In the 17th century, more precisely in 1667 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch colonized Surinam. With the gain of Surinam, the Dutch viewed the new colony as a chance to prosper and gain an abundance of wealth through utilizing the land as plantations; with the establishment of plantations came the prominence of slavery in Surinam.
Settling in Surinam wasn’t a particularly glamorous prospect; while the impending possibility of becoming wealthy was there, settlers were often bribed and persuaded to land in Surinam by the WIC with the exemption of taxes for a set number of years and the necessities for turning their land into plantations. Other provisions were also outlined in a charter set in place when Zeeland sold Surinam to the WIC in 1682. Though the WIC began assuming a role in the slave trade starting in 1630, American colonist John Smith reported in 1619 that “about the last of August came a Dutchman that sold us twenty negroes” (Pleenthouts). In the charter, however, it was made clear that the WIC would hold a monopoly on the slave trade and that any and all inhabitants of Surinam were able to settle with as many slaves as they saw fit.
As settlers began establishing their plantations – mainly sugar and tobacco – they realized the necessity for help on said plantations. First, plantation owners tried to “hire” the indigenous people of Surinam; in doing so, the relationship between the newly-landed white people and the natives were strained and therefor the blacks began being shipped in to Surinam. Since the WIC was obliged to supply as many slaves as deemed necessary, they began continuously carrying blacks from Africa to Surinam and other trade ports; the WIC however, failed to fulfill their slave quota each t...
... middle of paper ...
... – by the charter set in place by the Zeeland-WIC exchange of power in Surinam – to be sold at public auction. It was common for the slave traders to bring in pairs of a male and female to be sold as a lot and then the rest of the men grouped into threes or more for sale; the ratio for male to female black slaves brought over on the vessels was often two to one, reinforcing the deficit of black female slaves on plantations.
Works Cited
"Chapter 12: Resistance to slavery." LIFE IN THE SHADOWS. N.p., 11 DEC 2008. Web.
29 Apr. 2014.
"Chapter 6: The living conditions of the slaves." LIFE IN THE SHADOWS. N.p., 06 OCT
2008. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
Pleenhouts. “Going Dutch – The Netherlands’ slave trade.” Online video clip.
Youtube, 16 September 2010. Web. 5 May 2014.
"Surinamese Colonial History: Slavery." Boys' Historical Clothing. N.p., 01 OCT 2012.
Web. 30 Apr 2014.
John Barbot describes how many Africans would kidnap and trade their countrymen to Europeans. “Those sold by the Blacks are for the most part prisoners of war… others stolen away by their own countrymen; and some there are, who will sell their
Roediger, David and Blatt, Martin H. The Meaning of Slavery in the North. JStor. 1998. Vol. 18
Franklin, J., Moss, A. Jr. From Slavery to Freedom. Seventh edition, McGraw Hill, Inc.: 1994.
As eighteenth century progressed, the british colonists treated bonded men and women with ever greater severity. They also corralled the Africans behavior and past from them every conceivable advantage of labor and creativity, often through unimaginable mental and physical cruelty. Slaveholding attracted the European colonists but...
Slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries consisted of brutal and completely unjust treatment of African-Americans. Africans were pulled from their families and forced to work for cruel masters under horrendous conditions, oceans away from their homes. While it cannot be denied that slavery everywhere was horrible, the conditions varied greatly and some slaves lived a much more tolerable life than others. Examples of these life styles are vividly depicted in the personal narratives of Olaudah Equiano and Mary Prince. The diversity of slave treatment and conditions was dependent on many different factors that affected a slave’s future. Mary Prince and Olaudah Equiano both faced similar challenges, but their conditions and life styles
insights into what the narratives can tell about slavery as well as what they omit,
Though the Atlantic Slave Trade began in 1441, it wasn’t until nearly a century later that Europeans actually became interested in slave trading on the West African coast. “With no interest in conquering the interior, they concentrated their efforts to obtain human cargo along the West African coast. During the 1590s, the Dutch challenged the Portuguese monopoly to become the main slave trading nation (“Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade”, NA). Besides the trading of slaves, it was also during this time that political changes were being made. The Europe...
