The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (The Illegitimate and Legitimate Trade) – JSS3 Nigerian History Lesson Note (First Term)

The trans-Atlantic slave trade was the buying of Africans by Europeans, who shipped them across the Atlantic Ocean to work as forced labourers on plantations. In the nineteenth century it was replaced by “legitimate” (non-slave) trade, mainly in palm oil, palm kernels and groundnuts.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. Define slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
2. State the factors that led to the slave trade.
3. Explain what “legitimate” trade was and name its main commodities.
4. Describe how legitimate trade affected Igboland, the Niger Delta and Calabar.
5. Explain how European traders carried out trade on the Nigerian coast and in the interior.

What is slavery?

Slavery is the practice of owning human beings as property and depriving them of their rights.

• Slave: a person owned by another and forced to work without freedom or pay.
• Plantation: a very large farm where crops such as sugar are grown for sale, often by forced labour.
• Commodity: a product that is bought and sold, such as palm oil.

What was the trans-Atlantic slave trade?

The trans-Atlantic slave trade was the trade in slaves across the Atlantic Ocean, from Africa to the Americas.

• Buying: Europeans came to Africa to buy slaves.
• Transport: the slaves were carried by ship to plantations in the Americas.
• Work: the slaves worked on the plantations.
• Products: the raw materials produced by their labour were shipped across the Atlantic to Europe.
• Illegitimate trade: this is the name given to the slave trade, because it was a trade in human beings. Britain outlawed it in 1807.

How did European contact with West Africa begin?

• In the mid-fifteenth century, Portuguese ships sailed down the West African coast.
• They wanted to bypass the Muslim North African traders.
• These traders held a monopoly on the trade in sub-Saharan gold, spices and other goods that Europe wanted.

What factors led to the slave trade?

Six factors led to the slave trade: growth of plantations, the rush to produce sugar, cheap labour, slaves as property, religious factors and military factors.

• Growth of plantations: more plantations in the Americas needed large numbers of workers.
• The rush to produce sugar: sugar was in high demand in Europe, and growing it needed many workers.
• Cheap labour: slaves were not paid, so owners made greater profits.
• Slaves as property: slaves could be bought, sold and passed on like goods.
• Religious factor: slavery was often justified with religious arguments of the time.
• Military factor: guns and weapons were traded for slaves, and strong armies could capture people.

What was “legitimate” trade?

“Legitimate” trade was the nineteenth-century trade in agricultural produce, such as palm oil and groundnuts, that replaced the trade in slaves.

• Meaning of the term: people of the time called it “legitimate” because it was non-slave trade.
• Study: historians of western Africa have studied it closely since the 1950s.
• Basil Davidson’s view: in his 1961 study, he held that the slave trade had a deeply destructive effect on African societies.
• Davidson on its ending: he also argued that the ending of the trade brought disruption.
• British aim: legitimate trade was the final phase of private and official British efforts to find a positive alternative to the slave trade.

What earlier efforts came before legitimate trade?

• Sierra Leone: a colony founded in 1787 as a refuge for liberated slaves.
• Missionary movement: it aimed to bring Christianity to the region.
• Exploration: programmes sponsored by learned societies and scientific groups, such as the London-based African Association.

What were the main commodities of legitimate trade?

The principal commodities were palm oil and palm kernels.

• Uses in Europe: palm products were used to make soap.
• Lubricants: they oiled machinery before petroleum products were developed.
• Other produce: groundnuts were also traded.
• Size of the trade: palm oil exports alone were worth £1 million a year by 1840.
• Location: the trade was concentrated near the coast, where palm trees grew in abundance.
• Effect inland: it forced major economic and social changes in the interior.
• Effect on slavery: it hardly undermined slavery, and slavery in local societies actually increased.

How did legitimate trade affect Igboland?

Igboland was the first major source of palm oil, and later of kernels, for legitimate trade.

• Palm trees: they formed a canopy over the densely populated areas of the Ngwa, Nri, Awka and other Igbo peoples.
• Cooking: palm oil was used locally for cooking.
• Food: the kernels were a source of food.
• Palm wine: the trees were tapped for palm wine.
• Building: the fronds were used as building material.
• Easy adjustment: many Igbo families simply took the oil to rivers and streams leading to the Niger Delta for sale to European merchants.
• Timing: exports expanded rapidly after 1830, when slave exports collapsed.
• Slaves redirected: slaves were moved into the local economy, especially to grow yams in northern Igboland.
• Yam market: the yams were sold throughout the palm-tree belt.
• Aro merchants: they still dominated trade, including the sale of slaves within Igboland and of palm products to the coast.
• Aro role: they kept their central role in the confederation that governed the region.

How did legitimate trade affect the Niger Delta and Calabar?

The Niger Delta and Calabar, once known for exporting slaves, became famous for exporting palm oil.

• “Oil rivers”: the delta streams were given this name because of the palm oil trade.
• “House”: the basic economic unit in each town, run by a family and the focus of loyalty for those in it.
• Members of a house: the trader’s extended family, his retainers and his slaves.
• Master trader: the head of the house, who taxed other traders belonging to it.
• War canoe: he had to keep a war vessel to defend the harbour, a large dugout canoe carrying several tons of cargo and dozens of crew.
• New houses: a trader who could afford a war canoe was expected to form his own house.
• Competition: rivalry between houses was so fierce that trade often led to armed battles between the large canoes.

How did European merchants trade on the coast and in the interior?

European merchants first traded from ships anchored off the coast, then moved gradually inland.

Why did they stay on their ships?

• Climate and disease: these were hazards to Europeans on land.
• No friendly authority: no authority on the mainland responded to their interests.

What were the stages of their trade?

1. Merchants moored their ships outside harbours or in the delta.
2. They used the ships as trading stations and warehouses.
3. In time, they built depots onshore.
4. They then moved up the Niger River to stations in the interior, such as Onitsha.
5. There they bargained with local suppliers and bought products likely to give a profit.

• Change of business: some European traders switched to legitimate trade only when the slave trade became too hazardous.

What is the difference between the slave trade and legitimate trade?

The slave trade dealt in human beings, while legitimate trade dealt in produce such as palm oil.

Evaluation

1. Define slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
2. List four factors that led to the slave trade.
3. What were the principal commodities of legitimate trade, and what were they used for in Europe?
4. Why were the Niger Delta streams called the “oil rivers”?
5. What happened to slavery in local societies during the period of legitimate trade?

Assignment

In your exercise book, explain how a “house” in the Niger Delta and Calabar was organised, and why trade between “houses” often led to armed battles.