BBC NEWS | Americas | Brazil's 'slave' ranch workers Brazil's 'slave' ranch workers By Nick Caistor Regional analyst, Para state, Brazil On a recent trip to several African countries, Brazil's President Inacio Lula da Silva made a point of apologising for historical slavery in his country. The workers are properly looked after, ranch owners say Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, in 1888, just before it became an independent republic. Before that, for more than 350 years, African slaves had been shipped in their millions to work on sugar plantations and other large agricultural estates or fazendas. Modern-day Brazil is plagued with similar practices. These modern slaves are to be found mostly in the vast Amazon region of the north of the country, which is still frontier territory that the state cannot always control or police properly. The workers are taken on by a gato, or gangmaster, usually to clear areas of the jungle which are then claimed, and eventually become part of huge cattle farms, after all the timber has been stripped out. When he came to power in 2002, President Lula pledged to abolish these near-slave conditions in his own country.

There was no way we could get out of there because it was so isolated Regivaldo Pereira dos Santos He spoke in particular of Para state in Amazonia, where he estimated that some 10,000 of a possible national total of about 25,000 people were being forced to work in this inhuman way. His government, and the federal police in particular, declared war on the cattle ranchers, or fazendeiros, who employed workers in these conditions, and promised to end the kind of impunity which has meant that few people are ever prosecuted. No compensation At first, the mobile units of the labour ministry, accompanied by the federal police who swooped on any area where there were reports of slave labour, did reduce the number of denunciations, but there are signs that the practice is increasing again. Regivaldo Pereira dos Santos, 22 years old, from the town of Redencao in Para state, won his court case against a fazendeiro, with the help of a human rights lawyer. If these workers have no possibility of leaving...

if they live in miserable conditions, and if they are charged more than they earn, then that to me is slavery Frei Henri des Roziers However, as he explained to BBC News, he has not yet received compensation. "The gato took us upriver for several days in a boat. Then we were dropped off, and told to clear the forest. We only had a rough shack to live in and just the food we'd brought. "The gato said he'd be back in a couple of weeks but he never appeared. There was no way we could get out of there because it was so isolated. "After six months, the rains came and our shack was flooded. Eventually, we managed to get help and escaped. But we haven't yet got compensation, because it turns out that the fazendeiro didn't have rights to the land." 'Progress' The cattle ranchers of Para deny there is any such thing as slavery in the region. They argue that the workers are not forced to go, are nearly always properly looked after, and the proof of this is that many of them come back time and again looking for this kind of work.

Fernando Coimbra, who owns a large cattle ranch outside Redencao, insists that if abuses do occur, it is only a tiny majority of landowners who commit them. Public awareness is much higher, and that's a big advance Alison Sutton But Frei Henri des Roziers, a French Dominican who has worked in the region for more than 30 years and has frequently received death threats from landowners, says this is not enough. "If they think that only a small minority is committing this kind of crime, why do they not denounce these people openly - I've never heard any of the landowner organisations saying anything of the sort." For Frei Henri, modern-day slavery is as clear cut as its historical predecessor. "If these workers have no possibility of leaving, if they are prevented from doing so by armed guards, if they live in miserable conditions, and if they are charged more than they earn, then that to me is slavery," he says. "And they return to these jobs because there is absolutely nothing else they can do in the region," insists the friar.

Alison Sutton, author of a book on slavery in Brazil who now works for Unicef in the capital Brasilia, agrees that the real solution is to provide more employment and better education for rural workers. This hasn't yet happened, she says, but even so the Lula government has made important advances: "They've drawn up a National Action Plan, bringing together all the initiatives, so that all bodies are co-ordinated and working together. Brazil also had a co-operation agreement with the International Labour Organization, which has involved a series of training seminars for judges. "The whole issue has become far more public. It's discussed in the press, and there's an advertising campaign on television. Public awareness is much higher, and that's a big advance." Digital History Digital History Digital History ID 465 Except for Haiti, the American South was the only region in the western hemisphere in which slavery was overthrown by force of arms. It was the only region, except for Brazil, in which slaveowners received no compensation for the loss of their slave property; and the only region, except for Gaudeloupe and Martinique, in which former slaves received civil and political rights.

And it was the only postemancipation society in which large slaveowners were deprived of right to hold public office and in which former slaves formed successful political alliances with whites. Nevertheless, the abolition of slavery did not mean that former slaves had achieved full freedom. Throughout the western hemisphere, the end of slavery was followed by a period of reconstruction in which race relations were redefined and new systems of labor emerged. In former slave societies throughout the Americas, ex-slaves sought to free themselves from the gang system of labor on plantation and establish small-scale, self-sufficient farms, while planters or local governments sought to restore the plantation system. The outcome, in many former slave societies, was the emergence of a caste system of race relations and a system of involuntary or forced labor, such as peonage, debt bondage, apprenticeship, contract laborers, indentured laborers, tenant farming, and sharecropping. In every postemancipation society, the abolition of slavery resulted in acute labor problems and declining productivity, spurring efforts to restore plantation discipline. Even in Haiti, where black revolution had overthrown slavery, repeated attempts were made to restore the plantation system. On Caribbean islands--like Antigua, Barbados, and St.

Kitts--where land was totally controlled by white planters, the plantation system was reimposed. In other areas--like British Guiana, Jamaica, or Trinidad where former slaves were able to squat on unsettled land and set up subsistence farms, staple production fell sharply. To counteract the precipitous decline in sugar production, the British government imported tens of thousands of "coolie" laborers from China, India, Java, and West Africa into Guiana, Jamaica, Mauritius, Surinam, and Trinidad. In many plantation societies, governments sought to force former slaves back to work on plantations with strict vagrancy laws, coercive labor contracts, and regressive taxes. The story of Reconstruction in the American South echoes that broader concern with labor control. Immediately following the war, all-white state legislatures passed "black codes" designed to force freed blacks to work on plantations, where they would be put to work in gangs. These codes denied blacks the right to purchase or even rent land. Vagrancy laws allowed authorities to arrest blacks "in idleness" and assign them to a chain gang or auction them off to a planter for as long as a year.