Curtin, Philip D: The rise and fall of the plantation complex:essays in Atlantic history (Cambridge, 1990).
In the 21st century, slavery and the Atlantic Slave Trade are viewed as immoral and quite possibly the most horrifying treatment known to man by society and foreign leaders but, was the same view regarded in the 17th century? The short primary sources, “Nzinga Mbemba: Appeal to the King of Portugal”, and “Captain Thomas Phillips: Buying Slaves in 1639”, enables individuals to identify how foreign leaders, specifically the kings of African nations, conducted the issue of slavery and the slave trade. In the words of Nzinga Mbemba and Captain Phillips, the kings of Congo and Ouidah both knowingly accepted slavery in their country but, had strikingly opposing views concerning the Atlantic Slave Trade; King Mbemba prohibited the trading of slaves whereas the King of Ouidah welcomed slave trading.
The slave trade developed in the mid-15th century after Europeans began exploring and forming trading post on the West coast of Africa. The Portuguese, British, and French were among the ...
Slavery is the main issue in the 17th and 18th century and was used in economic foundations of Colonial America. It all started with the first colony Jamestown, Virginia which was established in 1607 then the famous and widely used crop tobacco was raised in 1612 also in Virginia. The year 1619, 20 Africans were brought to Virginia on a Portuguese slave ship and they wanted to buy food but they didn’t have any money so they sold the slaves to the settlers of Jamestown. The plantation owners were desperate for work so the slaves were used to work their tobacco fields. From the 20 African slaves some were either going to be chattel or indentures slaves to their owners. Eventually it was all going to change from going to indentured servitude to
Northup, Solomon, Sue L. Eakin, and Joseph Logsdon. Twelve years a slave. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968. Print.
2 John Bowe, author of Nobodies: Modern Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy said if he could sum up what his book was about it would be “we all seek control. Control equals power. Power corrupts. Corruption makes us blind, tyrannical, and desperate to justify our behavior” (268). He is writing about the slave trade happening in our own Land of the Free. He wants Americans to be aware of the slave trade and recognize that it is not only happening in other countries, but effects items we use in our everyday lives, like the clothes we wear and the food we eat. As he is an immersion reporter, he visits three different sites of slavery: Florida, Tulsa, and Saipan. The stories and facts in this book are all from people who experienced some aspect of the abuses he writes about, whether a victim, a lawyer, or just a witness to the heinous crimes. He is not satisfied with half truths, which seem to fly at him, especially from those who did the abusing he was talking about, he does his research well and I appreciated that while reading this book.
Within the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave” Douglass discusses the deplorable conditions in which he and his fellow slaves suffered from. While on Colonel Lloyd’s plantation, slaves were given a “monthly allowance of eight pounds of pork and one bushel of corn” (Douglass 224). Their annual clothing rations weren’t any better; considering the type of field work they did, what little clothing they were given quickly deteriorated. The lack of food and clothing matched the terrible living conditions. After working on the field all day, with very little rest the night before, they must sleep on the hard uncomfortably cramped floor with only a single blanket as protection from the cold. Coupled with the overseer’s irresponsible and abusive use of power, it is astonishing how three to four hundred slaves did not rebel. Slave-owners recognized that in able to restrict and control slaves more than physical violence was needed. Therefore in able to mold slaves into the submissive and subservient property they desired, slave-owners manipulated them by twisting religion, instilling fear, breaking familial ties, making them dependent, providing them with an incorrect view of freedom, as well as refusing them education.
In this book, Douglass narrated the life of a slave in the United States into finer details. This paper will give a description of life a slave in the United States was living, as narrated through the experiences of Fredrick Douglass.