Reasons for success following the fall of the Royal African Monopoly After years of protest from British merchants, the monopoly of the Royal African Company was removed allowed Bristol to develop into a wealthier sea port city due to the Bristol Society of Merchants Ventures. The Society lobbied for the removal of the Royal African Company’s monopoly so that other cities could benefit. Shortly after the monopoly was lifted, a Bristolian ship, “The Beginning” owned by Stephen Baker made her maiden voyage as a legal slaving ship to the African coast to send slaves to Jamaica before returning in 1699. This was the beginning of Bristol on its way on becoming the largest slaving port in England. Originally Bristol was a in a positive position …show more content…
One such example was sugar, which had massive impacts on the wealth of the city, reflected in the public structures like the Theatre Royal, infirmary and Merchants Hall . In the case of commodities like sugar Dresser illustrates the wide range of industrial facilities which dealt with sugar once it was on British soil from the West Indies in the form of sugar mills, sugar refineries and boiling houses. The raw product would then be turned in sugar as a refined product or used in distilling spirits to be sold on the international and domestic markets. The large number of sugar based infrastructures based in Bristol illustrates the reliance on the slave trade from the market and at the height of the slave trade it is unsurprising that Bristol was able to reap the financial benefits of the trade to its advantage. Other products and commodities which had an impact on Bristol as a result of the becoming involved with the slave trade included tobacco, glassmaking and copper. All of these had an important role to play in aiding the wealth and growth of Bristol during this period. At the height of Bristol’s success as a slave trading port the average tonnage of ships coming into Bristol totalled 591 tonnes from 1729-38 with the largest averages going to areas with prior historical …show more content…
One example of this is John Pinney who made his money from slave- made sugar and invested his money into private property instead of investing it back into the business. He built a grand townhouse called number 7 Great George Street, later inheritated by his son. It should be significant that those heavily involved with slave trade benefited on a personal level as a reflection of the wider success that the slave trade had on Bristol. As a result of its success, the citizens of Bristol were able to reap the benefits which came with immense growth in a very short space of time. Many families were offshore plantation owners and merchant families became very wealthy and spend vast amounts of money on property and luxury goods like ivory or gold being imported from Africa. The removal of the monopoly now allowed for trading of African slaves legally into other cities other than London such as Bristol and some historians argue that this crucial piece of legislation in the British slave trade was the catalyst of Bristol’s power as the largest English slave trading port. The end of the monopoly allowed for free trade and the development of the independent parties being more involved in the slave trade
Slave labor is the final factor that drove the sugar trade and made it so successful. Slaves were the manual laborers on the plantations, doing the actual harvesting and boiling because the owner wasn’t there to do so (Document 8). Without the slaves working the farm, everything was pretty much useless. There is also a direct correlation between the number of slaves and the tons of sugar produced. This is shown in Document 9, where the island of Jamaica starts out with 45,000 slaves, and produces 4,782 tons of sugar. When the number of slaves increases by less than half to 74,500, the amount of sugar produced is more than tripled at 15, 972 tons. This clearly exhibits how slaves were essential to sugar
Johnson and his wife Mary owned a small estate on Pungoteague Creek and raised/traded livestock for income. In around 1653, Johnson had to go to court for his ownership of a slave by the name of John Castor. Castor claimed he was an indentured servant and Johnson refused to release him after his servitude was up. Knowing that Johnson owned slaves proves his status in the Northampton community. It shows that he had risen enough in the eyes of the white property owners to own slaves and that black land owners could, in fact, own other black men and women.
Coates author of the article “Case for Reparations” says, “In the seven cotton states, on-third of all white income was derived from slavery. Also, slaves were used as a tool, plus all of the large projects were built in the country by African American people. He states that homeownership and slave ownership stayed similar because they were both properties, and black home owners struggled in the real estate market. Although, slavery was abolished white Americans found new ways to keep black African American population in poverty.
The trans-Atlantic trade of African slaves contributed to maintaining progression of labor systems as well as promoting change in the British North American colonies. The slaves provided labor and helped produce the cash crops that were then exported to Europe where they traded the goods to trade with Africans for more slaves. The Africans enslaved each other and sold more slaves to be sent to the colonies in
The transatlantic slave trade was one of the most important factors in how the world came to be the way it is today. This trade led to the economic prosperity and political development in European countries and the population decline on the African continent. It was the catalyst for the development of both rich and poor societies today. The Two Princes of Calabar is a prime example of how this trade affected the economic growth of the countries and civilizations involved.