Other statutes required blacks to have written proof of employment and barred blacks from leaving plantations. The Freedmen's Bureau, ostensibly designed to aid former slaves, helped to enforce laws against vagrancy and loitering and refused to allow ex-slaves to keep land that they had occupied during the war. One black army veteran asked rhetorically: "If you call this Freedom, what did you call Slavery?" Such efforts to virtually reenslave the freedmen led Congressional Republicans to seize control of Reconstruction from President Andrew Johnson, deny representatives from the former Confederate states their Congressional seats, and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and write the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution to extend citizenship rights to African Americans and guarantee them equal protection of the laws. In 1870, the country went even further by ratifying the Fifteenth Amendment, which extend voting rights to black men. But the most radical proposal advanced during Reconstruction--to confiscate plantations and redistribute portions of the land to the freedmen-- was defeated.

The freedman, in alliance with carpetbaggers (Northerners who had migrated to the south following the Civil War) and southern white Republicans known as scalawags, temporarily gained power in every former Confederate state except Virginia. Altogether, over 600 blacks served as legislators in reconstruction governments (though blacks comprised a majority only in the lower house of South Carolina's legislator). The Reconstruction governments drew up democratic state constitutions, expanded women's rights, provided debt relief, and established the South's first state-funded schools. During the 1870s, however, internal divisions within the southern Republican party, white terror, and northern apathy allowed white Democrats, known as Redeemers to return to power in the South's state governments. The North's failure to enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments permitted racial segregation and disfranchisement in the South. During Reconstruction, former slaves--and many small white farmers--became trapped in a new system of economic exploitation--sharecropping. Lacking capital and land of their own, former slaves were forced to work for large landowners.

Initially, planters, with the support of the Freedmen's Bureau, sought to restore gang labor under the supervision of white overseers. The freedman, who wanted autonomy and independence, refused to sign contracts that required gang labor. Ultimately, sharecropping emerged as a sort of compromise. Instead of cultivating land in gangs supervised by overseers, landowners divided plantations into 20- to 50-acre plots suitable for farming by a single family. In exchange for land, a cabin, and supplies, sharecroppers agreed to raise a cash crop (usually cotton) and to give half the crop to their landlord. The high interest rates landlords and merchants charged for goods bought on credit transformed sharecropping into a system of economic dependency and poverty. The freedmen found that "freedom could make folks proud but it didn't make 'em rich." Nevertheless, the sharecropping system did allow freedmen a degree of freedom and autonomy greater than that experienced under slavery. As a symbol of their newly won independence, freedmen had teams of mules drag their former slave cabins away from the slave quarters into their own fields. Black wives and daughters sharply reduced their labor in the fields and instead devoted more time to childcare and housework.

For the first time, black families could divide their time between fieldwork and housework in accordance with their own family priorities. Chattel slavery had been defeated. The gang system of labor, enforced by the whip, was dead. Real gains had been won. But full freedom remained an unfulfilled promise. In 1970, the countries of the Arabian peninsula became the last in the world to abolish legal slavery. Nevertheless, the buying and selling of human beings continues to flourish in many parts of the world. Each year, an estimated one million Asian women and children, in Bangladesh, Burma, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and elsewhere, are sold or auctioned into slavery to serve as prostitutes or child laborers. Methods of procurement have changed since the 18th centuries; instead of being kidnapped, slaves are bought in impoverished villages for a few hundred dollars. But the cruelties of slavery remain, with contemporary slaves chained to beds in brothels or at workbenches in sweatshops. The final chapter in the history of slavery remains unfinished.

Photos Reveal Harsh Detail Of Brazil's History With Slavery : Parallels : NPR Photos Reveal Harsh Detail Of Brazil's History With Slavery Embed Embed Photos Reveal Harsh Detail Of Brazil's History With Slavery Photos Reveal Harsh Detail Of Brazil's History With Slavery Embed Embed Slaves at a coffee yard in a farm. Vale do Paraiba, Sao Paulo, 1882. Marc Ferrez/Moreira Salles Institute Archive hide caption toggle caption Marc Ferrez/Moreira Salles Institute Archive Slaves at a coffee yard in a farm. Vale do Paraiba, Sao Paulo, 1882. Marc Ferrez/Moreira Salles Institute Archive Brazil was the last place in the Americas to abolish slavery — it didn't happen until 1888 — and that meant that the final years of the practice were photographed. This has given Brazil what may be the world's largest archive of photography of slavery, and a new exhibition in Sao Paulo is offering some new insights into the country's brutal past. One image at the exhibition, for example, has been blown up to the size of a wall.

"Things that you could never see, suddenly you see," says anthropologist Lilia Schwarcz, one of the curators of the new exhibition called Emancipation Inclusion and Exclusion. A Photo History Of Slavery In Brazil YouTube In its original size and composition, the image from photographer Marc Ferrez, one of the most impressive photographers from 19th century Brazil, shows a wide shot of a group of slaves drying coffee in a field. Their faces are indistinct but the overall impression is one of order and calm. But once the picture is blown up, the expressions become distinct and details emerge. A female slave is breastfeeding a child in the field; clothes that look neat are seen to be tattered. Article continues after sponsorship "Expanding the photos, we can see a lot of things we couldn't see and the state didn't want to see," Schwarcz says. "We do not want to show slaves only like victims." Brazil's History With Slavery Slavery in Brazil lasted for 300 years, and it imported some 4 million Africans to the country. These images were taken during the waning days of slavery and Brazil's monarchy.

Many were commissioned by the state in an attempt to show slavery in a better light. Black woman with white child on her back. Bahia, 1860. Moreira Salles Institute Archive Sergio Burgi with the Moreira Salles Institute, which donated the photographs to the show, says blowing up the images shows the underlying brutality of the system. In another image, slaves are lined up waiting to be taken into the field. All are barefoot. In between them, once the image is enlarged, we can see many young children. "Its incredible what you see," Burgi says. "The amount of children who very early go out ... how would they manage to take care of these children out in the fields?" Lilia Schwarcz says the slave system was based on violence, and the photos, when when viewed closely, show just how violent that system could be. Whats astounding about the exhibition is the variety of situations that slaves were photographed in: not only in the fields but in their owners' homes, in the city and taking care of the white children of their masters. One of the most striking images is of a white woman sitting in a litter. The two slaves that would carry her through the streets of the city are standing next to her.

