The 25th March 2007 marked 200 years since the abolition of slavery act in the United Kingdom. This act brought an end to over 250 years of a cruel and barbaric trafficking of up to 15 million African’s during this time, who were taken from their native homelands that were then forced to work on the plantations in the West Indies to meet the ever increasing demand for cheap labour.

In this investigation we will attempt to firstly look at British involvement in the slave trade, looking at the fundamental motivations for it from both an economic and sociological viewpoint. Secondly we will look at the factors for the abolition of the slave trade; in particular the efforts made by individuals such as William Wilberforce, Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson and also consider the efforts made by religious pressure groups such as the Evangelical and Quaker groups. Finally we assess the impact of the slave trade and the legacy that it has had upon the United Kingdom and Africa.

The story of slave trade and Britain’s involvement goes back to as far as 1562, compared to the Portuguese and the Spanish the British were ‘late starters’ in the slave trade but were certainly no less significant in the proliferation of slavery in the 17th and 18th centuries. The English adventurer and slave trader Sir John Hawkins, a Plymouth born merchant was arguably the first person to use the term “Human cargo” when he seized 300 Africans during his first slave trading venture. Other individuals preferred to use the term “commodities”.

It can be seen as early as 1562 that the British along with European counter parts viewed African’s with very little regard and even “non human”. The British viewed African cultural practises as non Christian even though it has been claimed that Christianity reached parts of Africa as early as the second century A.D. African’s were branded by the British as ‘two-legged beasts’ or ‘savages’ that were not quite beasts but were certainly not human either. It can be argued that the Christian values held by the British at this point were a fundamental motivation for the slave trade. To elaborate the black historian and author Richard Reddie argues that many Christians associated the colour of the African’s skin to be an indication of sin as black was the associated with sin and the Devil and that the word black has “always been a loaded term in the English language connoting negativity”. Therefore it can be said that the British viewed the Africans as not worthy of being human or to be treated as such. Therefore any use of Africans for slave labour purposes could be justified based on miss interpreted biblical references.

European Intellectuals such as Johann Friedrich Blumenbach helped to reinforce the prejudices regarding African’s, making slavery more acceptable. His views were that African’s were the lowest of all the races. Edward Long a British colonial administrator published a book (History of Jamaica) concluding that Africans were ugly and had more in common with apes than of white men.

Although Hawkins is probably the most prominent figure for introducing Britain to the slave trade it can be traced back even further to 1553.This was when Captain Thomas Windham who led an expedition of 140 people to the Guinea Coast to look for Gold. 100 of his crew died from the ‘Bite of Benin’ whilst on the expedition. This led to a subsequent expedition by John Lok to the Guinea coast the following year who obtained substantial amounts of Gold, Ivory and dozens of Africans that he captured. He brought back the African slaves to parade them in front of Elizabethan crowds. Elizabeth the first was initially against this and demanded the release of the slaves, although she was by no means against slavery.

The Africans captured by Sir John Hawkins were exchanged on the north coast of Hispaniola and he returned to England with a ship load of animal hides and sugar. Demand for slaves was at premium hence Sir John Hawkins was able to secure a good trade with the Spanish. Queen Elizabeth the first saw the potential of slavery and how lucrative it could be from the subsequent goods that he brought back. She gave Hawkins a vessel to continue his trading activities that was also armed and capable of destroying any seafaring opposition. It can be seen therefore that the main motivation for British involvement in the slave trade was purely financial. This coupled with the pre conceived idea that the Africans were “an inferior thick lipp’d slave race” made the slave trade justifiable to in the eyes of the elite ruling classes.

It was not until the 17th century during the reign of Charles the second that the British became fully involved with slavery. Prior to this Britain did not have any colonies of its own in the Americas. It could be argued that the profitability of slavery achieved by European rivals such as the Spanish and Portuguese motivated Britain to gained ownership of the Islands in the West Indies during the expansion of the British Empire. Africans provided cheap labour on the plantations to harvest sugar and cotton to fuel the expanding British economy. It was soon realised that the bigger the plantation the more sugar they could produce resulting in more profit, thus requiring more Africans.

There are principally three main reasons for the abolition of slavery. The first is Humanitarian, the second is political and the third economic. The enlightenment is a time used to describe a point in western philosophy and cultural life, centred upon the eighteenth century. During this period saw great change with rebellion taking place in America which led to the war of Independence. Old ideas were challenged and questioned in particular to religion, logic and reason (without turning to religious belief) was advocated as the primary source of legitimacy and authority. The enlightenment brought about a whole new range of ‘intellectual thinkers’ that encouraged a humanitarian outlook with reference to the slave trade.

