Overview of Slavery's Historical Context

Oct 11, 2024

Crash Course World History: Slavery

Introduction

  • Presenter: John Green
  • Topic: Slavery
  • Historical context: Referred to as "the peculiar institution" by pre-Civil War Americans

Overview of Slavery

  • Slavery as old as civilization
  • Numbers in Atlantic slave trade (1500-1880 CE): 10-12 million African slaves
    • 15% died during journey
    • Largest destinations: Caribbean (48%), Brazil (41%), US (5%)

European Involvement

  • Long history of trading slaves
  • European slave trade began after Fourth Crusade (1204)
    • Armenian, Circassian, Georgian slaves in Italy
    • Connection to sugar cultivation

Misconceptions and Trade

  • Misconception: Europeans captured Africans by force
  • Reality: Africans captured by other Africans, traded to Europeans
  • Slaves as valuable property
  • Land often owned by state, making slaves a private wealth source

Conditions of Slavery

  • Slave ships: cramped conditions with 4 square feet per person
  • In the Americas:
    • Slaves sold like cattle
    • Branding by owners
    • Dominant work: agriculture, especially sugar
    • Brutal working conditions, e.g., carrying 80-pound baskets of manure
    • High mortality and low life expectancy (e.g., 23 years in Brazil)

Slavery Growth and Economy

  • In US, better living conditions led to natural population growth
  • Economic calculations by slave owners for reproduction
  • Continued import of slaves in regions like Brazil due to harsh conditions

Definitions and Perspectives

  • Slavery: hard to define
  • Orlando Patterson’s definition: "permanent, violent, personal domination"
  • Historical examples of varying slavery contexts (e.g., Zheng He, Suleiman’s advisors)

Historical Models and Influences

  • Greek model: slaves as "other" and naturally inferior
  • Roman model: plantation-style agriculture, mass slavery
  • Judeo-Christian influence: Biblical justifications (e.g., Curse of Ham)
  • Muslim Arabs: Import of Bantu-speaking Africans, racial distinctions

Atlantic Slavery and Racism

  • Portuguese and Spanish influence
  • Adoption of racist attitudes toward Africans
  • Contribution of various global influences to Atlantic slavery

Conclusion

  • Atlantic slavery as a global tragedy
  • Blame cannot be placed on one group
  • Acknowledgment of shared historical guilt and the view of humans as property

These notes aim to provide a high-level summary of the key points discussed in the lecture on slavery, highlighting historical contexts, misconceptions, conditions, global influences, and the moral implications of slavery.