The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering — Fexingo History

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the 1817 Fort Blount Massacre, a brutal but little-known episode in the history of the Atlantic slave trade. They trace the flight of enslaved people from the Deep South to the maroon stronghold of Fort Blount in Spanish Florida, the alliance with Seminole and Miccosukee warriors, and the U.S. military campaign that ended in a devastating attack by Andrew Jackson's forces. The episode delves into the role of the Negro Fort, the Battle of Prospect Bluff, and the aftermath that saw survivors sold back into slavery. It's a story of resistance, betrayal, and the violent contest for freedom on the borderlands of the early republic.

#FortBlountMassacre #NegroFort #Seminole #Maroons #AndrewJackson #SpanishFlorida #ProspectBluff #Apalachee #1817 #FirstSeminoleWar #Slavery #Resistance #AtlanticSlaveTrade #FexingoHistory #HistoryPodcast #WorldHistory #19thCentury #AfricanDiaspora

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In July 1863, the largest civil insurrection in American history erupted not in the South but in New York City. The Enrollment Act of 1863, which allowed wealthy men to buy their way out of Civil War conscription for $300, ignited a firestorm of working-class fury. For four days, white mobs — many Irish immigrants — rampaged against the draft, but their rage quickly turned into a murderous pogrom against Black New Yorkers. They lynched Black men from lampposts, burned the Colored Orphan Asylum to the ground, and killed over 100 people. The arrival of Union troops fresh from Gettysburg finally crushed the rebellion. This episode digs into the class and racial dynamics of the riots, the role of the Tammany Hall political machine, the disproportionate casualties among Black New Yorkers, and the lasting legacy of a rebellion that tried to stop a war for emancipation.

#NewYorkCityDraftRiots #CivilWar #EnrollmentActOf1863 #EmancipationProclamation #IrishImmigrants #ColoredOrphanAsylum #TammanyHall #Gettysburg #AbrahamLincoln #WorkingClassHistory #RaceRiots #FourteenthAmendment #NewYorkHistory #Conscription #ClassWarfare #AfricanAmericanHistory #History #FexingoHistory

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This episode of Fexingo History takes you inside the brutal reality of the Middle Passage—the journey that carried millions of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic. We focus on the human experience within the slave ship hold: the stench, the disease, the suffocating heat, and the constant threat of rebellion. Lucas and Luna explore the design of slave ships, the infamous Brookes diagram, mortality rates, and the psychological terror of the crossing. We also look at resistance—from shipboard mutinies to suicide—and how enslaved people fought back even in the most hopeless conditions. The conversation touches on specific vessels like the Zong and the Brookes, the factors that determined survival, and the shift in mortality as the trade became more systematized. No political or economic overview here; this is about the lived experience of the millions who were forced to make that crossing. A raw, necessary look at one of history's greatest horrors.

#MiddlePassage #SlaveShip #BritishSlaveTrade #RoyalAfricanCompany #BrookesDiagram #ZongMassacre #OlaudahEquiano #JamesFieldStanfield #SlaveTrade #AfricanDiaspora #Abolition #18thCentury #19thCentury #AtlanticHistory #MaritimeHistory #HumanRights #History #FexingoHistory

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In 1693, a carefully planned uprising by enslaved Africans in Cartagena de Indias shook the Spanish colonial port and led to the creation of one of the most successful maroon communities in the Americas: San Basilio de Palenque. This episode unpacks the revolt itself—how leaders like Benkos Biohó organized hundreds of escapees across the swamps and forests of what is now Colombia—and the complex peace treaty that granted them freedom in exchange for ending attacks on Spanish settlements. We explore the role of Kongo and West Central African cultural traditions in palenque life, the politics of colonial negotiation, and how the community survives today as a UNESCO-recognized symbol of resistance. Along the way, we look at the asiento system that flooded Cartagena with captives, the brutal labor on gold mines and sugar plantations, and the surprising legal status of palenques under Spanish law. This is a story not just of rebellion but of a viable free society carved from the slave trade's heart.

#CartagenaDeIndias #BenkosBioho #SanBasiliodPalenque #SlaveRevolt #Maroons #Palenque #NewGranada #KongoDiaspora #SpanishColonial #Asiento #GoldMines #UNESCO #Resistance #17thCentury #AtlanticSlaveTrade #Colombia #History #FexingoHistory

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In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the 1832 slave ship mutiny aboard the Robert, a Spanish schooner carrying over 200 enslaved Africans from the Congo to Cuba. They discuss the clandestine slave trade after abolition treaties, the role of Cuban sugar plantations, the mutineers' capture by the Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron, and the legal limbo of liberated Africans in Sierra Leone. The episode also touches on the broader context of the illegal slave trade in the 19th century, the Mixed Commission courts, and the human cost of the trade. Listeners will learn about figures like Captain Richard Owen, the British commodore who intercepted the ship, and the fate of the mutineers, who were tried but later freed. The conversation highlights the resilience of enslaved people and the ongoing struggle for freedom on the high seas.

#Cuba #SlaveTrade #Mutiny #1832 #Robert #Congo #WestAfricaSquadron #SierraLeone #MixedCommission #RichardOwen #SugarPlantations #IllegalSlaveTrade #Abolition #RoyalNavy #LiberatedAfricans #Freetown #History #FexingoHistory

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In January 1811, along the Mississippi River in the Territory of Orleans, dozens of enslaved men rose up in what would become the largest slave revolt in American history. Led by Charles Deslondes, a mixed-race enslaved driver from Saint-Domingue, and joined by others like Kook and Quamana, the rebels marched from the German Coast toward New Orleans, gathering recruits and burning plantations. The uprising was crushed within two days by a militia led by General Wade Hampton, and the brutal reprisals that followed—decapitated heads displayed on pikes—sent a chilling message. This episode explores the revolt's origins, the role of Saint-Domingue refugees, the tangled legacy of Charles Deslondes, and why this rebellion remains lesser-known than Nat Turner's. We also examine how the territory's Spanish and French legal traditions shaped slavery in Louisiana, and how the revolt influenced later slave codes.

