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
... The Economic History Review, by Behrendt, Stephen D. David Eltis, David Richardson that stated, “…second impact of Africans that goes beyond violence on slave ships followed from the natural Africans assumption of equal status in the trading relationship…came in the wake of holding Europeans…”(Source 9). The result of considering the equal status between the Africans and the Europeans from Africa’s point of view was the Atlantic slave trade which millions of African people’s live had been jeopardized and their fate had been seal to work in the fields for the rest of their lives.
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
London and the transatlantic slave trade. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2014, from Port Citites: http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.103/chapterId/2257/outputFormat/print/London-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade.html
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...
The image of American slave traders popularized and ingrained upon the national consciousness is based predominantly upon the character of Mr. Haley in Uncle Tom's Cabin. It is one of brash and opportunistic men of dubious background, character and principles, inherently racist and brutish in nature, motivated solely by profit. Ironically this largely echoed the view depicted publicly in the pro-slavery oratory and writings, which typically minimized the importance of the trade and portrayed the traders as social outcasts from the genteel antebellum culture of the South, thus reinforcing this fictitious version of history. Close scrutiny by many prominent historians has unquestionably shown this image is not historically accurate however. Far from being social outcasts with no community ties, many traders were in fact prominent citizens holding important positions in government and business. The most enterprising and successful of their number took full advantage of the latest innovations in modern transportation and employed effective market and advertising strategies thus introducing a spirit of commercialism which was so prevalent in the North to the South's agrarian culture. While it can not be disputed the most of these men held strongly racist views and many committed appalling acts in the course of the business, most saw themselves as men of vision who were simply pursuing their own American dream of happiness and prosperity. In their estimation their business practices were no more unethical than those of Northern entrepreneurs and served a viable need to the public at large.
Liverpool's Slave Trade as a Centre of a Global Commerce and an Important Factor in British Economic Growth
One of the most significant catalysts of the system was the growth of the Atlantic slave trade. The success sugar plantations of the West Indies and the colonial expansions in South America would not have been possible without African slave labor. Although African slaves were expensive, approximately equivalent to 6.5 thousand USD in today’s currency , compared to natives or indentured servants from Europe, they were seen as a better investment. The mercantilist policies of European states such as England and the Netherl...
...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.
Slaves and slave trade has been an important part of history for a very long time. In the years of the British thirteen colonies in North America, slaves and slave trade was a very important part of its development. It even carried on to almost 200 years of the United States history. The slave trade of the thirteen colonies was an important part of the colonies as well as Europe and Africa. In order to supply the thirteen colonies efficiently through trade, Europe developed the method of triangular trade. It is referred to as triangular trade because it consists of trade with Africa, the thirteen colonies, and England. These three areas are commonly called the trades “three legs.”
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...
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
Self-interest can be seen in many of the writings throughout American history. The mercantile system, as exhibited by the British on the colonies, was an extremely hedonistic approach to gaining wealth for themselves. Mercantilism, as set forth by the Navigation Acts, imposed strict and extremely descriptive laws that would limit and exploit trade in the colonies, allowing Britain to control the wealth and profit of materials and goods in America. These acts were used to keep America from trading with any other countries. As stated in the Navigation Act of 1660, "no goods or commodities whatsoever shall be imported into or exported out of any lands" to his Majesty belonging"in any other ship or ships...as do truly and without fraud belong only to the people of England or Ireland" (Restoration 98). Britain knew that by controlling the colonies in this manner they could take the raw materials out and sell the finished products back, and by doing so they would profit greatly. This mercantile system exemplifies the arrogant minds of the British while America was developing. This system would soon become a failure due to the people's demands to have representation along with taxation, and their desire to separate from England as a free and independent state. Likewise, it was due to self-interest of the greedy planters and the self righteous farmers in the south that slavery was highly used. At that time they needed all the labor they could get, and the cheapest way to obtain it was through the purchase of slaves. Some of the slavery was downplayed by calling it indentured servitude, where servants were essentially slaves for a limited number of years.
The first display of piracy was by John Hawkins who made a 60% profit on the first slaves he sold. This eventually led to the promotion of slave trading and sugar plantations. By the 17th century, over 50% of slaves coming into the New World were being led to the Caribbean. This led to the emergence of the sugar plantations, which drastically changed the lives of everyone in the Caribbean.
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.