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

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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In 1723, the slave ship Elizabeth left the Gold Coast for Barbados with 143 captives. Three days out, the Africans broke their shackles, seized weapons, and nearly took the vessel. The crew's bloody counterattack killed dozens. This episode reconstructs the little-known mutiny from ship logs, court records, and oral traditions of the Asante and Fante peoples whose sons and daughters led the uprising. We explore how the captives smuggled gunpowder, the role of a Coromantee leader named Cudjoe (not to be confused with the Maroon leader), and why the Royal African Court in London sentenced the surviving rebels to be burned alive. The Elizabeth mutiny reveals the constant, desperate resistance that accompanied every slave voyage — and the astonishing coordination required to stage a revolt on a ship designed to prevent one.

#SlaveShipMutiny #Elizabeth1723 #Coromantee #GoldCoast #Barbados #RoyalAfricanCompany #Cudjoe #Asante #Fante #SlaveTradeHistory #AtlanticWorld #18thCentury #MaritimeHistory #AfricanDiaspora #Resistance #History #FexingoHistory #AdFree

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This episode of The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering takes listeners deep into the Gambia River region, a major but often overlooked source of enslaved Africans during the 17th and 18th centuries. Hosts Lucas and Luna explore the role of the Mandinka kingdoms, the Portuguese lançados and tangomãos who operated as middlemen, and the infamous slave trading post of James Island, now a UNESCO World Heritage site. They discuss the rise of the Niumi kingdom under King Burungai Sonko, who controlled access to the river and grew wealthy through the trade, and the brutal 'customs' payments demanded by local rulers. The episode also covers the British Royal African Company's fort at James Island, the 1752 'slave revolt' aboard the ship Hare, and the legacy of Kunta Kinteh, made famous by Alex Haley's Roots. Listeners will learn how the region's internal slave trade, driven by conflict and debt, fed the Atlantic system, and how the Gambia River became a 'river of no return' for thousands.

#GambiaRiver #JamesIsland #Mandinka #KuntaKinteh #RoyalAfricanCompany #BurungaiSonko #Niumi #lançados #tangomãos #SlaveTrade #AtlanticSlaveTrade #Roots #Gambia #WestAfrica #History #FexingoHistory #UNESCO #AfricanHistory

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In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht ended the War of Spanish Succession and granted Britain a thirty-year monopoly—the asiento—to supply enslaved Africans to Spain's American colonies. This episode unpacks the asiento's mechanics, its key players like the South Sea Company, and its staggering human cost: over 144,000 captive Africans trafficked under its terms. We explore how the asiento fueled Britain's rise as a commercial empire, the corruption scandals it spawned, and its role in normalizing mass chattel slavery as a state-backed enterprise. We also touch on the resistance it provoked, from shipboard revolts to maroon communities in the Spanish Caribbean. Focusing on the asiento as a legal and financial instrument reveals how European diplomacy, joint-stock companies, and colonial demand converged to expand the slave trade far beyond the Middle Passage.

#Asiento #TreatyOfUtrecht #SouthSeaCompany #SlaveTrade #1713 #BritishEmpire #SpanishColonies #WarOfSpanishSuccession #SlaveLicense #AtlanticHistory #ColonialCommerce #Bubble #SlaveRevolt #Maroons #Cartagena #Veracruz #History #FexingoHistory

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Lucas and Luna dive into the Slave Coast of West Africa, focusing on the Kingdom of Dahomey and its unique role in the Atlantic slave trade. They explore Dahomey's rise under King Agaja, the use of female warriors (the Agojie, often called Amazons), and the annual slave raids on rival states like the Oyo Empire and the Mahi. The episode also covers the European forts at Ouidah (Fort São João Baptista de Ajudá) and the trade's impact on Dahomean society, including the controversial "customs" ceremonies. Lucas explains how Dahomey's militarized state became a major supplier of captives, and how the trade's decline in the 19th century led to economic shifts and conflicts with the British. The conversation touches on key figures like King Gezo, King Ghezo (his pronunciation), and the French abolitionist Victor Schoelcher.

#Dahomey #SlaveCoast #Agojie #Amazons #Ouidah #KingAgaja #KingGezo #OyoEmpire #Oyo #Mahi #FortJesus #FortSãoJoãoBaptista #VictorSchoelcher #Ghezo #Benin #BightOfBenin #History #FexingoHistory

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In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the 1739 Stono Rebellion, the largest slave uprising in colonial British America. They trace the revolt's origins to the Kongo region of Central Africa, where many of the rebels had been warriors before their enslavement. The conversation covers the Catholic background of the Stono rebels (some were baptized under the name 'Jemmy'), the role of the Spanish fort at St. Augustine offering freedom, the march along the Stono River with drums and flags, and the brutal retaliation by the colonial militia. They also discuss the Negro Act of 1740, which severely restricted enslaved people's rights in South Carolina, and examine how the rebellion was deliberately forgotten by white historians until modern scholarship rediscovered it. Specific details include the location of Wallace's Tavern, the use of the Congolese war cry, and the fate of the captured rebels.

