff used the profits to gain complete ownership of the partnership, while retaining

2641-418: A position to call the shots." The earliest known use of the phrase began in the 1830s, and the earliest written evidence was found in an 1836 published book by F. H. Rankin. Portuguese coastal raiders found that slave raiding was too costly and often ineffective and opted for established commercial relations. The colonial South Atlantic and Caribbean economies were particularly dependent on slave labour for

2780-906: A preferred and comparatively profitable target of the slave trade in the Middle Ages: Spain and Portugal were provided with non-Catholic slaves from Eastern Europe via the Balkan slave trade and the Black Sea slave trade . In the 15th century, when the Balkan slave trade was taken over by the Ottoman Empire and the Black Sea slave trade was supplanted by the Crimean slave trade and closed off from Europe, Spain and Portugal replaced this source of slaves by importing slaves first from

2919-465: A proto-racial law. It prevented people with Jewish and Muslim ancestry from settling in the New World. Limpieza de sangre did not guarantee rights for Jews or Muslims who converted to Catholicism . Jews and Muslims who converted to Catholicism were respectively called conversos and moriscos . Some Jews and Muslims converted to Christianity hoping it would grant them rights under Spanish laws. After

SECTION 20

#1732772507633

3058-485: A very profitable position. On 1 January 1834 Barend Kooij Joanneszoon (1814-1855) became a partner in M. Udink & Co. The reason for becoming a partner at such a young age was that his father could no longer be officially involved in such a business after becoming a director of the Netherlands Trading Society. Udink & Co. now entered a phase of great expansion. It ordered the construction of

3197-458: A warm climate, no man will labour for himself who can make another labour for him. This is so true, that of the proprietors of slaves a very small proportion indeed are ever seen to labour." In a 2015 paper, economist Elena Esposito argued that the enslavement of Africans in colonial America was attributable to the fact that the American south was sufficiently warm and humid for malaria to thrive;

3336-697: Is documented in the Slave Trade Debates of England in the early 19th century: "All the old writers ... concur in stating not only that wars are entered into for the sole purpose of making slaves, but that they are fomented by Europeans, with a view to that object." People living around the Niger River would be transported from these markets to the coast and sold in European trading ports, in exchange for muskets and manufactured goods such as cloth or alcohol. The European demand for slaves provided

3475-520: Is now Sierra Leone and took 300 people to sell in the Caribbean. In 1564, he repeated the process, this time using Queen Elizabeth's own ship, Jesus of Lübeck , and numerous English voyages ensued. Around 1560, the Portuguese began a regular slave trade to Brazil. From 1580 until 1640, Portugal was temporarily united with Spain in the Iberian Union . Most Portuguese contractors who obtained

3614-605: The Americas and enslave Native Americans and Africans. Inter Caetera also settled a dispute between Portugal and Spain over those lands. The declaration included a north–south divide 100 leagues West of the Cape Verde Islands and gave the Spanish Crown exclusive rights to travel and trade west of that line. In Portugal and Spain people had been enslaved because of their religious identity, race had not been

3753-540: The Amsterdam-Centrum district. The canal is named after the bulwark "de Bloem", later called "Rijkeroord". From 1614 a windmill was located here, but it was moved to Haarlemmerweg in 1878. The Bloemgracht was constructed in the first half of the 17th century as part of the Jordaan during one of the major Amsterdam city expansions; the so-called Third Expansion. Initially, dyers were established on and near

3892-641: The Fante coalition and fought African and European slave raiders and protected themselves from capture and enslavement. Chief Tomba was born in 1700 and his adopted father was a general from the Jalonke-speaking people who fought against the slave trade. Tomba became ruler of the Baga people in present-day Guinea Bissau in West Africa and made alliances with nearby African villages against African and European slave traders. His efforts were unsuccessful: Tomba

4031-650: The Guinea Coast and left with a few slaves. In 1564, Hawkin's son John Hawkins , sailed to the Guinea Coast and his voyage was supported by Queen Elizabeth I . John later turned to piracy and stole 300 Africans from a Spanish slave ship after failures in Guinea trying to capture Africans as most of his men died after fights with the local Africans. As historian John Thornton remarked, "the actual motivation for European expansion and for navigational breakthroughs

4170-685: The Italian states , and the Netherlands . This diversity led Thornton to describe the initial "exploration of the Atlantic" as "a truly international exercise, even if many of the dramatic discoveries were made under the sponsorship of the Iberian monarchs". That leadership later gave rise to the myth that "the Iberians were the sole leaders of the exploration". European overseas expansion led to

4309-756: The Mamluk Sultanate (1258–1517). The Atlantic slave trade was not the only slave trade from Africa; as Elikia M'bokolo wrote in Le Monde diplomatique : The African continent was bled of its human resources via all possible routes. Across the Sahara, through the Red Sea, from the Indian Ocean ports and across the Atlantic. At least ten centuries of slavery for the benefit of the Muslim countries (from

Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij - Misplaced Pages Continue

4448-574: The Netherlands , the United States, and Denmark . Several had established outposts on the African coast, where they purchased slaves from local African leaders. These slaves were managed by a factor , who was established on or near the coast to expedite the shipping of slaves to the New World. Slaves were imprisoned in a factory while awaiting shipment. Current estimates are that about 12 million to 12.8 million Africans were shipped across

4587-454: The Saracens ", claimed that due to the curse imposed upon Black people , they would inevitably remain permanently subjugated by Arabs and other Muslims . He wrote that the fact that so many Africans had been enslaved even by the heretical Muslims was supposed proof of their inferiority. Through these and other writings, European writers established a hitherto unheard of connection between