One looks down, in deference. The other man is leaning against the litter, his hat tipped at a jaunty angle, staring straight at the camera. "He's showing himself, and saying 'I'm not just like this, I'm another thing. I'm something different. I'm something else," Schwarcz says. A detail from a photo of slaves going to the coffee harvest with oxcar. Vale do Paraiba, Sao Paulo, 1885. Moreira Salles Institute Archive hide caption toggle caption Moreira Salles Institute Archive A detail from a photo of slaves going to the coffee harvest with oxcar. Vale do Paraiba, Sao Paulo, 1885. Moreira Salles Institute Archive Opening New Discussions The images in the exhibition were taken from 1860 to 1885. Slavery ended in Brazil in 1888, and the photos also reveal a tricky and difficult moment for slave owners in Brazil, says Maria Helena Machado, a historian who also contributed to the exhibition. "It was almost the end of the slave system in Brazil, but those owners ... they wanted very much to keep the slave system," Machado says.

Machado says the late 19th century was even more brutal than before because, with slavery about to end, owners wanted to get as much as they could in terms of slave work. "They are not concerned anymore about surviving, so who cares? 'I need to get my money back,'" she says. A lady with two slaves, in Bahia, Brazil, 1860. Moreira Salles Institute Archive Machado says many slaves were running away, while others had formed armed bands and were revolting. The enlarged images show the look in the eyes of the slaves. The battle, says Lilia Schwarcz, is very evident. "They were fighting for their freedom," she says. "So you have here a discussion about freedom." A discussion that curator Sergio Burgi says continues today, with the people who have come to see the exhibition. "People here in Brazil have reacted in very interesting ways saying 'Oh that reminds me of my time as a kid, and I used to live in a rural area and everything looked similar,'" he says. Burgi says even decades after slavery, blacks lived in the same conditions, and that legacy continues to resonate today. The exhibition runs through the end of December at the University of Sao Paulo.

The Real Histories Directory - Slavery in Latin America The Real Histories Directory Featured Resource Featured Topic - Slavery in Latin America When British clergyman Robert Walsh arrived in the Brazilian capital of Rio de Janeiro in 1828, he was struck both by the sheer size of the city’s black population and by its startling diversity of conditions. (Andrews, G.R. (2004). Afro-Latin America, 1800-2000, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 11) So begins the first chapter of George Reid Andrews’ seminal book on the history of Africans in Latin America. But just as clergyman Walsh was surprised at the size and diversity of the African population of Latin America, so are modern Europeans likely to be astounded by the scale and extent of the transatlantic slave trade in Spain’s and Portugal’s Latin American colonies. The history of Africans in Latin America is multifaceted and complex. Not all Africans were slaves, and for those who were, conditions were diverse depending on a number of factors, such as economics, politics, ecology and demographics.

Indeed, Europeans in Latin America used African labour in every conceivable form in every place they decided to settle during the colonial period and beyond. In the space allowed here, it would be impossible to give the whole picture of what happened in this vast continent over a period spanning several centuries. However, I will try to highlight this diversity by exploring slavery in three very different settings and themes within the Latin American mainland: slave policy in the Spanish colonies of Colombia; slaves in the mining industry in the Bolivian high Andes; and the role of descendants of slaves in the building of the Panama Canal. Slave policy in Colombia Colombia was a major destination for slave ships, with the town of Cartagena de Indias one of the most important ports through which enslaved Africans entered Nueva Granada (present-day Colombia and Panama, as well as parts of Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Nicaragua). Cartagena also served as a hub for intra-Latin American slave trade, where slaves were sold on to various destinations in the Andes and beyond. Within Colombia, slaves carried out a wide range of tasks.

They were squires, muleteers, cowboys, blacksmiths, domestic servants, gold miners, pearl divers, sugar cane cultivators etc. The nature and extent of the tasks varied greatly from place to place, a variation influenced both by cultural attitudes as well as differing economic circumstances. Still, the relatively slow economic growth and development in Colombia may have contributed to overall less harsh and exploitative forms of slavery in many parts of Colombia than in the French and English sugar islands. Added to these economic factors were medieval religious and legal attitudes and practices in which protection and paternalism were emphasised alongside more repressive and punitive aspects. Most important in this respect is the medieval Castilian statutory code of Siete Partidas – promulgated in 1348 – which contained both repressive and protective elements in relation to slavery. While the Partidas did consider slavery a necessary evil, any slave (including Africans) were potential Christians and thereby servants of the king. The extent to which these principles translated into practice are debated, but it appears that the dehumanisation of African slaves was less pronounced in Spanish America than in French and British colonies. For example, masters who treated their slaves cruelly were liable for punishment.

In Colombia, a slave was able and allowed to testify in court on matters of maltreatment and other legalities, and often did so. However, the relative mildness of Colombian slavery was probably guided as much by pragmatic factors as ideological ones. In many areas, slaves constituted a substantial part of the total population, even outnumbering their masters, which prompted slave owners to treat slaves humanely to prevent revolt. Furthermore, the unpopulated hinterlands provided slaves with a fairly accessible escape route, which slave owners obviously wanted to prevent at all cost. Some historians have argued that, because of this combination of economic, cultural and legal factors, Colombian authorities and slave owners were more ready to accept slaves as human beings with – albeit not equal – at least some basic rights. This is not to say that a slave’s life in Colombia was a good one, but slaves appear to have enjoyed more freedom than their counterparts up north. Liberty, for example, was a legitimate goal for a slave who could gain his or her freedom through a variety of means. Furthermore, and to a great extent through the influence of the Catholic Church, family bonds amongst slaves were fostered and encouraged.

