Blog 2

Nicolas Kane

History 498

Blog 2

Christianity and Africans During 18^th Century Europe

            The period between 1600-1800 had changed European society forever.  With the large influx of slaves to the area, Europe was beginning to grow into one of the first multicultural countries in the world at a very rapid pace.  With these swift changes happening around them, Christianity slowly began to grow into society.  During this period thousands of African slaves working in Europe came into heavy contact with various religious missionaries trying to invoke their Christian faith.  The overall goal of the Christians was to eradicate the slave trade and have blacks succeed and coexist in a predominantly white society.  The connection between Christianity and social status was crucial in the evolution of society as a whole and the evolution of human civilization.   It helped bring the blacks and whites together to coexist and abolish slavery.

            In Equiano’s writings he helps us understand the life of a slave as well as the impact of Christianity.  He states numerous times that because of his Christian faith he was able to accomplish all of his goals and was even able to receive enlightenment.  The structure of Christianity also allowed him to structure his life in a positive way, taking into consideration everything that he does before he does it creating positive results.[1]  He also attributes his assimilation to European Society to the fact that he was able to share a common bond by being Christian which ultimately lead to an easier way of life. 

            In Gretchen Gerzina’s article, she mentions that religion did play a factor in slave’s lives.  It mainly provided them with faith to deal with their hardships and gave them something to believe in and look forward to.  Religion was also looked at as a way to assimilate with society and was a way to improve their current situations.  With the respect and assimilation to the white man it would help create better opportunities.  Similarly stated by Olaudah Equiano, he attributes a lot of his success to his Christian faith.

            In Chirstopher Leslie Brown and Nicholas Hudson’s readings, they focused more on outlying factors that led to the integration of slaves into European society besides Chrstianity.  In Christopher Leslie Brown’s readings he focuses on the institutional changes that took places and the people whom were in charge doing it.  Quakers became one of the first examples of slave’s activists trying to abolish slavery.  This positive change helped society understand that they needed to abandon slavery in order to progress as a society.  “The Quakers encouraged African conversion to Christianity while encouraging their slave-holding leaders to support abolition.”[2]  This initial spark helped allow African slaves to be free and part of European society.  Nicholas Hudson however, believes that it was leftist scholars as well as Anglican conservatives who initiated the removal of slavery.  Although his viewpoints differ from Brown, both presume that the initial abolishment plans for slavery were from another religious group outside of the Christian faith.

            In Pierre H. Boulle’s readings he mentions how the French exposure to blacks led to many slanders of their race.  French people believed that African slaves should not be educated nor have cultural believes.  Boulle shows the mood and arrogance of the French stating that slaves “were not Christians and therefore remained uncivilized”.[3]  This hatred would come to a pinnacle with the passing of the Royal Declaration of 1738 which would cause a multitude of attacks on Africans living within France.  Similar beliefs are found in Sue Peabody’s readings regarding French slavery.  Just like Boulle,  Sue Peabody’s readings does not directly touch on faith but rather focuses on France and the slavery that was happening there. 

            In James Walvin’s reading’s he focuses on the aspect of the slave trade and the various routes that were taken.  He focuses on the evolution of slavery as well as the slave trade.   He does not directly link slavery to religion of Christianity in his readings.

            While there is no proof on the exact movement that caused the biggest uproar and eventually abolishment of slavery, it is safe to say that Christianity played a large part.  Between the periods of 1600-1800 European society was faced with many challenges to overcome.  From the initial treatment of African slaves to the abolishment of slavery, many factors were crucial in determining the faith and future of European and African society as well as human civilization.

Bibliography

Boulle, Pierre H. “Racial Purity or Legal Clarity? The Status of Black Residents in
Eighteenth-Century France.” The Journal of the Historical Society 4, no. 1 (2006): 19-46.

Brown, Christopher Leslie, “Christianity and the campaign against slavery and the slave trade,” The Cambridge History of Christianity, 7, (Cambridge Histories Online 2008):519.

Equiano, Olaudah, Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Or Gustavus Vassa, The African (New York: Random House, 2004):12.

Garzina, Gretchen Holbrook,"Freedom of Movement in the Early Black Atlantic," South Atlantic Quarterly, 100:1 (Winter 2001):43.

Hudson, Nicholas, "’Britons Never Will be Slaves:’ National Myth, Conservatism, and the Beginnings of British Antislavery,” Eighteenth-Century Studies, 34, no. 4 (Summer 2001):562.

Peabody, Sue. “Race, Slavery, and the Law in Early Modern France.” Historian 56, no. 3
(1994): 501-510.

  

Walvin, James, "FORGING THE LINK: Europe, Africa and the Americas" in James Walvin, Questioning Slavery (London, UK: Routledge, 1996):4.