4726-493: The asiento between 1580 and 1640 were conversos . For Portuguese merchants, many of whom were " New Christians " or their descendants, the union of crowns presented commercial opportunities in the slave trade to Spanish America. Until the middle of the 17th century, Mexico was the largest single market for slaves in Spanish America. While the Portuguese were directly involved in trading enslaved peoples to Brazil,

4865-499: The caravel , resulted in ships being better equipped to deal with the tidal currents, and could begin traversing the Atlantic Ocean; the Portuguese set up a Navigator's School (although there is much debate about whether it existed and if it did, just what it was). Between 1600 and 1800, approximately 300,000 sailors engaged in the slave trade visited West Africa. In doing so, they came into contact with societies living along

5004-602: The demarcation line between the Spanish and Portuguese empire, but this was against the WIC-charter". The Royal African Company usually refused to deliver slaves to Spanish colonies, though they did sell them to all comers from their factories in Kingston, Jamaica and Bridgetown, Barbados . In 1682, Spain allowed governors from Havana, Porto Bello, Panama , and Cartagena, Colombia to procure slaves from Jamaica. By

5143-460: The sugar plantations on the Azores , Madeira , Canary, and Cape Verde islands . Europeans participated in African enslavement because of their need for labor, profit, and religious motives. Upon discovering new lands through their naval explorations, European colonisers soon began to migrate to and settle in lands outside their native continent. Off the coast of Africa, European migrants, under

5282-471: The " Old World " ( Afro-Eurasia ) and the " New World " (the Americas). For centuries, tidal currents had made ocean travel particularly difficult and risky for the ships that were then available. Thus, there had been very little, if any, maritime contact between the peoples living in these continents. In the 15th century, however, new European developments in seafaring technologies, such as the invention of

5421-526: The "discovery" of new lands across the Atlantic, Spain did not want Jews and Muslims immigrating to the Americas because the Spanish Crown worried Muslims and non-Christians might introduce Islam and other religions to Native Americans. The law also led to the enslavement of Jews and Muslims, prevented Jews from entering the country and from joining the military, universities and other civil services. Although Jewish conversos and Muslims experienced religious and racial discrimination, some also participated in

5560-418: The 1620s. The Portuguese encroached onto Mbundu lands to expand their mission of trading slaves and establishing a settlement. Nzinga allowed sanctuary to runaway slaves in her nation and organized a military called kilombo against the Portuguese. Nzinga formed alliances with other rival African nations and led an army against the Portuguese slave traders in a thirty-year war. Historians have widely debated

5699-842: The 1690s, the English were shipping the most slaves from West Africa. By the 18th century, Portuguese Angola had become again one of the principal sources of the Atlantic slave trade. After the end of the War of the Spanish Succession , as part of the provisions of the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) , the Asiento was granted to the South Sea Company . Despite the South Sea Bubble , the British maintained this position during

Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij - Misplaced Pages Continue

5838-399: The 16th century that led to Africa being underdeveloped in his own time. These ideas were supported by other historians, including Ralph Austen (1987). This idea of an unequal relationship was contested by John Thornton (1998), who argued that "the Atlantic slave trade was not nearly as critical to the African economy as these scholars believed" and that "African manufacturing [at this period]

5977-516: The 1800s. Although there were African nations that participated and profited from the Atlantic slave trade, many African nations resisted such as the Djola and Balanta . Some African nations organized into military resistance movements and fought African slave raiders and European slave traders entering their villages. For example, the Akan , Etsi, Fetu, Eguafo, Agona , and Asebu people organized into

6116-405: The 1820s. The first side of the triangle was the export of goods from Europe to Africa. A number of African kings and merchants took part in the trading of enslaved people from 1440 to about 1833. For each captive, the African rulers would receive a variety of goods from Europe. These included guns, ammunition, alcohol, indigo dyed Indian textiles, and other factory-made goods. The second leg of

6255-415: The 18th century, becoming the biggest shippers of slaves across the Atlantic. It is estimated that more than half of the entire slave trade took place during the 18th century, with the Portuguese, British, and French being the main carriers of nine out of ten slaves abducted in Africa. At the time, slave trading was regarded as crucial to Europe's maritime economy, as noted by one English slave trader: "What

6394-679: The 19th century. The Bloemgracht, Egelantiersgracht , Lauriergracht , Looiersgracht and Passeerdersgracht remained as water connections between the Prinsengracht and the Lijnbaansgracht. From 1856, the type foundry of the graphic trading house of Nicolaas Tetterode was at the Bloemgracht 134-136. There was also the Reformed Christian School, where Jan Ligthart taught, among others. As stated on

6533-521: The African rulers to trade as slaves for European consumer goods. Also, Europeans shifted the location of disembarkation points for trade along the African coast to follow military conflicts in West-Central Africa. In areas of Africa where slavery was not prevalent, European slave traders worked and negotiated with African rulers on their terms for trade, and African rulers refused to supply European demands. Africans and Europeans profited from

6672-651: The Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij in 1856. The relatively large sugar refinery "L'Union" was situated on the northern side of the Bloemgracht at number 148. It was auctioned in April 1841. In April 1845 the equipment of this refinery was sold, perhaps due to Kooij acquiring the Schoonenburgh refinery in February 1844. The house at Bloemgracht 150 was also part of this refinery. On 21 September 1849 one of

6811-432: The Atlantic over a span of 400 years. The number purchased by the traders was considerably higher, as the passage had a high death rate, with between 1.2 and 2.4 million dying during the voyage, and millions more in seasoning camps in the Caribbean after arrival in the New World. Millions of people also died as a result of slave raids, wars, and during transport to the coast for sale to European slave traders. Near