Up to two-thirds of all adult slaves in Colombia lived in family units, and parents had rights over the fate of their children – when sale occurred, it was more often than not the sale of families. Still, emancipation in Colombia was slow. Although the process started in 1821, it was only in 1852 – after three decades of social and political upheaval – that abolition was realised, intractable slave-owners being defeated by force. Mining in Bolivia As in other parts of South America, the indigenous population of the Bolivian Andes decreased dramatically as a result of the arrival of the Spaniards. The rich mining city of Potosí – which lies at 4000m above sea level – was no exception. Potosí was founded in 1546 at the foot of the legendary Cerro Rico ('Rich Mountain'), whose fabulous wealth quickly turned the small mining town into one of the richest and largest cities in the world with a population exceeding 200,000.

From 1556 to 1783 – the golden era of Potosi – a total of 45,000 tons of pure silver was mined from Cerro Rico, 7,000 tons of which went to the Spanish monarchy. Initially, forced indigenous labour was used to mine and refine the silver, but exposure to European diseases, mercury and brutality led the population to plummet by a catastrophic 90%. To compensate for the loss of indigenous labour, African slaves were transported in great numbers to Potosí – an estimated 30,000 Africans were taken to Potosí throughout the colonial era. The indigenous population was still the mainstay of the mining labour force, but Africans were engaged in refining and minting tasks. This was hard and dangerous work. For example, African slaves were forced to push the mills in the royal mint (Casa de la Moneda) as 'human mules'. The lifespan of a mule pushing the mills was only two months, so slaves were deemed more cost effective. Africans in the Bolivian Andes, as their counterparts elsewhere in Latin America, resisted and defied enslavement with great intensity.

Hardly surprisingly, this created anxiety amongst slave owners as well as local authorities who were fearful of the 'free negros and mulatos, so many of them and their kind increasing by the day that soon they will be roving bands, assaulting and robbing or they will join with the Indians and cause them to rise up'. These fears were not ungrounded; the Casa de la Moneda, for example, experienced numerous violent revolts among the slaves held capt ive there. The authorities responded by implementing a number of slave ordinances restricting the activities of slaves and free Africans alike. In spite of the authorities’ efforts, slaves continued to rise up, revolt and abscond throughout the colonial period and beyond. As in other regions of the Americas, African slavery in the Andes was synonymous with resistance and flight. Indeed, the Bolivian terrain made escape a viable option. The vast territories were impossible for slave owners and authorities to fully monitor. More importantly, perhaps, was the influence of the indigenous people’s means of resistance. Migration was an established practice in the Andes, one that dated back thousands of years. As the impact of the European presence became clear, the indigenous population learned to use their migratory experience to reject and resist European control.

African slaves tapped into this experience and learned to migrate in order to escape enslavement. In Bolivia, many Africans migrated to the semi-tropical Yungas, situated between the Andean mountain ranges and the tropical jungles of the lowlands, where they intermingled with the indigenous population. In modern Bolivia, the Afro-Bolivian community comprises only 0.5% of the total population. Nonetheless, a traveller is likely to become aware of its presence in the Yungas, where the descendants of Africans have adopted dress and customs traditional to the indigenous people. The role of descendants of slaves in the building of the Panama Canal Slavery in the Americas has a complicated history, with a number of different threads interweaving through time and place. In this last example, we will briefly consider the contribution that descendants of slaves made to the construction of one of the world’s most astounding accomplishments in engineering: the Panama Canal. The building of the Panama Canal was achieved in several stages. Although Charles V, king of Spain, floated the idea of a canal in Panama as early as 1534, the first serious attempt was carried out by the French in 1880.

The French had previously built a railroad through Panama, linking the Atlantic to the Pacific, an undertaking that relied heavily on slave labour. However, the French never finished the canal, and for a number of reasons, this enterprise was abandoned in 1893. The main factor was the extremely high death toll of workers. Exact numbers are unavailable since no detailed records of workers were kept, but it is estimated that a total of 22,000 people died, a large number of whom were descendants of Africans. The Americans took over the construction in 1904 and completed it in1914. Because of the disastrous consequences of the French canal building attempt, local Panamanians were reluctant to work for the contractors. For this reason, the Americans were forced to recruit workers from the Caribbean. By 1907, more than 20,000 black workers populated the Canal Zone. This led to alarm amongst local Panamanians, who generally thought the newcomers were settling permanently. Racism was part of the everyday existence of the Caribbean workforce.

They faced hostility on the part of locals, who continually reminded them of their unwelcome status, and discrimination on the part of the American contractors, who regarded them as nothing more than barbaric animals. Indeed, although slavery had been abolished throughout the Americas for decades, black people were still seen as inferior in the eyes of white Americans. Due to advances in medicine, hygiene and health care, the death toll during the American construction was far lower than during the previous French attempt. Still, over 5,000 workers died. The working conditions were atrocious, with Caribbean workers housed in hastily-constructed barracks that offered no protection against malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Malaria was rife, the work was hard and dangerous and the black workforce was badly treated by American foremen. The Caribbean workers, like their slave ancestors, were not willing to take this discrimination and abuse lying down. Strikes, disturbances and riots were common, and a number of workers fled into the surrounding jungles. Some workers would meet ships carrying newcomers and warn them about poor living conditions and ill treatment.

The shadow of slavery still loomed; new arrivals were warned about the dangers of vaccination, which, they said, left 'an inextinguishable mark thereby forever preventing their leaving the Isthmus'. This was not far from the truth, as the vaccination process did leave a mark, used by American foremen or the authorities to identify runaway workers – much like the branding practices during slavery. The contribution of the descendants of African slaves to the building of the Panama Canal – as well as the railroad before it – is undeniable; they performed more than 80% of the hard and dangerous work needed to complete it. This fact, though, remains one of the many untold stories of African contributions to historical events. Kjartan Sveinsson Senior Research & Policy Analyst The Runnymede Trust How the Real Histories Directory can help you with the topic of Slavery in Latin America The Portcities Bristol website has a section on South American and Slavery and looks at the Spanish and Portuguese Empires. There is also an examination of the impact of the Gold, Silver and Sugar trades on enslaved Africans in Latin America.

