West Africa West African History · Let’s start with West African History to appreciate this continent’s ancient history, stretching back long before contact.

West Africa• West African History         Let’s start with West African History to appreciate this continent’s ancient

history, stretching back long before contact with Europeans.         Africa is often considered the home of humankind; humans may have

evolved there first, many millions of years ago.         Africa is a richly diverse land with many peoples, languages, religions,

cultures and traditions.• Show the leopard gold weight.         This gold weight from Ghana is another beautifully made object. Note its

attention to detail, the dynamic tale and teeth, and bodily decorations.         The leopard reflects African wildlife and its material points to the mineral

wealth of this part of Africa. Indeed, many of the powerful kingdoms were based upon trade, especially in gold.

        The European trade that developed in people in West Africa was resisted by some African kingdoms while others, such as the Dahomey, developed its economy capturing and selling Africans as slaves.

Importance of Trade

• Triangular Trade• The triangular trade demonstrates how people were reduced to commodities to

be sold. Goods such as metal, cloth, beads and guns went from Britain to Africa, enslaved Africans went to America and the Caribbean, and raw products such as sugar, tobacco and cotton came back to Britain.

• Show the picture of the sugar nippers.         One of the reasons the trade lasted for so long was because it was

incredibly profitable. The British appeared to have an insatiable appetite for luxury goods from the Caribbean, especially sugar and this demand fuelled supply.

        Before the twentieth century, sugar came in cones from which chunks would be nipped off and used to sweeten the bitter taste of coffee, chocolate and tea. What people consumed in one part of the world altered forever the lives of those from other parts of the world.

The Slave Ship

• Middle Passage         This theme uncovers the degrading and inhumane treatment of enslaved

Africans during the journey across the Atlantic.• Show the Brookes image.         This illustration gives a sense of how people were crammed together like

cargo on board ships. Here, 454 enslaved Africans are tightly packed into every available space. In fact, when the ship sailed in 1783, over 600 people were squeezed together, often in shackles, for the Atlantic crossing.

        The crossing could take 1-2 months. This followed the 4-6 months spent sailing along the African coast to load slaves. Months suffering such appalling conditions resulted in the death of at least 1.25 million Africans, often from dysentery.

Life on the Plantation

• Slavery         This theme highlights the harsh, brutal and often short lives that the

enslaved faced upon Caribbean plantations. This was where the majority of Africans captured by the British were sent to work, especially on sugar plantations.

        Sold and separated from families and friends, and often renamed, they were forced into a life of relentless and punishing routine.

• Show the punishment neck iron.         This object suggests that plantations were underpinned by the threat and

use of violence. Used to punish a range of perceived ‘misdemeanours’, slaves would be made to wear punishment neck irons while doing a full day’s work of 10-12 hours gruelling physical labour.

        Torture items were designed to make life as difficult as possible for the enslaved, both physically and mentally.

        Harsh, demeaning conditions meant that up to one third of enslaved Africans died within the first three years on plantations.

Effects of the Slave Trade

• Legacy         The positive and negative legacies of slavery are still evident. African and

European influences created distinctive Creole cultures and languages in the Caribbean, as well as new literature, music and celebrations such as carnival.

        There has always been a black presence in Britain since Roman times but this increased significantly in the eighteenth century.

• Show the photo of the cane cutters.         However, racist attitudes, spread as a way of justifying slavery, persisted.

Here, a plantation owner appears with his workers in what is a blatantly posed picture. Workers have been made to adopt a ‘comfortable’ pose and eat a piece of sugar cane. This manipulation by plantation owners demonstrates the continuing powerlessness, hardships and societal inequality that African-Caribbean workers faced.

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