6950-462: The Atlantic slave trade through Futa Toro , present-day Senegal . Abdul Kader Khan and Futa Toro nation resisted French slave traders and colonizers who wanted to enslave Africans and Muslims from Futa Toro. Other forms of resistance against the Atlantic slave trade by African nations was migrating to different areas in West Africa such as swamps and lake regions to escape slave raids. In West Africa, Efik slave dealers participated in slave dealing as

7089-511: The Atlantic. From 1525, slaves were transported directly from the Portuguese colony of Sao Tomé across the Atlantic to Hispaniola . A burial ground in Campeche , Mexico, suggests enslaved Africans had been brought there not long after Hernán Cortés completed the subjugation of Aztec and Mayan Mexico in 1519. The graveyard had been in use from approximately 1550 to the late 17th century. In 1562, John Hawkins captured Africans in what

SECTION 50

#1732772507633

7228-801: The Bloemgracht remain idle in 1861 and 1862. Official publications mentioned foreign and unfair foreign competition as causing the low prices for refined sugar. By the end of the first five years, in 1862, there were 20 sugar refineries in Amsterdam. 11 of these used steam power. In 1862 18 Amsterdam refineries processed 76,033,090 kg of raw sugar. The big companies were: The Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij which processed 16,000,000 kg of raw sugar with about 285 people; The Nederlandsche Suikerraffinaderij , which processed 17,000,000 kg with 340 employees; Wijthoff en Zoon, which processed 16,000,000 kg with 175 employees; Beuker & Hulshoff with 230 workers; and Spakler & Tetterode. By 1862,

7367-444: The Bloemgracht. The Calkoen family in particular was active here. Willem Blaeu started his cartography workshop here in 1635, and it was continued by his son Joan Blaeu and his grandson Joan Junior until 1698. The Atlas Maior or Grooten Atlas by Blaeu was made on the Bloemgracht. The company was initially located on the corner of Bloemgracht / Tweede Leliedwarsstraat and later on the corner of Derde Leliedwarsstraat. In 1696

7506-529: The Bloemgracht: "The Jordaan canon starts in 1613, with the construction of the ring of canals. The wealthy lived on the Bloemgracht, the most prestigious canal in the Jordaan. The common people lived in the (cross) streets." The educational innovator Jan Ligthart described life on the Bloemgracht extensively in his books. The Bloemgracht is spanned by five bridges, all fixed: The Kees de Jongenbrug (Bridge No. 123, corner Bloemgracht / Prinsengracht) and

7645-625: The Caribbean islands Curaçao , Jamaica and Martinique , as European nations built up economically slave-dependent colonies in the New World. In 1672, the Royal Africa Company was founded. In 1674, the New West India Company became deeper involved in slave trade. From 1677, the Compagnie du Sénégal , used Gorée to house the slaves . The Spanish proposed to get the slaves from Cape Verde , located closer to

7784-551: The Dutch who invested in the British West Indies and Dutch Brazil producing sugar. After the Iberian Union fell apart, Spain prohibited Portugal from directly engaging in the slave trade as a carrier. According the Treaty of Münster the slave trade was opened for the traditional enemies of Spain, losing a large share of the trade to the Dutch, French, and English. For 150 years, Spanish transatlantic traffic

7923-540: The Elandstraat and had an exit on that street. By 1856, a tube connected it to a building on the other side of that street. When "De Eendragt" was acquired in 1849, it already used steam power. It can be traced back to at least August 1841, when it was put to auction. In July 1849 the tools of the Eendragt were auctioned. The steam sugar refinery Java was notable for being a purpose-built refinery and for operating on

8062-543: The European Catholic nations to expand their dominion over 'discovered' land. Possession of non-Christian lands would be justified along with the enslavement of native, non-Christian 'pagans' in Africa and the 'New World.'" Dum Diversas and Romanus Pontifex may have had an influence with the creation of doctrines supportive of empire building. In 1493, the Doctrine of Discovery issued by Pope Alexander VI ,

8201-423: The European mainland. A vast amount of labour was needed to create and sustain plantations that required intensive labour to grow, harvest, and process prized tropical crops. Western Africa (part of which became known as "the Slave Coast "), Angola and nearby Kingdoms and later Central Africa , became the source for enslaved people to meet the demand for labour. The basic reason for the constant shortage of labour

8340-470: The French sugar factories ceased to operate because of the Franco-Prussian War . It led to Dutch refineries temporarily operating on new markets and making high profits. The Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij processed 18,000,000 kg of sugar in 1870. The good times for the Dutch sugar industry continued in 1871. However, the concentration process had continued since 1856, and by August 1872, only 9 sugar refineries were left in Amsterdam. In March 1872,

8479-531: The Grote Bickerstraat on grounds of the municipality; The steam sugar refinery called 'Schoonenburg' on the Bloemgracht; Three warehouses called 'Bergen', 'Drontheim' and 'Finmarken' also on the Bloemgracht; and finally the steam sugar refinery called 'De Eendragt' on the Lijnbaansgracht and a connected building close by. All the other shares were paid in cash. The managing directors of the new company were four: Joannes Kooij Jr., Pieter Kooij, Hermanus Carel Scholten and Isaac Pierre van der Toll. The supervisory board

SECTION 60

#1732772507633

8618-443: The Indian Ocean to the Gulf of Aden . Others were carried across the Red Sea to Arabia and Aden , with sick slaves being thrown overboard, or they were marched across the Sahara desert via the Trans-Saharan slave trade route to the Nile , many of them dying from exposure or swollen feet along the way. However, estimates are imprecise, which can affect comparison between different slave trades. Two rough estimates by scholars of

8757-405: The Kongolese King Afonso I seized a French vessel and its crew for illegally trading on his coast. In addition, Afonso complained to the king of Portugal that Portuguese slave traders continued to kidnap his people, which was causing depopulation in his kingdom. Queen Nzinga (Nzinga Mbande) fought against the expansion of the Portuguese slave trade into Mbundu people's lands in Central Africa in