The Black Britain site features an interview with cultural anthropologist, Dr Andoni Castillo, on the subject of Slave Colonies in Latin America. Untold London has a feature on Joaquim Nabuco de Araujo, one of the men most deeply involved in the abolition of slavery in Brazil (the last country in Latin America to abolish slavery in 1888). He lived in London for many years and there is a plaque to him in London. There are a number of organisations campaigning against modern-day slavery around the world and including Latin America. On the iabolish site, people from as far apart as India and Benin, Brazil and Israel tell of their experience of slavery. The Stop Slavery site also has information on the history of slavery as well as modern-day slavery in Latin America. Antislavery International ’s website has downloadable reports on contemporary forms of slavery in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Click here to download this Topic as a pdf (200kb) Please do let us know if you have other resources or ideas that help with teaching or learning about Slavery in Latin America. You can email us your thoughts or comments to realhistories@runnymedetrust.org .

copyright © Runnymede Trust and individual authors. BBC NEWS | Have Your Say | How did slavery change the world? Printable version How did slavery change the world? Special events are being held to mark the abolition of the slave trade and raise awareness that slavery still exists today in all but name. The UN's cultural organisation, Unesco, announced that 23 August will be a special remembrance day for slavery because it's the anniversary of the 1791 San Domingo (Haiti) revolt. Despite being illegal, it's estimated that millions of people are still affected by modern forms of slavery including bonded and forced labour and people trafficking. One of the events will be held on Goree Island, Senegal which was once a major transit centre for the slave trade, and also a new slavery museum has been opened in the US state of Ohio. How did slavery change the world? How does it still affect the world today? How should modern day slavery be dealt with? Send us your views. This debate is now closed. Thank you for your comments.

The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so far: In an era of globalisation, child trafficking, false adoption, arranged marriages and consensual servitude are some of new ways of carrying on the greatest human sin ever. As a result of slavery we still live with the legacy of the Diaspora. Mixed race, black Caribbeans, Afro Americans, black British or black other must know this we are the descendants of slaves from Africa who were in most cases forcibly removed and transported to work as slaves. Daniel Ogers, Sierra Leonean based in Lodon Slavery made some countries rich and impoverished others albeit at the expense of certain groups of people. Slavery exists today and will continue as long as there is a large disparity of wealth amongst the world's population. Charles, Montreal, Canada Slavery in one form or another is intrinsic to the capitalist ideology. The wealth that the US / UK now have would be impossible without slavery, or at the very least, a sub-class of people paid very little. To pretend that this does not still go on today is very naive - we just can't see it in front of our faces. The state of Mississippi didn't finally abolish slavery until 1995!

Lloyd Evans, Brighton, UK Slavery is one of those wonderful things that gives Unsco and governments in general a great excuse/reason for a big celebration/party..lots of food , drink. flag waving, resolutions as to how they will solve the problems etc..What do they do? NOTHINGï¿½Please prove me wrong! Mangwa.g, South America Slavery existed in Africa before the British just as opium existed in China. The British merchants exploited the trade and became efficient at it, bringing misery until prominent British people pressured the government to put a stop to it in both cases. Similarly, in both cases America stepped in and continued the trade. Britain passed legislation at the beginning of the 20th Century to dismantle its Empire...now America has stepped in there as well! Tim, London Slavery was one of the biggest influences on the world N.Williams, Australia Slavery was one of the biggest influences on the world. The Roman empire was built on the backbone of the slaves, and the Roman Empire was a major influence on the whole world, ruling most of the know world in its time.

With the conversion of the Legions to Christianity it changed the whole of Europe and therefore changed the way the world worked as the empires rose and fall throughout the centuries. N.Williams, Australia In essence, the transatlantic slave trade was the first recorded worldwide trade encompassing three continents. It worked as a demand-supply mechanism whereby Europeans developed a demand which triggered supply by Africans. African chiefs, nobility, traders, and middlemen helped the Europeans by going in the interior of the continent, capturing their own people and selling them to slave traders on the west coast of Africa. Black slavery was and is still a crime against humanity which occurred in the modern era of human history (15th - 19th C); hence it is not a lost page in ancient history. I contend that moral reparations for black slavery have not happened yet at large scale and are now due! Not only Europeans and Americans, but Africans must come forward to atone for black slavery. D. Mayi, Seattle, USA The industrialized (US and mostly European) states owe nothing to the people whose ancestors were slaves.

It is ridiculous to claim that slave labour had built the riches of the modern economy---industrialisation and not cotton picking built up the modern economies. This though does not take anything away from the despicable practice of slavery Yan Gindin, New York, USA The world will not change its stance of slavery because greedy economic tycoons will always want cheap labour and a place to exercise their domineering propensity on the one hand and on the other, there are always people with slave-mentality who avail themselves to be lured for cheap sweets. Furthermore, even institutions entitled with high moral authority like the Church blessed slavery in the past. Ngikangi Masalotta, Lesotho Slavery still exists and that it is up to each of us to continue to put pressure on our government leaders, and on ourselves as individuals, to find ways to end this Jason Wiles, Tennessee, USA While remembering how slavery changed and upset the balance of the world, Let us not forget our brothers and sisters imprisoned in Chinese communist forced labour camps at this very minute. This system (Laogai) has imprisoned hundreds of thousands of Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners, Buddhists, Christians, etc., etc.

for nothing more than believing in something that the communist party does not believe in. These people are forced to manufacture all sorts of goods. We need to keep in mind that slavery still exists and that it is up to each of us to continue to put pressure on our government leaders, and on ourselves as individuals, to find ways to end this absolute desecration of basic human liberties. Jason Wiles, Tennessee, USA I think it is historically inaccurate to claim that the current standards of living in the US are due to slavery. The Industrial Revolution occurred mainly in the North, which was slave free, while the South was agrarian and rather undeveloped. Capitalism helped abolish slavery just as it helped to abolish feudalism in Europe. Jeff Lewis, Madison, WI Slavery never ends, it just evolves. It changes its look and feel, but the essence of bondage remains. The question "How did slavery change the world" is more accurately presented as "How does slavery shape the world." Jay, Los Angeles, USA I don't see how you can talk about the legacy of slavery without talking about the ongoing effects of colonialism.