The most famous humanitarian who was significant in the abolition of the slave trade was William Wilberforce, a British politician and leader of the anti slavery movement. William Wilberforce was a religious man who later converted to the newly founded evangelical Christian movement. In 1787 William Wilberforce met Thomas Clarkson and a group of anti slavery activists. William Wilberforce has been given credit for being the person to abolish slavery, but does he deserve the credit alone? It can be argued that Thomas Clarkson was perhaps more instrumental to the anti slavery movement. Thomas Clarkson was the committee’s travelling organiser. He covered around 35,000 miles by horseback since 1787 travelling throughout England, Scotland and Wales organising local committees9. He provided as he referred to it as “whole coaches full of Seamen”10 that would be used to provide testimony before parliament as to the barbaric nature of slavery.

Granville sharp, another humanitarian also played a part in bringing to the attention of slavery to the public, when in 1765 Jonathan Strong, a black man arrived at his house after been beaten up by his master, David Isle. Sharp took Jonathan Strong to hospital where it took four months for him to recover. After his recovery, David Isle recaptured him. Granville Sharp subsequently mounted a legal case claiming that as he was not in Barbados and indeed in England that he was no longer a slave and indeed free. The court ruled in Strong’s favour, setting a legal precedent and creating massive amounts of publicity for the anti slavery movement.

Quakers were the first religious group to openly speak out against slavery. The Quakers were also the first to argue that Africans were made in the image of God. In the 18th century there were 20,000 Quakers living in the United Kingdom. The first meeting took place in 1787 in London and contained 12 members of the very influential abolition committee including Thomas Clarkson. Subsequent meetings continued for years to come and were funded by prominent Quaker merchants and business men. The Quakers themselves were not particularly influential alone due to the religious prejudices that existed towards dissenters. It took an alliance with Anglicans and Evangelicals to provide a more formidable opposition to slavery.

Economic factors were also influential in the abolition of slavery. Britain’s economy was changing and becoming far more industrialised during the industrial revolution, industries such as iron and coal were becoming more profitable for Britain. Britain simply didn’t need the Caribbean anymore to make money.

Political factors also helped bring about the abolition of slavery. Slaves were beginning to up rise against their slave masters on some parts of the Caribbean such as Haiti. The slave revolution is often described as the “St Domingue War of independence”. The revolution in Haiti was extremely significant as it provided clear evidence that uprising could lead to real freedom and black rule. This inspired similar revolts on other Islands as the news of the revolution spread quickly. In Jamaica alone, there were two Maroon wars and six major uprisings. In 1730, the Maroons led by Cudjoe fought a nine year war with the British costing the British dearly in casualties.

The impact that slavery has had upon Britain has been varied. These can be best described in terms of social and economic impacts. The economic impact was to help Britain become wealthy by developing the economy further with the trading of goods such as cotton and sugar. This also had an effect on the culture of Britain, for example the British became far more of a consumer society particularly for wealthier people who purchased sweets, sugar and tobacco in particular which started to be smoked more in pipes.

Other economic impacts were the formation of certain banks that were created such as Barclays that has links to slavery. Slave traders Benjamin and Arthur Heywood founded Heywoods bank in 1773 based on profits from the slave trade. Plantations were set up with loans provided by banks such as Heywoods. Heywoods Bank was acquired by Martins Bank in 1883 which itself was acquired by Barclays in 1968.

Social impacts of slavery are arguably more significant and damaging compared to the economic impacts. These have been mainly the creation of racism towards the African population that lived not only in the United Kingdom but in America, France, Spain, and Portugal to name but a few. Misconceived notions about the African population being “beasts and savages” and “inferior to white men” that originated during the 17th and 18th centuries carried on up until the civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s in the USA led by Martin Luther King who pressed for equal rights for black people. In the United Kingdom similar attitudes persisted after slavery was totally extinct in the UK in 1838. This led to race riots in the UK in areas such as Birmingham and Manchester in the 1960s and 70s following new waves of immigration from the West Indies. People like Enoch Powell helped to spread fear and distrust about African immigration during his famous “rivers of blood speech” in 1968.

Other social impacts were that Africa was robbed of an estimated 15 million of their population over the 300 years of the slave trade, where Britain played a significant part. Trading of weapons to African Kings in exchange for African slaves by western Europeans in the 17th and 18th centuries was a significant factor in provoking war between neighbouring African countries resulting in the deaths of thousands of Africans.

Author Bio: Steven Britton is a senior tutor at private maths tuition agency Top Grade Tutoring.

Category: Education
Keywords: Globalisation, impact of globalisation and its consequences for the individual and society