8896-682: The New World Europeans received tobacco, potatoes, tomatoes, and maize. Other items and commodities becoming important in global trade were the tobacco, sugarcane, and cotton crops of the Americas, along with the gold and silver brought from the American continent not only to Europe but elsewhere in the Old World. By the 15th century, slavery had existed in the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain) of Western Europe throughout recorded history. The Roman Empire had established its system of slavery in ancient times. Historian Benjamin Isaac suggests proto-racism existed in ancient times among Greco-Roman people . Racial prejudices were based on dehumanizing

9035-419: The Portuguese to "tap into" the "well-developed commercial economy in Africa ... without engaging in hostilities". "Peaceful trade became the rule all along the African coast", although there were some rare exceptions when acts of aggression led to violence. For instance, Portuguese traders attempted to conquer the Bissagos Islands in 1535. In 1571, Portugal, supported by the Kingdom of Kongo , took control of

9174-425: The Sahara had functioned since antiquity, and continued to do so up until the 20th-century; in 652, the Rashidun Caliphate in Egypt enforced an annual tribute of 400 slaves from the Christian Kingdom of Makuria by the Baqt treaty, which was to be in effect for centuries. It supplied Africans for slavery in the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661), the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) and

9313-400: The Spanish Empire relied on the Asiento de Negros system, awarding (Catholic) Genoese merchant bankers the license to trade enslaved people from Africa to their colonies in Spanish America . Cartagena , Veracruz , Buenos Aires , and Hispaniola received the majority of slave arrivals, mainly from Angola . This division of the slave trade between Spain and Portugal upset the British and

9452-415: The Spanish king gave permission for ships to go directly from Africa to the Caribbean colonies, and they started taking 200–300 per trip. During the first Atlantic system, most of these slavers were Portuguese, giving them a near-monopoly. Decisive was the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas which did not allow Spanish ships in African ports. Spain had to rely on Portuguese ships and sailors to bring slaves across

9591-431: The beginning of the 19th century, various governments acted to ban the trade, although illegal smuggling still occurred. It was generally thought that the transatlantic slave trade ended in 1867, but evidence was later found of voyages until 1873. In the early 21st century, several governments issued apologies for the transatlantic slave trade. The Atlantic slave trade developed after trade contacts were established between

9730-429: The big ships Neptunes , Admiraal Jan Evertsen , Triton , Sara Alida Maria , Waterloo and Philips van Marnix . By 1841, Kooij. was the biggest Amsterdam shipping company sailing to the Dutch East Indies. In 1839 Hendrik Nijhoff died, and on 24 February 1840 his widow died. After some time, the partnership M. Udink & Co. was then dissolved with a date of 14 March 1839. Barend Kooij Joanneszoon now formally managed

9869-411: The buildings of the sugar refinery "L'Union" on the Bloemgracht burned down. At the time B. Kooy Jz was the owner. In November 1849 the house and the grounds of the burned down refinery were offered at an auction. It did not become part of the public company Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij in 1856. The sugar refinery "Schoonenburg" was acquired by Barend Kooij on 26 February 1844. It was located on

10008-470: The captain and the rest of the crew. The captain and crew made a deal with the Africans and promised them their freedom. The Africans took control of the ship and sailed back to Africa's shore. The captain and his crew tried to re-enslave the Africans but were unsuccessful. The Atlantic slave trade is customarily divided into two eras, known as the first and second Atlantic systems. Slightly more than 3% of

10147-581: The captive Africans as gifts to Prince Henry the Navigator . By 1460, seven hundred to eight hundred African people were taken annually and imported into Portugal. In Portugal, the Africans taken were used as domestic servants. From 1460 to 1500, the removal of Africans increased as Portugal and Spain built forts along the coast of West Africa. By 1500, Portugal and Spain had taken about 50,000 thousand West Africans. The Africans worked as domestic servants, artisans, and farmers. Other Africans were taken to work

10286-665: The company paid a dividend. In November 1872 the Dutch senate agreed to abolish a Dutch Indies tax on exporting sugar to other countries than the Netherlands, the Diferentieel regt . Some feared that it would lead to the redirection of the Java sugar export to other countries. The sugar market turned against the Dutch refineries in 1873. On Java, the forced sale of sugar to the Netherlands Trading Society had been abolished in 1872. The protectionist export tariff Diferentieel regt

10425-485: The company was dissolved. Bridge no. 120 across the Bloemgracht at the corner of the Derde Leliedwarsstraat was given the name Atlas Bridge. The painter Rembrandt van Rijn , who lived at Rozengracht, is supposed to have had a studio on the Bloemgracht in the 1660s. Fourteen sugar factories were active on the canal in the 18th and 19th century. Six of the eleven Jordaan canals were filled in during

10564-642: The conquered Canary Islands and then from mainland Africa, initially from Arab slave traders via the Trans-Saharan slave trade from Libya , and then directly from the African West coast through Portuguese outposts, which developed into the Atlantic slave trade and expanded significantly after the establishment of the colonies in the Americas in 1492. In the 15th century, Spain enacted a racially discriminatory law named limpieza de sangre , which translates as "blood purity" or "cleanliness of blood",

10703-634: The contact between the Old and New Worlds producing the Columbian exchange , named after the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus . It started the global silver trade from the 16th to 18th centuries and led to direct European involvement in the Chinese porcelain trade . It involved the transfer of goods unique to one hemisphere to another. Europeans brought cattle, horses, and sheep to the New World, and from