Just talking about slavery threatens to confuse issues such as the entrapment of women and children that is ongoing, with the wholesale appropriation of the continent of Africa by European nations. Arthur Z, Los Angeles, USA Most discussions on slavery confine themselves to politically correct bashing of the white man for his role in this inhuman activity. What is not so often mentioned is the fact that the white traders in West Africa never ventured inland but merely bought and shipped out slaves who were trafficked to them by Africans. Even more rarely mentioned is the fact that Arabs have been responsible, for just as much slaving as the white man. The main difference is that they haven't yet stopped. It's a pity the bleeding heart liberals don't dare go after them. David, Leeds, UK No-one in this country is in real slavery John R Smith, UK No-one in this country is in real slavery; in fear of their life if they disobey; bought and sold at the whim of their master; punished in any way and at any time; overworked until they died. A real slave from any period in history would think they were in the lap of luxury to have the work and living conditions these correspondents are criticising.

John R Smith, UK Slavery was abhorrent, more Africans died in capture and transportation, the greatest genocide in history. If it's appropriate to talk about the Jewish holocaust then we should talk about the African holocaust. It is time to come out of the closet, and campaign for those responsible to admit their mistakes. Modern forms of slavery in some parts of Africa, should also be condemned in the same way. Zaya Yeebo, Kongo, Ghana 18th and 19th century slavery was the bedrock of the American and therefore the world economy. The West invested amongst themselves and improved their world. However, they now continually ignore the continent that was battered by their actions. Joseph, London, UK It is quite ludicrous and shows a crass insensitivity and lack of historical perspective for some people on here to compare slavery to working to pay taxes or people being paid to work. A low wage by Western standards does not equate to a low wage by local standards and most certainly does not equate with slavery. John, Glasgow, UK The best way to tackle these abuses is to shine a very bright light on them David, London, UK Slavery exists in Britain today.

I have read a report that said 8,000 trafficked women are working as prostitutes in London. Children and domestic servants are kept in conditions of slavery as well. The best way to tackle these abuses is to shine a very bright light on them, and for us to support those organisations that do so. David, London, UK Slavery has helped the United States to become the superpower it is today. The massive use of slave labour by the United States helped to jump start its economy eventually leading to US dominance in the world, culturally and economically. As unethical and immoral slavery was, the United States owes a great debt to those Africans that were forced from their homes. John Kambites, Ottawa, Canada The horrifying thing is that slavery is still going on in parts of Africa and the Middle East, but the perpetrators are Muslim, and therefore immune from criticism by the UN. Hannah, London Before all of the self righteous revisionist liberals get astride their high horses as they attack all things western and Christian let us remind ourselves that it was a Christian - William Wilberforce, that fought to get slavery abolished in the British colonies.

Dave, Reading, Berks The abolishment of slavery (of the sort we are discussing here) is Britain's greatest legacy to the world Jake, UK The abolishment of slavery (of the sort we are discussing here) is Britain's greatest legacy to the world. Until then the lineage of slavery ran out from pre-history. We should not all rest on our laurels however and should look into addressing modern slavery - corporate serfdom. Jake, UK Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery (in 1888), but the government is still trying to crack down on slave-labour schemes that lure workers to out-of-the-way farms and either force them to work for free or keep them perpetually in debt. Sabrina Gledhill, Salvador, Brazil I would think that all countries have at some time or other been visited by slavers. Slavery still exists today in the Arab world and parts of Asia. As others have pointed out, it created the diverse world that we have today. John Atkins, Bridgwater, England Slavery destroyed the teachings of the people that 'all men are equal' and ' though shalt love thy neighbour'.

Slavery brought about by so called Christian countries never treated slaves as equal persons neither did many of the slave trades show respect for slaves. Leslie Jarrett, Slough, Berkshire How can anyone seriously compare taxation to slavery? Slaves have short, miserable lives with zero rights, whereas tax complainers generally enjoy a decadent lifestyle, spoilt only by the sound of their own whining about not being able to afford that second holiday or new car. I'd remain anonymous too if I uttered such drivel. Johnny W, Hull, UK Let go the old and embrace the new. Let us stop dragging this baggage of slavery around. Growth will never come if we continue to be prisoners of the past. We cannot continue to collect our debts from other people. Let us shake off the past and move on. It is enough of this slavery talk. Henry Williams, Sierra Leone/New York Wouldn't a better day to mark slavery be the day the Act was passed in Parliament legislating against it? Chris, UK Wouldn't a better day to mark slavery be the day the Act was passed in Parliament legislating against it? Surely it's from that moment that slavery was doomed? Chris, UK Oh, the irony of a commemoration in Paris!

By way of a trade embargo supported by Spain and the US, France obtained a promise of vast reparations from Haiti which took over 100 years to pay and contributed greatly to its continuing poverty. Of course France has no intention of returning any part of these reparations. Ben Hutchings, Cambridge, UK In the 18th and 19th century people in Africa were forced in to slavery in Europe and the Americas. In the 20th and 21st century people from Africa are entering Europe by all means to engage in forced labour in those places. Slavery appears to be a permanent feature of humanity. Oyinkro Olobio, Port Harcourt, Nigeria The media in conjunction with large corporations subordinate the minds of millions in the US...creating the illusion of freedom. There are still shackles around so many ankles in America. Justin Howard, Detroit, MI Human greed will ensure slavery of some form or the other. Compassion as an ingrained culture is a long way off. Vinod Dawda, Coventry, UK In the 18th & 19th centuries it made America economically viable. Nowadays it's making China economically viable.

Stuart W, London, UK The world is a long, long way off from liberation from slavery. Changing the name of something from slavery to words such as "unemployment", and "wage labour", does not change the facts. Enslavement to poverty is among the worst type of slavery. John Holmes, Canada We still are forced to work two days a week to support our masters in the civil service Mark K, London, UK We still are forced to work two days a week to support our masters in the civil service. We get stress, long hours and no pension at the end of it. They get a job for life, fantastic conditions and a gold plated pension scheme. Time to free Britain's 'tax slaves'. Mark K, London, UK How did slavery change the world? It gave us (in the western world) Blues and Jazz music as well as other cultural interchanges in art etc. Blues music is the basis of the majority of popular music written in the West since the mid 1950's onwards. Hence most popular music would not have been written, if slavery had not happened.

