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As you can well imagine the impact of the slave trade -- of the Atlantic slave trade -- on
the African continent was absolutely devastating. As we discussed in Episode 3:
Africa in Historical Context, Africa was at one time a thriving center of world
commerce it was a specific chain of events that led Africa from the wealthy kingdom of
Mali under Mansa Musa to the slave trade and colonialism, poverty, disease, conflict and
Africa that we know today. As we have discussed previously, West Africa have built this
wealth around the trans-Saharan trade. But what happened in 1453 with the fall
of Constantinople, Europe was forced to find an alternate route around Africa to get what it
needed in Asia. Once that happened in a cheaper route was found -- bypassing Africa
and effectively cutting Africa of the picture -- the trans-Saharan collapsed and with it, the West
African kingdoms. What follows is the same thing that followed in Europe with the
collapse of the Roman Empire. You have warlordism, people vying for what's left of these
collapsing empires. With warlordism, feudalism comes conflict. Conflict goes hand-in-
hand with slavery -- for centuries people had conquered their neighbors and
made slaves of them. And that happened at a particular moment in history when
Europe happened to be in a state of expansion. So, Africa is ripe for colonization at this
particular critical moment.
The Atlantic Slave Trade was devastating on many levels. The sheer scale of it was
devastating -- estimates on the sheer numbers vary, but the most common estimate of the
persons who were transported from Africa to the Western hemisphere ranges from about
9 to 11,000,000. Still more elusive is the number of Africans who died over the 3
centuries in which the trade was conducted. Between the death marches from the
interior to the coast where they were held in factories awaiting transportation and the arduous
middle passage, some have estimated that up to 35% died before they ever reached the
Americas. The seasoning process also took a heavy toll. An estimated 15 to 50% died
within 7 years of crossing the Atlantic. With such a wide variation in the estimates of
between 35 and 80% of those who left Africa having perished, the number dead
ranges widely between an extremely low estimate 6 million and an upper extreme
150 million. Most scholars put the number between 20 to 40 African souls lost on the middle
passage -- a holocaust of unprecedented proportions.
So, the sheer numbers -- the depopulation of the continent of Africa (particularly West Africa)
-- is going to take a huge toll in terms of human resources. Additionally, you're taking a
specific segment of the population. Mostly male -- that's very different from the
Islamic slave trade on the trans-Sahara -- and from specific age sets. In West
Africa are you looking at a cultural practice of dividing society along specific age sets
-- usually from seven year sets. So we have from 1 to 7 being one age set, from 7 to 14 being
another age set and so on. And there are specific rites of passage to mark the transition
from one age set to another. Those are usually marked with elaborate rituals. You see this
all over the globe. In Native American ceremonies you have scarification rituals. You
have, for example, in Southeast Asia -- in Polynesia -- you have tattooing (that's
where the practice of tattooing comes from) as you are going from one age to another. And if
you're familiar with the film the color purple there's a scene in which Celie is about to shave
Mr. -- is about to cut his throat. And what's going on in that scene -- it's very complex
scene -- where there's this flashback to what's going on with her children in Africa as
she's sharpening the blade to shave Mr. ...
What's the matter with you? You got a fever? I come out here for you to take all day for
you to shave me.
Get the molasses out your ***!
[DRUMMING]
Seems like the longer I'm married to you the slower you get, the dumber you get.
Your *** is just as slow as I've ever seen it before.
CELIE! AIN'T THAT RAZOR SHARPEND YET?! NOW GET ON OUT HERE AND DO ME,
RIGHT NOW!! GET ON OUT HERE!!
Alright.
Put your head back.
You got my neck itchin' like the inside of a horse's ***.
That razor looks dull to me, Mrs. Celie.
Damned women!
What we are seeing here is a scarification ritual that takes place as one of the children is
being cut with a particular blade in a particular ceremony to mark the transition from one
age set to the next. What that basically says is, "I'm no longer a child. I am ready to enter the
next phase of my life. So not only was the slave trade devastating in terms of sheer
numbers, but you have primarily males were taken from the contract of Africa as a
result of this warfare who were traded to Europeans -- and males of a particular age set. Mostly from the 14 to 28 age set. What happens as a result is described in the book by a West African author, Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart. What he describes in his book -- this is the first of a trilogy of books on West Africa that captures this historical moment -- is that the society that's built on these age sets just collapses. Because one aide said is built on the other, if you remove one or two age sets, society is no longer able to maintain a sense of continuity. That's the reason why we see such continuity of African culture in places like Brazil to such an extent that until very recently people in West Africa studying traditional West African religion actually went to Brazil.That’s it for this episode. You can see everything you’ve seen here as well as the entire archive of episodes at my website www.africanelements.org. You can also join the discussion on our Facebook Group African Elements. I'm Darius Spearman. Thank you for watching.What we are seeing here is a scarification ritual that takes place as one of the children is being cut with a particular blade in a particular ceremony to mark the transition from one age set to the next. What that basically says is, "I'm no longer a child. I am ready to enter the next phase of my life. So not only was the slave trade devastating in terms of sheer numbers, but you have primarily males were taken from the contract of Africa as a result of this warfare who were traded to Europeans -- and males of a particular age set. Mostly from the 14 to 28 age set. What happens as a result is described in the book by a West African author, Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart. What he describes in his book -- this is the first of a trilogy of books on West Africa that captures this historical moment -- is that the society that's built on these age sets just collapses. Because one aide said is built on the other, if you remove one or two age sets, society is no longer able to maintain a sense of continuity. That's the reason why we see such continuity of African culture in places like Brazil to such an extent that until very recently people in West Africa studying traditional West African religion actually went to Brazil.That’s it for this episode. You can see everything you’ve seen here as well as the entire archive of episodes at my website www.africanelements.org. You can also join the discussion on our Facebook Group African Elements. I'm Darius Spearman. Thank you for watching.