10842-515: The crew, and set fire to ships with explosives. Slave traders and white crewmembers prepared and prevented possible rebellions by loading women, men, and children separately inside slave ships because enslaved children used loose pieces of wood, tools, and any objects they found and passed them to the men to free themselves and fight the crew. According to historical research from the records of slave ship captains, between 1698 and 1807, there were 353 acts of insurrection aboard slave ships. The majority of

10981-811: The directions of the Kingdom of Castile , invaded and colonised the Canary Islands during the 15th century, where they converted much of the land to the production of wine and sugar. Along with this, they also captured native Canary Islanders, the Guanches , to use as slaves both on the Islands and across the Christian Mediterranean. After the success of Portugal and Spain in the slave trade other European nations followed. In 1530, an English merchant from Plymouth, William Hawkins , visited

11120-411: The disease had debilitating effects on the European settlers. Conversely, many enslaved Africans were taken from regions of Africa which hosted particularly potent strains of the disease, so the Africans had already developed natural resistance to malaria. This, Esposito argued, resulted in higher malaria survival rates in the American south among enslaved Africans than among European labourers, making them

11259-552: The engines behind the trade in the capital firms, the shipping and insurance companies of Europe and America, or the plantation systems in Americas. They did not wield any influence on the building manufacturing centres of the West. Sometimes trading between Europeans and African leaders was not equal. For example, Europeans influenced Africans to provide more slaves by forming military alliances with warring African societies to instigate more fighting which would provide more war captives to

11398-550: The enslaved people exported from Africa were traded between 1525 and 1600, and 16% in the 17th century. The first Atlantic system was the trade of enslaved Africans to, primarily, American colonies of the Portuguese and Spanish empires. Before the 1520s, slavers took Africans to Seville or the Canary Islands and then exported some of them from Spain to its colonies in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, with 1 to 40 slaves per ship. These supplemented enslaved Native Americans. In 1518,

11537-470: The entire European continent, rendering it unthinkable to enslave a European since this would require enslaving an insider. Conversely, Africans were viewed as outsiders and thus qualified for enslavement. While Europeans may have treated some types of labour, such as convict labour, with conditions similar to that of slaves, these labourers would not be regarded as chattel and their progeny could not inherit their subordinate status, thus not making them slaves in

11676-581: The eyes of Europeans. The status of chattel slavery was thus confined to non-Europeans, such as Africans. Bloemgracht The Bloemgracht ( Dutch pronunciation: [ˈblumˌɣrɑxt] ) is a canal in the Jordaan district of Amsterdam , the Netherlands. It connects the Prinsengracht with the Lijnbaansgracht and runs between and parallel to Nieuwe Leliestraat and Bloemstraat in

11815-407: The factories had left, the Bloemgracht became more residential-oriented. In addition to expensive canal houses and apartments, it held restaurants and galleries. Characteristically it has some very large canal houses and also very small ones. The Bloemgracht is described in various travel guides as one of the most beautiful canals of the Jordaan. The writer Mies Bouhuys said about the Jordaan and

11954-411: The fire. The sale was one of many initiatives to support the employees who suddenly did not have any income. In December 1874, the shareholders decided not to rebuild the sugar refinery Java. There were two obvious reasons for this decision. First of all, several regulations had created unfavorable market conditions and there were no reasons to expect that these regulations would be reverted. Furthermore,

12093-634: The firm. The activities of M. Udink & Co. were not strictly limited to shipping. In 1824, it offered to sell a small part of a coffee plantation in Surinam. In 1829 M. Udink & Co. participated for 2,000 guilders in the foundation of the Nederlandsche Zee Assurantie Maatschappij. On 1 January 1834 Joannes Kooij became a managing director of the Netherlands Trading Society , which was

12232-520: The foreign peoples they conquered through warfare. Since the fall of the Western Roman Empire , various systems of slavery continued in the successor Islamic and Christian kingdoms of the peninsula through the early modern era of the Atlantic slave trade. In 1441–1444, Portuguese traders first captured Africans on the Atlantic coast of Africa (in what is today Mauritania ), taking their captives to slavery in Europe , and established

12371-563: The foundation of a handful of sugar factories that made raw sugar from sugar beets was less important than it seemed at first glance. In 1858 a sugar factory was built in Zevenbergen , North Brabant, it employed about 280 people in shifts. In 1861 a beet sugar factory with 5 steam engines and 250 employees began to operate in Dubbeldam. In 1862 a factory with 6 steam engines and 200 employees began to operate in Oudenbosch. Also in 1862,

12510-475: The general situation for sugar refineries became worse because the price difference between raw sugar and refined sugar became ever smaller. In 1864, the 12 steam powered refineries in Amsterdam processed 79,531,950 kg of sugar. The 9 Amsterdam refineries without steam power processed only 1,353,359 kg. Meanwhile, new sugar factories were founded in Bergen op Zoom and Halfweg , these did well. In Delfshaven

12649-419: The largest African population . "The Treaty of Alcacuvas in 1479 provided traders the right to supply Spaniards with Africans." In addition, in the 15th century, Dominican friar Annius of Viterbo invoked the curse of Ham , from the biblical story of enslavement, to explain the differences between Europeans and Africans in his writings. Annius, who frequently wrote of the "superiority of Christians over

12788-491: The last sixteen years of the transatlantic slave trade, Spain was the only transatlantic slave-trading empire. Following the British Slave Trade Act 1807 and U.S. bans on the African slave trade that same year, it declined, but the period thereafter still accounted for 28.5% of the total volume of the Atlantic slave trade. Between 1810 and 1860, over 3.5 million slaves were transported, with 850,000 in

12927-498: The lease on the terrain would end in 1900, meaning that the investment in a new refinery would be insecure. On 22 March 1875 the shareholders decided to liquidate the company Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij. In May 1875 shareholders were paid 10% on each share. On 5 February 1876 a final meeting was held to close the accounts of the company and to distribute the money that was left. Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved

13066-529: The mid-16th century, the Spanish New Laws , prohibited slavery of the Indigenous people. A labour shortage resulted. Alternative sources of labour, such as indentured servitude , failed to provide a sufficient workforce. Many crops could not be sold for profit, or even grown, in Europe. Exporting crops and goods from the New World to Europe often proved to be more profitable than producing them on

13205-492: The middle of the 17th century, slavery had hardened as a racial caste, with African slaves and their future offspring being legally the property of their owners, as children born to slave mothers were also slaves ( partus sequitur ventrem ). As property, the people were considered merchandise or units of labour, and were sold at markets with other goods and services. The major Atlantic slave trading nations, in order of trade volume, were Portugal , Britain , Spain , France ,

13344-658: The most likely people to explore the Atlantic and develop its commerce". He identified these as being the drive to find new and profitable commercial opportunities outside Europe. Additionally, there was the desire to create an alternative trade network to that controlled by the Muslim Ottoman Empire of the Middle East, which was viewed as a commercial, political and religious threat to European Christendom. In particular, European traders wanted to trade for gold, which could be found in western Africa, and to find

13483-402: The name. Traces of M. Udink & Co.'s activities are found in 1821, when the frigate Vrederijk sailed to Berbice and potential passengers could address themselves to M. Udink & Co. In 1828 and 1833 the coppered frigates Marco Bozzaris (1824) and Zeemanshoop (1826) were mentioned as managed by the firm. In 1834 Admiraal de Ruyter built at De Oranjeboom was mentioned as belonging to

13622-430: The nature of the relationship between these African kingdoms and the European traders. The Guyanese historian Walter Rodney (1972) has argued that it was an unequal relationship, with Africans being forced into a "colonial" trade with the more economically developed Europeans, exchanging raw materials and human resources (i.e. slaves) for manufactured goods. He argued that it was this economic trade agreement dating back to

13761-483: The night from 8 to 9 September 1874 the sugar refinery Java burnt down. After the fire had started on one of the upper floors at about 1 o'clock at night, it proved unstoppable. The fire department could not do much more than save the office building and other surrounding structures. The buildings were insured for 750,000 guilders, the stock for 600,000, and the annexes for 70,000 guilders. 320 employees lost their job. The bookshop of C.F. Stemler published some photographs of

13900-493: The ninth to the nineteenth) ... Four million enslaved people exported via the Red Sea , another four million through the Swahili ports of the Indian Ocean , perhaps as many as nine million along the trans-Saharan caravan route, and eleven to twenty million (depending on the author) across the Atlantic Ocean. Slaves were marched in shackles to the coasts of Sudan, Ethiopia and Somali, placed upon dhows and trafficked across

14039-567: The numbers African slaves held over twelve centuries in the Muslim world are 11.5 million and 14 million, while other estimates indicate a number between 12 and 15 million African slaves prior to the 20th century. According to John K. Thornton , Europeans usually bought enslaved people who had been captured in endemic warfare between African states. Some Africans had made a business out of capturing war captives or members of neighboring ethnic groups and selling them. A reminder of this practice

14178-400: The parts of the production process on such a plot, the standard refinery used four boiling pans and had 4 or 5 storys. This limited processing capacity to about 600 tons of raw sugar a year. An innovation that could make these small refineries more efficient was the use of tubes that conducted steam to heat the pans. It meant that only one fire could heat all pans, and gave much more control over

14317-682: The plaque on the facade of Bloemgracht 24, the Vereniging Hulp Voor Onbehuisden (Help for the Homeless Association) managed a night shelter here for women and children between 1904 and 1945. The Catholic Society of Saint Vincent de Paul ran a food kitchen on Bloemgracht 146, and the St. Vincentius Intermediate School was at number 150. The "Old Papers" charity work project was in a basement at number 67. The Nederlandsche Zondagsschool Vereniging (a Sunday School)

14456-462: The process. The invention of the vacuum pan by Edward Charles Howard changed the traditional sugar refinery process. It required high investments and a lot of space that the traditional refineries did not have. This and other developments led to a type of specialized building for sugar refineries. It had to be located near a clear river or a well with steam pump. It had to be spacious and fire resistant and to have enough room for storage. Above all, it

14595-403: The production of sugarcane and other commodities. This was viewed as crucial by those Western European states which were vying with one another to create overseas empires . The Portuguese, in the 16th century, were the first to transport slaves across the Atlantic. In 1526, they completed the first transatlantic slave voyage to Brazil , and other Europeans soon followed. Shipowners regarded

14734-409: The quays. In effect, the refinery got a pier that allowed ships to directly unload bags of raw sugar to the factory. For Amsterdam, the sugar refinery "Java" was a very big building. It had a surface of 1,400 m and 25 m high walls. The construction was tendered on 28 May 1846. The order was given J. Galman and J. Helt for 160,000 guilders. In April 1847 150 construction workers celebrated that

14873-437: The rebellions by the Africans were defeated. Igbo slaves on ships committed suicide by jumping overboard as an act of resistance to enslavement. To prevent further suicides, white crewmen placed nets around slave ships to catch enslaved persons that jumped overboard. White captains and crewmen invested in firearms, swivel guns , and ordered ship crews to watch slaves to prevent or prepare for possible slave revolts. John Newton

15012-466: The roof was closed. Kooij later got a new 50-year lease of the terrain, which would start on 1 November 1850. After the death of Barend Kooij, his father Joannes began to wind down the shipping business. By 1860 only two of the ten ships were left. In 1868 the last ship was sold. Joannes Kooij died in 1870, aged 85. On 15 December 1855 Barend Kooij Jzn died at age 41, leaving his widow S.A.M. van der Meulen with 10 still very young children. On 9 April 1856