#GermanCoastUprising #CharlesDeslondes #Louisiana #SlaveRevolt #1811 #SaintDomingue #NewOrleans #MississippiRiver #WadeHampton #Kook #Quamana #TerritoryOfOrleans #SlaveCodes #HaitianRevolution #AtlanticHistory #Slavery #History #FexingoHistory

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In 1723, the slave ship Elizabeth left the Gold Coast for Barbados with a cargo of over 200 captives, mostly Coromantee from the Akan region. Twenty-three men led a carefully planned revolt, armed with shackles and determination, but internal betrayal and brutal countermeasures crushed it. This episode follows the arc of the mutiny from its origins in the African interior through the Atlantic crossing and into the English courts where the surviving rebels faced trial. We examine the Coromantee reputation for resistance, the role of captives from the Asante-Fante wars, and how the Royal African Court in London adjudicated maritime insurrection. Drawing on trial records and ship logs, we reconstruct the desperate hours aboard the Elizabeth and trace the aftermath for those who survived the voyage. A story of courage, betrayal, and the legal machinery that sustained the slave trade.

#ElizabethMutiny #Coromantee #Akan #SlaveRevolt #1723 #GoldCoast #Barbados #RoyalAfricanCourt #Asante #Fante #MiddlePassage #SlaveShip #AtlanticHistory #Resistance #MaritimeLaw #History #FexingoHistory #WorldHistory

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The 1839 Amistad rebellion was a watershed moment in the Atlantic slave trade. Fifty-three Mende captives, led by Sengbe Pieh (known as Joseph Cinqué), seized control of the schooner La Amistad off the coast of Cuba, sparking a dramatic legal battle that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. This episode traces the revolt from its origins in Lomboko slave pens through the harrowing Middle Passage, the mutiny itself, and the two-year legal odyssey that pitted abolitionists like John Quincy Adams against pro-slavery President Martin Van Buren. We explore the key court arguments, the role of Spanish slave traders and Cuban planters, the cultural resilience of the Mende aboard ship, and the eventual return of the survivors to Sierra Leone in 1842. Unlike other slave ship rebellions, the Amistad case turned on property rights, international treaties, and the illegal importation of slaves into Spanish colonies after the 1817 Anglo-Spanish treaty. It tested the limits of American courts and galvanized the abolitionist movement. Along the way, we meet figures like Lewis Tappan, who funded the defense, and Roger Baldwin, the lawyer who argued the captives were free men under natural law. The episode also touches on the lesser-known fate of the Mende once they reached Sierra Leone and the ongoing controversy over the case's legacy.

#Amistad #AmistadRebellion #SengbePieh #JosephCinqué #JohnQuincyAdams #LewisTappan #RogerBaldwin #Mende #Lomboko #Cuba #SupremeCourt #SlaveRebellion #Abolition #1839 #MiddlePassage #SierraLeone #History #FexingoHistory

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This episode of The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering turns to the 1816 Barbadian slave revolt known as Bussa's Rebellion. Lucas and Luna explore the specific conditions on Barbados that made it ripe for uprising—the island's brutal plantation system, a rapidly growing enslaved majority, and the influence of contemporary abolitionist debates in Britain. They focus on the figure of Bussa, an enslaved ranger on Bayley's Plantation who became the rebellion's leader. The discussion covers the revolt's planning, its suppression by colonial militia, and its lasting impact on Barbadian law and labor. Specific details include the role of enslaved drivers and artisans, the use of cane fields as both cover and weapon, the failure of the rebellion to spread across the island, and the subsequent colonial backlash including harsher slave codes. Listeners will come away with a clear understanding of how this rebellion fit into the wider pattern of Caribbean slave resistance and its peculiarities on a small, heavily militarized island.

#Bussa #Barbados #BussaRebellion #SlaveRevolt #1816 #BritishCaribbean #PlantationSlavery #BayleysPlantation #EnslavedResistance #SlaveCodes #ColonialMilitia #CaneFields #Ranger #BarbadianHistory #CaribbeanHistory #AtlanticSlaveTrade #History #FexingoHistory

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Long before Wilberforce, a forgotten bill limited the number of enslaved people per ship. In 1787, MP Sir William Dolben pushed through the Slave Carrying Bill after witnessing the horrors of the Middle Passage firsthand. This episode dives into the shocking conditions that led to the law: the case of the Zong massacre, the mass-suicide of enslaved people at 25 Ibo Landing, and the testimony of a ship's surgeon who watched his captives die in chains. We explore how the Dolben Act worked, its loopholes (it excluded Liverpool ships for months), and its unintended consequence: better conditions for investors, not people. Featuring the Abolitionist Committee, Thomas Clarkson's fact-finding tour, and the first British parliamentary inquiry into the slave trade. A crucial turning point that made abolition possible.

#AtlanticSlaveTrade #DolbenAct #SirWilliamDolben #MiddlePassage #ZongMassacre #IboLanding #ThomasClarkson #SlaveCarryingBill #AbolitionistCommittee #1787 #BritishParliament #LiverpoolSlaveTrade #SlaveShipRegulation #MassSuicide #AfricanCaptives #History #FexingoHistory #Slavery

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