The slave trade, yet horrific in it’s inhumanity, became an important aspect of the world’s economy during the eighteenth century. During a time when thousands of Africans were being traded for currency, Olaudah Equiano became one of countless children kidnapped and sold on the black market as a slave. Slavery existed centuries before the birth of Equiano (1745), but strengthened drastically due to an increasing demand for labor in the developing western hemisphere, especially in the Caribbean and Carolinas. Through illogical justification, slave trading became a powerful facet of commerce, regardless of its deliberate mistreatment of human beings by other human beings. Olaudah Equiano was able to overcome this intense adversity and actually accumulate wealth by making the best of certain situations he faced throughout his experiences. Even though he was a victim of the slave trade, he willfully took advantage of the opportunity to see the world and to become a productive individual.
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...
Royally chartered companies monopolized international trade in the early days of the English empire. The monopolies were an effort to control the high economic risks of maritime shipping and multi-year voyages by restricting the supply of goods to maintain high prices and incentive the development of trade. Merchants banded together in joint stock companies to pool the risk and engage in capital intensive enterprises, such as the slave trade. Queen Elizabeth chartered the British East India Company (EIC) in 1600 to establish trade with Asia. Its charter granted the company a “monopoly on all English trade to the east of the Cape of the Good Hope,” a legally enforceable trade agreement that covered territory stretching from the east coast of Africa to the west coast of North America. The company’s first “factory” (trading station) in India was established at Masulipatnam in 1611. Charles II chartered The Royal African Company in 1672 to develop the English slave trade in Africa. He granted it a monopoly on the trade of slaves from Africa to the colonies and provided a robust legal framework with which to enforce
...nd the development of sugar cane in the Caribbean. Their wealth began with rice production and sales to England. Georgia, a colony founded by James Oglethorpe and named in honor of King George II. The land between Atlanta and Savannah rivers was considered to be the headquarters to the “south seas” and served as a border to Spanish Florida. It was settled in 1732 and slavery along with alcohol was banned until 1750.
On the second leg of this trade slaves were transported to the West Indies, this leg was called the middle passage. This part was horrible for the slaves. About 50% of all the slaves on one ship would not make it to the West Indies because of disease or brutal mistreatment. Hundreds of men, women and children were cramped together for most of the journey, occasionally able to move an almost decent amount. On the third leg of the journey slaves were traded for sugar, molasses and other products.
The Sugar Trade was drove by labor, land & consumer demand. In document 10, it tells how the British traded a little for a lot, this means the British traded finished goods that the African people didn't have, like powder, bullets, iron bars, copper bars, brass pans, british malt spirits etc… for slaves “but in the main, with very little that is not of our own growth or manufacture”.
Burnard, T & Morgan, K. (2001) The dynamics of the slave market and slave purchasing patterns in Jamaica, 1655-1788. William and Mary Quarterly 58; 1: npa.
One facet of this unique system involved the numerous economic differences between England and the colonies. The English government subscribed to the economic theory of mercantilism, which demanded that the individual subordinate his economic activity to the interests of the state (Text, 49). In order to promote mercantilism in all her colonies, Great Britain passed the Navigation Acts in 1651, which controlled the output of British holdings by subsidizing. Under the Navigation Acts, each holding was assigned a product, and the Crown dictated the quantity to be produced. The West Indies, for example, were assigned sugar production and any other colony exporting sugar would face stiff penalties (Text, 50). This was done in order to ensure the economic prosperity of King Charles II, but it also served to restrict economic freedom. The geographical layout of the American colonies made mercantilism impractical there. The cit...
owners could make more money buying and selling their own slaves to one another. Now, however, the open-
In 1807, the slave trade was abolished by the British Parliament. It became illegal to buy and sell slaves, but people could still own them. In 1833 Parliament finally abolished slavery itself, both in Britain and throughout the British Empire. Why, when the slave trade and the plantations in the West Indies seemed to be making so much money, were they abolished? It was due to a mixture of white campaigners, slaves and economics of the slave trade which finally brought slavery to an end.