15151-401: The shipping company on his own, but was no doubt still assisted by his father. On 31 December 1843 the president of the Netherlands Trading Society, H.C. van der Houven retired. He was succeeded by F. van der Oudermeulen because the other directors were said to lack the required skills. For Joannes Kooij this must have been a disappointment. He also came into conflict with Van der Oudermeulen on

15290-566: The slave trade of Africans. In Lisbon during the 16th and 17th centuries, Muslims financed by Jewish conversos traded Africans across the Sahara Desert and enslaved Africans before and during the Atlantic slave trade in Europe and Africa. In New Spain , Spaniards applied limpieza de sangre to Africans and Native Americans and created a racial caste system, believing them to be impure because they were not Christian. Europeans enslaved Muslims and people practicing other religions as

15429-487: The slave trade; however, African populations, the social, political, and military changes to African societies suffered greatly. For example, Mossi Kingdoms resisted the Atlantic slave trade and refused to participate in the selling of African people. However, as time progressed more European slave traders entered into West Africa and were having more influence in African nations and the Mossi became involved in slave trading in

15568-631: The slave traders in coastal raids. European slave traders gathered and imprisoned the enslaved at forts on the African coast and then brought them to the Americas. Some Portuguese and Europeans participated in slave raids. As the National Museums Liverpool explains: "European traders captured some Africans in raids along the coast, but bought most of them from local African or African-European dealers." Many European slave traders generally did not participate in slave raids because life expectancy for Europeans in sub-Saharan Africa

15707-572: The slaves as cargo to be transported to the Americas as quickly and cheaply as possible, there to be sold to work on coffee, tobacco, cocoa, sugar, and cotton plantations , gold and silver mines, rice fields, the construction industry, cutting timber for ships, as skilled labour, and as domestic servants. The first enslaved Africans sent to the English colonies were classified as indentured servants , with legal standing similar to that of contract-based workers coming from Britain and Ireland. However, by

15846-457: The south side of the Bloemgracht, (now) number 57. Barend had the inventory auctioned in March 1844. This auction probably had to do with an overall modernization of this sugar refinery. In 1856 it used steam power. The sugar refinery "De Eendragt" was acquired by Barend Kooij in 1849, that is after he built the probably much more efficient refinery "Java". It was located on the Lijnbaansgracht near

15985-499: The south-western region of Angola in order to secure its threatened economic interest in the area. Although Kongo later joined a coalition in 1591 to force the Portuguese out, Portugal had secured a foothold on the continent that it continued to occupy until the 20th century. Despite these incidents of occasional violence between African and European forces, many African states ensured that any trade went on in their own terms, for instance, imposing custom duties on foreign ships. In 1525,

16124-519: The subject of his other activities and on 1 January 1848 he retired from the NHM. It is supposed that Joannes Kooij was then again more effectively involved in the shipping and trading business. Like his father, Barend Kooij was active in several enterprises. He became a member of the Amsterdam municipality in September 1851 and lived in the prestigious house Keizer Adolf at Keizersgracht 203, where he kept

16263-577: The time that the predecessors of the Amsterdam Steam Sugar Refinery were founded, the Netherlands had a colony in Surinam, but sugar production in the Dutch East Indies had also become very important. The traditional sugar refinery in Amsterdam was a building strongly influenced by the highly regulated size of house lots in the city. Many of these measured 9.5 by 47 m. In order to get an efficient ratio between

16402-422: The time) and those slaves that existed in Europe tended to be non-Christians and their immediate descendants (since a slave converting to Christianity did not guarantee emancipation) and thus by the 15th century Europeans as a whole came to be regarded as insiders. Eltis argues that while all slave societies have demarked insiders and outsiders, Europeans took this process further by extending the status of insider to

16541-574: The transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people to the Americas . European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage . Europeans established a coastal slave trade in the 15th century and trade to the Americas began in the 16th century, lasting through the 19th century. The vast majority of those who were transported in the transatlantic slave trade were from Central Africa and West Africa and had been sold by West African slave traders to European slave traders, while others had been captured directly by

16680-471: The triangle exported enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas and the Caribbean Islands. The third and final part of the triangle was the return of goods to Europe from the Americas. The goods were the products of slave plantations and included cotton, sugar, tobacco, molasses and rum. Sir John Hawkins , considered the pioneer of the English slave trade, was the first to run

16819-410: The triangular trade, making a profit at every stop. The Atlantic slave trade was the result of, among other things, labour shortage , itself in turn created by the desire of European colonists to exploit New World land and resources for capital profits. Native peoples were at first utilized as slave labour by Europeans until a large number died from overwork and Old World diseases. Furthermore, in

16958-405: The west African coast and in the Americas which they had never previously encountered. Historian Pierre Chaunu termed the consequences of European navigation "disenclavement", with it marking an end of isolation for some societies and an increase in inter-societal contact for most others. Historian John Thornton noted, "A number of technical and geographical factors combined to make Europeans

17097-473: Was 1,614,780 piculs in 1873 and 2,312,786 piculs in 1874. While the United Kingdom had traditionally been an export destination for Dutch refined sugar, British refineries now began to export sugar to the Netherlands. In 1874 this was only 710,000 kg, but this doubled in 1875. For the Dutch sugar refineries, competing against the much more efficient British refineries was not a good perspective. In

17236-415: Was a captain of slave ships and recorded in his personal journal how Africans mutinied on ships, and some were successful in overtaking the crew. For example, in 1730 the slave ship Little George departed from the Guinea Coast in route to Rhode Island with a cargo of ninety-six enslaved Africans. A few of the slaves slipped out of their iron chains and killed three of the watchmen on deck and imprisoned