John Davies, Crowthorne, UK We are all better served trying to ensure true equality today rather than dwelling on past atrocities Lorraine, St Albans, UK Judging by the constant campaigns for apologies and compensation the descendants of nineteenth century slaves still believe they are disadvantaged in their adopted societies. Blaming slavery, however, seems counterproductive. We are all better served trying to ensure true equality today rather than dwelling on past atrocities. Lorraine, St Albans, UK The slave trade has been rife all over the world for as long as mankind has existed, it was not created by Europeans. The Europeans profited from the African trade for a number of years but did not create it, and ultimately were responsible for ending the trade. Chris, Bradford, UK I bet the shirts on everybody's backs reading this page were made by slaves in the Far East Alastair, Perth, Scotland I bet the shirts on everybody's backs reading this page were made by slaves in the Far East. We are no better today than we were then. Please do not excuse it by claiming that they are better off because of the pennies they get, because this was the same excuse used by the wealthy in the past. Our food and clothing is now reliant on slaves.

Why else do you think you can buy supermarket jeans for ï¿½4.00? Alastair, Perth, Scotland To Alastair, Scotland: Liverpool's Goree Piazza (named after the Senegalese island) is a symbol of a shameful past, but as you point out, the evil of slavery is still accepted in modern societies simply because it occurs in far away places and keeps the price of goods at a low level. It's no use blaming the politicians because we all like low prices. That's why it's important that the UN makes people aware of present day slavery. John Ormerod, Oslo, Norway Whilst it should most definitely be acknowledged that the white world was involved in large scale slavery, it should also be shown that Arabs and Africans are just as "guilty" and just as responsible for the history, effects and continuance of slavery. Too many people simply blame the Whiteman for all of slavery's ills. John, England Without slavery the world would be a very different place. The USA would be virtually all white or Latino with no significant black populations. Great politicians like Martin Luther King or sportsmen like Michael Jordan would not have lived.

There would have been no civil law, so Abraham Lincoln would have been a minor president who wouldn't have been shot. Caribbean culture would be Mayan rather than African in origin. No Brian Lara, no Bob Marley. Jamaica would be much more like Cuba. Peter, Nottingham, UK The enforced slavery of women in many parts of the world shows no signs of stopping Rebecca, UK The enforced slavery of women has existed for 1,000s of years and in many parts of the world shows no signs of stopping. We should beware rising fundamentalism as it is the biggest risk to the freedom of 50% of the world's population. Rebecca, UK In press coverage of this event, there seems to be no mention of William Wilberforce of Hull who was the prime mover in the abolishment of slavery. Edward, Stone, UK The San Domingo revolt led to the mass slaughter of all those in Haiti who had a detectable trace of white blood, men, woman, children and babies. Haiti has been in a state of perpetual anarchy ever since. Do we really want to commemorate this? Slavery still exists in Africa.

Instead of wasting resources on a special day why not spend it on completely eliminating slavery? Terry Jones, Grays, UK People quickly point fingers at England for the slave trade but they easily forget we also enforced its ban. Robert Sutton, Halifax, England Taxes are a modern form of slavery - we have to work for nearly half the year for the government - and more if indirect taxes are taken into account... Anon, London, UK I have recently just come back from a holiday in Senegal and I visited Goree Island while I was there. The mood while visiting the prison was sombre indeed, especially seeing where people were forced to squat in cramped conditions before being offloaded onto boats. Dave Bishton, Sheffield, UK It still amazes me that people thought the restriction of rights based on skin colour was acceptable Matt, Amsterdam (ex UK) It still amazes me that people thought the restriction of rights based on skin colour was acceptable. What amazes me further is that, at the beginning of the 21st century we still haven't learned our lesson: gay marriage declared illegal, pay inequality for women, arrest and detention of Muslims with no charge. All of these will, one day, seem as preposterous as the idea of slavery.

Matt, Amsterdam, Netherlands (ex UK) It made the banks as powerful as they are now. Slavery is currently making the multi-nationals very rich... Rico, Sheffield, England Slavery has happened for centuries. For example white slaves from the north were particularly favoured in Rome and ancient Greece. Then we had the Normans and the concept of serfdom (whose mentality continues today in the major corporations). The Arabs were great slave traders and many African tribes, who were constantly at war benefited greatly from the slave trade. Tony, Welling, Kent Slavery, of course, existed for many centuries, if not millennia, before the advent of the trade in African people for that purpose. I have never quite been sure whether black slavery was a result of existing prejudice against black people, or whether it gave rise to it. David Hazel, Fareham, UK Brazilian history abolition of slavery Brazlian History: Abolition of Slavery Figure 1.--This school portrait was taken at a school in Teixeiras, Minas Gerais. The photo was taken during a graduation ceremony. The photo is undated, but looks to have been taken in the late 19th century.

Among the students we can see the republican Brazilian flag that was adopted on November 19, 1889. Brazil abolished slavery in 1888, but after this date there were not segregation laws and the children of the former slaves attended schools along with the white children. The boys seem to wear their best clothing for the ceremony. Brazil was a major desination of the Atlantic slave trade. Brazil justsout into the Atlantic and was thus a much shorter run for the slavers. Brazil had the largest slave population in the world, substantially larger than the United States. Pedro II was a ruler of conservative mindset. He came to see slavery, despite its economic importance to Brazil as inherently evil. Pedro began a series of measures liberating Brazilian slaves. He was posed to entirely abolish slavery. His measures against slavery met oposition from major landowners and the military, the leadership of which was drawn from the landed elite. The Emperor was on a trip to Europe when his daughter, Princess Isabel serving as regent, issued a decree abolishing slavery (May 13, 1888).

This essentially did away for the last bastion of slavery, although forced labor cotinued for some time, in the Western Hemishere and ended what remained of the the African slave trade. Princess Isabella's decree is known as the Golden Law. It was widely praised in Europe. Abolishing slavery was the last major action taken by the Brazilian royal family. Brazil proved to be the last Western Hemisphere country to abolish slavery. Atlantic Slave Trade Brazil was a major desination of the Atlantic slave trade. Brazil justsout into the Atlanyic and was thus a much shorter run for the slavers. A new outlet for Aftrican slaves appeared in the 15th century. Portuguese explorers began voyages south along the Atlantic coast of Africa. The Portuguese were looking for a route to Asia, but as they moved south they began setting up trading posts. First the Portuguese established trading posts along the coast of West Africa, but gradually moved further south along the coast. Other European maritime powers followed suit. This was the beginning of the African slave trade. The Europeans differed from the Arabs in that they did not normally conduct raids themselves, but usually bougth slaves from Arab slave brokers and African chiefs.