#StonoRebellion #1739 #SouthCarolina #Kongo #SlaveRevolt #Jemmy #NegroAct1740 #StAugustine #WallacesTavern #CongoleseWarriors #Lowcountry #PlantationSlavery #ColonialAmerica #Resistance #AfricanDiaspora #CatholicSlaves #History #FexingoHistory

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In 1807, Britain outlawed the slave trade—but enforcement was another story. This episode follows the parliamentary battle led by William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson, the Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron's early struggles, and the campaign's surprising turn as Britain used abolition to justify colonial expansion. We explore the loopholes: how ships still slipped through, the corruption in Freetown, and the mixed legacy of the Act. Names like Henry Brougham, Lord Grenville, and the Sierra Leone Company feature. A story of moral triumph and imperial hypocrisy.

#1807AbolitionAct #WilliamWilberforce #ThomasClarkson #RoyalNavy #WestAfricaSquadron #Freetown #SierraLeoneCompany #HenryBrougham #LordGrenville #SlaveTradeAct #Abolition #BritishEmpire #Parliament #LiberatedAfricans #Blockade #History #FexingoHistory #AtlanticWorld

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In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into the story of the Henrietta Marie, a slave ship that sank off the Florida Keys in 1704 after delivering its human cargo to Jamaica. Discovered in 1972 by treasure hunters, the wreck became one of the most important underwater archaeological sites for understanding the slave trade. Lucas walks us through the ship's history: built in London, it made multiple voyages to West Africa and the Caribbean, carrying iron bars, beads, and copper manillas to trade for enslaved people. We explore the artifacts recovered—shackles, pewter spoons, a Dutch gin bottle—and what they reveal about the daily cruelty of the trade. Lucas also discusses the ethical debates around displaying slave ship artifacts, the collaboration with descendants, and the enduring significance of the Henrietta Marie as the first slave shipwreck to be fully studied by archaeologists. Along the way, we touch on the Middle Passage, the Royal African Company, and the Gadsden flag that some descendants have reclaimed.

#HenriettaMarie #SlaveShip #MaritimeArchaeology #MiddlePassage #FloridaKeys #RoyalAfricanCompany #IronShackles #Manillas #SlaveTrade #1704 #Jamaica #AfricanDiaspora #UnderwaterArchaeology #MelFisher #SlaveWreck #History #FexingoHistory #AtlanticSlaveTrade

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In this episode of The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering, Lucas and Luna explore the often-overlooked region of the Bight of Biafra, which supplied millions of enslaved Africans—mostly Igbo, Ibibio, and Efik—to the Americas. They discuss the role of the Aro Confederacy, a powerful trading network that used oracles and alliances to capture and sell people from the interior. The episode delves into the impact on Igbo society, the Middle Passage experience specific to Biafran captives, and the cultural legacy in places like Virginia and the Caribbean. Lucas explains how the Aro's military and religious influence allowed them to dominate the slave trade from the 17th to 19th centuries, and how the collapse of the trade led to the Aro Expedition of 1901-1902. Listeners will learn about the port of Old Calabar, the role of European palm oil traders, and the demographic shift that shaped the African diaspora.

#BightOfBiafra #AroConfederacy #Igbo #Efik #OldCalabar #SlaveTrade #MiddlePassage #AfricanDiaspora #AroExpedition #Ibibio #NigeriaHistory #IgboUkpabi #PalmOilTrade #17thCentury #19thCentury #History #FexingoHistory #AtlanticSlaveTrade

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In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the role of African political structures in the Atlantic slave trade, focusing on the Kingdom of Kongo and its complex relationship with Portuguese slavers. They discuss how King Afonso I of Kongo wrote desperate letters to King Manuel I of Portugal in the 1520s, pleading for help controlling Portuguese traders who were destabilizing his realm. The conversation covers the erosion of Kongo's sovereignty, the rise of the Imbangala mercenaries, and the transformation of warfare in West Central Africa as the demand for captives grew. Lucas explains the 'slaving frontier' concept, showing how the trade pushed deeper into the continent, creating cycles of violence and depopulation that reshaped societies. The episode sheds light on African agency and victimhood, revealing that the trade was not a simple story of Europeans capturing Africans, but a complex system involving African elites, merchants, and warriors who participated for their own reasons, often with devastating consequences for their own people.

#History #FexingoHistory #AtlanticSlaveTrade #KingdomOfKongo #KingAfonsoI #PortugueseEmpire #Imbangala #WestCentralAfrica #SlavingFrontier #Mbundu #Ndongo #Luanda #AfricanHistory #SlaveTrade #16thCentury #Colonialism #AfricanAgency #HistoricalWarfare

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