17375-530: Was a representative for the city under the Batavian Republic (1795-1806), and in 1804 he was president of the Aalmoezeniers orphanage. When Marten Udink died childless in 1808, he was succeeded by his nephew Joannes Kooij (1785-1870). Joannes was the son of Marten's brother in law Barend Kooij. It is supposed that Joannes already worked in the shipping company by about 1800. On 1 January 1808

17514-511: Was abolished on 1 January 1874 and the British import tax on raw sugar was abolished on 1 April 1874. These measures caused that the sugar export from Java was dramatically rerouted. Comparing 1873 to 1874, Dutch sugar imports from the Dutch East Indies declined from 946,958 piculs to 662,852 piculs. Meanwhile, the export from Java to the United Kingdom and the English Channel rose from 290,071 to 893,341 piculs. The total export from Java

17653-486: Was an almost absolute necessary to allow the sugar liquor so far as possible to descend by gravitation during the different processes, and so to avoid pumping. Therefore, refineries were 7-8 stories high. Raw sugar was inserted at the top, and the refined article was discharged at the bottom. This explains the exterior of the sugar refinery Java, that the Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij built in 1846–1847. Barend Udink (1710-1775) probably came from Enschede . By 1747 he

17792-480: Was captured by African traders and sold into slavery. Dahomey King Agaja from 1718 to 1740, opposed the Atlantic slave trade and refused to sell African people and attacked the European forts built along the slave coast in West Africa. Donna Beatriz Kimpa Vita in Kongo and Senegalese leader Abd al-Qadir, advocated resistance against the forced exportation of Africans. In the 1770s, leader Abdul Kader Khan opposed

17931-624: Was established from 1937 at Bloemgracht 79 and from 1973 at number 65. Disputes within the Restored Apostolic Mission Church - Stam Juda at Bloemgracht 98 were much in the news in the 1970s. From 1958 to 1966 the Pacifist Socialist Party (PSP), which was dissolved in 1991, had its office at Bloemgracht 55 The Hollandia rye bread factory was located at Bloemgracht 178. There is a paint factory at Bloemgracht 191. After World War II , when most of

18070-418: Was formed by Joanned Kooij, David van der Vliet and Charles August van Hemert. Directors were obliged to possess at least 15 shares, supervisors at least 10. Every shareholder was bound to a maximum of 6 votes, for which he needed to have 50 shares. This was a measure to protect the interests of the minority shareholders. The first five years of the Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij went quite well. It paid

18209-557: Was in a business partnership with a Mr. ten Broeke and was trading to the West Indies. Barend was succeeded by his son Marten (1748-1808), who married Lamberdina Kooij in 1774, and Cornelia Margaretha la Grand in 1778. Marten continued his father's business together with Ten Broeke, which was further specified in a 1785 contract. Marten Udink's name is known from several ship transactions. The partnership with Ten Broeke seems to have ended by 1797. Marten became prominent in Amsterdam. He

18348-479: Was less than one year during the period of the slave trade because of malaria that was endemic in the African continent. An article from PBS explains: "Malaria, dysentery, yellow fever, and other diseases reduced the few Europeans living and trading along the West African coast to a chronic state of ill health and earned Africa the name 'white man's grave.' In this environment, European merchants were rarely in

18487-566: Was little more than to exploit the opportunity for immediate profits made by raiding and the seizure or purchase of trade commodities". Using the Canary Islands as a naval base, Europeans, at the time primarily Portuguese traders, began to move their activities down the western coast of Africa, performing raids in which slaves would be captured to be later sold in the Mediterranean. Although initially successful in this venture, "it

18626-437: Was more than capable of handling competition from preindustrial Europe". However, Anne Bailey, commenting on Thornton's suggestion that Africans and Europeans were equal partners in the Atlantic slave trade, wrote: [T]o see Africans as partners implies equal terms and equal influence on the global and intercontinental processes of the trade. Africans had great influence on the continent itself, but they had no direct influence on

18765-491: Was not long before African naval forces were alerted to the new dangers, and the Portuguese [raiding] ships began to meet strong and effective resistance", with the crews of several of them being killed by African sailors, whose boats were better equipped at traversing the west-central African coasts and river systems. By 1494, the Portuguese king had entered agreements with the rulers of several West African states that would allow trade between their respective peoples, enabling

18904-471: Was operating at trivial levels. In many years, not a single Spanish slave voyage set sail from Africa. Unlike all of their imperial competitors, the Spanish almost never delivered slaves to foreign territories. By contrast, the British, and the Dutch before them, sold slaves everywhere in the Americas. The second Atlantic system was the trade of enslaved Africans by mostly English, French, and Dutch traders and investors. The main destinations of this phase were

19043-522: Was prevalent in many parts of Africa for many centuries before the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade. An article from PBS explains the differences between African slavery and European slavery in the Americas . "It is important to distinguish between European slavery and African slavery. In most cases, slavery systems in Africa were more like indentured servitude in that the slaves retained some rights and children born to slaves were generally born free. The slaves could be released from servitude and join

19182-453: Was that, with much cheap land available and many landowners searching for workers, free European immigrants were able to become landowners themselves relatively quickly, thus increasing the need for workers. Labour shortages were mainly met by the English, French and Portuguese with African slave labour. Thomas Jefferson attributed the use of slave labour in part to the climate, and the consequent idle leisure afforded by slave labour: "For in

19321-468: Was used as a justification by Spain to take lands from non-Christians West of the Azores . The Doctrine of Discovery stated that non-Christian lands should be taken and ruled by Christian nations, and Indigenous people (Africans and Native Americans ) living on their lands should convert to Christianity. In 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued a papal bull called Inter Caetera which gave Spain and Portugal rights to claim and colonize all non-Christian lands in

#632367