coffee trade & slavery

A triangle of money

The profits made from the global trade of sugar, tea and coffee were the major driving force behind the triangular trade. For centuries it provided substantial quantities of venture capital for the industrial revolution and the development of the western European economy.

The first slave traders

Rich was one of the founders of the London-based company of Adventurers to Guinea and Benin. The company was established to trade with West Africa and supply enslaved Africans to the Americas. Charles I granted a licence to a group of London merchants in 1632 for the transportation of enslaved people from West Africa.

Triangle of Trade
The Transatlantic Slave Trade consisted of three journeys

1.The outward passage from Europe to Africa carrying manufactured goods.

2.The middle passage from Africa to the Americas or the Caribbean carrying African captives and other ‘commodities?.

3.The homeward passage carrying sugar, tobacco, rum, rice, cotton and other goods back to Europe.

By the 1790s there were 480,000 enslaved people in British Caribbean colonies. It is estimated that 11-12 million Africans were transported across the Atlantic into slavery. Many more had died during capture and transportation.

In the first third of the 18th century, Britain’s involvement in the slave trade grew enormously. During the 1720s nearly 200,000 enslaved Africans were transported across the Atlantic in British ships.

The middle passage

The middle passage across the Atlantic was brutal. Enslaved Africans were packed into tight spaces and given barely enough food and water to stay alive.

It is estimated that on average 10% died en route rising to 30% on a bad voyage.
European sailors who crewed the ships stood a high chance of not returning due to sickness during the voyage. Sailors who did return brought back tales of what they had seen during their voyages. However, only a few spoke about it publicly for fear of being refused further work by the powerful merchants, ship owners and captains engaged in the trade.

One of the most graphic and well-known images connected with the slave trade is the plan of the Brookes. This shows how overcrowded a slave ship could be and yet still remain within the legally permitted capacity.
The Brookes, was originally built to to carry a maximum of 451 people, but was carrying over 600 slaves from Africa to the Americas.

Chained together by their hands and feet, the slaves had little room to move. It has been estimated that only about half of the slaves taken from Africa became effective workers in the Americas, a large number of slaves died on the journey from diseases such as smallpox and dysentery. Others committed suicide by refusing to eat. Many of the slaves were crippled for life as a consequence of the way they were chained up on the ship.

By the 17th century slaves could be purchased in Africa for about $25 and sold in the Americas for about $150. After the slave-trade was declared illegal, prices went much higher. Even with a death-rate of 50 per cent, merchants could expect to make tremendous profits from the trade.

How did the merchants get away with it?

It was a very profitable business often making a high rate of return on investment, as account books from the period show. Powerful trading interests tried to prevent any regulation or abolition of the slave trade using a fierce campaign of misinformation, lies and delaying tactics.

Telling the truth

In order to expose the truth publicly about the triangular trade it was necessary to show conditions on the ships and plantations.

To counter the historical European notion that African people were ‘little more than savages, African and British abolitionists worked tirelessly to demonstrate the truth.

They showed objects illustrating the great cruelty and suffering caused.
They revealed images showing the degrading treatment of enslaved people.
They also displayed the sophisticated African artefacts.
These items shocked the British public, and educated them about Africa, plantation life and enslavement.

Two hundred years ago William Wilberforce stood up in the English parliament and fought for the abolition of the slave trade, by 1828 slavery was officially abolished. Countries like Brazil who relied heavily on slave labour took many decades to stop the use of slave labour.

Slavery today takes on many forms

Our consumerism enslaves people into poverty, debt, oppression and exploitation every day. We encourage sweatshops, bonded slavery and unfair work practices both in the field and in the factory.

Every time we buy a product, we are making a statement about what we think regarding international trade. We need to open our eyes and see that when we take a packet of coffee off the shelf, or sip our cappuccino the ramifications ripple back to the Third World.