Europeans built trading post and forts all along the coast of West Africa. From Senegal south to Cameroons there were about 60 forts that served as trading posts for the slave trade. The Europeans exchanged rum, cloth, guns, and other trade goods for their human cargo. The slaves were transported across the Atlantic Ocean primarily to Brazil, the West Indies and the English colonies in North America. Imense fortues were made in the trade. As the demand for slaves expanded, whole areas of Africa were depopulated. Scholars estimate that 10-15 million Africans were transported to the New World. The European African slave trade began during the mercantalist era. It continued well into the industrial era. In fact because African slaves played a major role in the industrial revolution in Europe. The ememse profits from West Indian sugar islands helped to finance the industrial revolution. And the raw material for the first real modern industry, cotton textiles, was produced by slaves. The slave trade was finally ended by the Royl Navy in the mid-19th century. Slavery in Brazil Brazil had the largest slave population in the world, substantially larger than the United States.

The Portuguese who settled Brazil needed labor to work the large estates and mines in their new Brazilian colony. They turned to slavery which became central to the colonial economy. It was particularly important in the mining and sugar cane sectors. Slavery was also the mainstay in the Caribbean islands with economies centered on sugar. Estimates suggest that about 35 percent of captured Africans involved in the Atlantic slave trade were transported to Brazil. Estimates suggest that more than 3 million Africans reached Brazil, although precise numbers do not exist. Brazil had begun to turn to slavery in the 15th century as explorers began moving along the coast of Africa. With the discovery of the Americas, the Portuguese attempted to enslave the Native American population as well. This did not prove successful. The Native Americans died in large numbers, both because of slave rading, mistreatment, and the lack of resistance to European diseases. The Portuguese found captured Africans to be a valuable trading commodity as Europeans began to settle the Caribbean islands. They also began transporting Africans to their Brazilian colony. Portuguese Prime Minister Marqu�s de Pombal abolished slavery in Portugal (February 12, 1761). The Portuguese action, however, did not address slavery in the colonies.

Slavery was widely practiced. Brazilians of all classes owned slaves. Slaves were not only owned by upper and middle class Brazilians, but also by lower class Brazilians. There were even slaves who owned other slaves. Independence (1822) Independence followed as with the other Latin american countries in the wake of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Only in Brazil rather than an independent republic, an imperial ruling family was established. The Brazilian royal dynasty stemmed from the Portugese royal family that was forced by Napoleon to flee from Lisbon. Dom Joao set up his court and temporary capital of the Portuguese Empire in Rio de Janeiro, Napoleon's defeat in Russia (1812) fatally weakened France and the French had to withdraw from Iberia (1814). Napoleon was finally defeated at Waterloo (1815). Dom Joao did not return to Portugal, however, until several years later (1821). Dom Joao left his son Dom Pedro in charge of Brazil when he returned to Portugal (1821). Dom Joao attempted to resume the traditional system of colonial rule.

Dom Pedro decided to declare Brazil's independence from Portugal and his independence from his father as Pedro I (1822). This is a major reason why slavery continued in Brazil. The republican regimes in the rest of Latin America abolished slavery. Preliminary Steps Brazil abolished slavery in a series of incremental steps. finally began to nove against slavery in the mid-19th century. The Government banned the importation of slaves (1850). Brazil fought a major war with Paraguay--the War of the Triple Alliance (1864-70). Thisin effect played a major role in ending slavery. Large numbers of youths and men enlisted in the Brazilian Army and were granted their freedom. Another major step was the freeing of the sons of slaves (1871). Many were the sons of the veterans of the War with Paraguay. The next step was freeing aged slaves over 60-years old (1885). This was an easy step because the elderly were more odf an econnomic buden than an assett. Grande Seca / Great Drought (1877-78) Brazil experienced the Grande Seca (Great Drought) (1877-78).

It was most pronounced in the northeast where cotton-growing was important. The Drought had aterrible impact on the people of the Northeast. It was so severe that people began to mifrate out of the area. Some people actually starved when crops failed. The result was considerable economic and political turmoi. Landowners with no crops to harvest began selling their slaves in southern Brazil which was not affected by the Drought. Some slaves resisted transportment as it often meant families being split. and resentment grew.. Public opposition o slavery began to grow and emancipation societies were founded. The result was the abolition od slavery by the state government in Cear�--one of the norheatern states (1884). Declining System Brazil's economy changed significantly in the 19th century as coffee became an increasingly important crop. Slavery in Brazil was by the 1880s a system in decline. The steps takeb since the 1850s had substantially reduced the number of slaves. Another factor was the increase in European immigration which had begun to reach sizeable numbers in the 1880s. Italian immigration was especually important.

Besides helping to restructure the labor system, these new immigrants viewed slavery as imoral. The many slaves freed since the 1850s also were another group which objected to slavery. Emperor Pedro II Pedro II was a ruler of conservative mindset. He came to see slavery, despite its economic importance to Brazil as inherently evil. Pedro began a series of measures liberating Brazilian slaves. He was posed to entirely abolish slavery. His measures against slavery met oposition from major landowners and the military, the leadership of which was drawn from the landed elite. The Golden Law (May 1888) Abolishing slavery was the last major action taken by the Brazilian royal family. Brazil proved to be the last Western Hemisphere country to abolish slavery. The Emperor was on a trip to Europe when his daughter, Princess Isabel serving as regent, issued a decree abolishing slavery (May 13, 1888). This essentially did away for the last bastion of slavery, although forced labor cotinued for some time, in the Western Hemishere and ended what remained of the the African slave trade. Princess Isabella's decree is known as the Lei Aurea (Golden Law). It was widely praised in Europe.

Question: What became the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery?
Answer: Brazil