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[1] Equiano, Olaudah, Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Or Gustavus Vassa, The African (New York: Random House, 2004):12.

[2] Christopher Leslie Brown, “Christianity and the campaign against slavery and the slave trade,” The Cambridge History of Christianity, 7, (Cambridge Histories Online 2008): 519.

[3] Boulle, Pierre H. “Racial Purity or Legal Clarity? The Status of Black Residents in
Eighteenth-Century France.” The Journal of the Historical Society 4, no. 1 (2006): 19-46.

Blog 1

Nicolas Kane

History 498

Blog 1

Africans in Europe 1400-1600

Between the years 1400 and 1600 there was a drastic change in European society.  The introduction of Africans into European culture changed tremendously due to the differing degrees of social and economic views.  The introduction of slavery to Europe from Africa proved to change the way that the world had connected and interacted with each other.  There was a vast difference in how they were viewed between Mediterranean Europe and Atlantic Europe and progressively changed throughout this two hundred year period. 

African slaves in Africa were treated much differently than the slaves in Europe.  African society needed slaves to control, conquer, and maintain their land while others dictated what they did.  In Africa, a slave was not treated as property, but more as an active member of society.  However, when slaves were introduced to Europe, the treatment of slaves differed immensely, often with cruelty and disregard.  Often traveling on Slave Ships that were covered in disease and filth, slaves had much less respect in Europe than they once had in Africa. 

Mediterranean Europe developed and sought after slavery due to their own economic interest.  From the beginning of the 15^th century towards the end of the 16^th century there was a large amount of voyages and travels seeking the undiscovered on behalf of the Europeans.  These explorations lead to the discovery of the Western African coast by the Portuguese.  Slaves in the Mediterranean did both daily manual labor duties as well as worked in improving agriculture.  Because the Mediterranean was a very diverse area, with largely integrated communities, the transition for African slaves into society was widely more accepted than that of the Atlantic.  Fracchia suggests in his article that Africans had a movement of being visible to being nearly invisible as they were integrated more and more into society.  This way of thinking by Fracchia is supported by the assumption that as African culture became more prevalent that the original slaves that were relocated would lose a sense of their routes and that their original culture would be lost.  This idea however was rejected; because a cultures identity is being more and more common within society that does not mean that there will be a disappearance of Africans just because of cultural assimilation.  Also, the large numbers of peoples relocated would make it nearly impossible for a culture to be completely invisible while being a part of everyday life.  Because of this integration into Mediterranean society and the large numbers of people gathering there, the impact allowed a more flexible social order and Africans were more widely accepted into society, being able to distinguish their roles as being a positive influence on the region as a whole, as opposed to slaves of no cultural value or respect.

            In Atlantic Europe, there was a completely different impact that slaves had on society and as a result, a drastic change as to how they were treated.  “Many Europeans relied on observatiosn and evidence from Mediterranean Europe, and from Portugal, which had started exploring the African coast before Atlantic Europe.[1]  Because of the aristocracy, the roles of African slaves and their domestic servitude was drastically different than that of the Mediterranean.  Their roles were much more defined as slaves and the Africans brought over were treated as such.  Because the amount of slaves in Atlantic Europe was smaller, and because there was not nearly as much diversity as the Mediterranean, they were treated more like foreigners rather than actually people from that region.  “This division among the races heavily influenced the social hierarchy leaving the African slaves at the bottom.  It did not matter if you were an African slave, a personal slave, or even free, if you were black you were automatically put into the lower class.  “Africans in early modern Atlantic world could easily be viewed as pawns in the ongoing contests among the various European Powers.”[2]  It was not until the end of the sixteenth century that slaves were really recognized as being active contributors to daily society.  This was a significant realization that helped changed the face of slaves within Europe.   It helped make their contributions and hard work more recognizable and appreciated amongst the hierarchy and high levels of society.

            Africans and African slaves have always been important members in European society since the early thirteenth centuries.  Essentially, how these slaves were treated was completely different wherever they ended up and their defined roles changed .  When comparing slaves whom were transported to the Mediterranean opposed to the Atlantic Europe you can sense the freedom that these slaves had.  With the Mediterranean being so much more diverse and widely accepting it felt as if the slaves were not really slaves as all but rather contributors to the good of society.  When looking at Atlantic Europe the feel is completely different, slaves are portrayed more so as the slaves in the Civil War, working for somebody else’s cause and being forced to do so.  While not being accepted into society right away, Europe, just as the Mediterranean realized the importance of these slaves and accepted them into their own society.

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[1] Rodney, Walter “Africa in Europe and the Americas,” in The Cambridge History of Africa, Vol. 4 (Cambridge Histories Online, Cambridge University Press, 2008), Page 579.

[2] Michael Guasco, "Free from the tyrannous Spanyard? Englishmen and Africans in Spain's Atlantic World," in Slavery and Abolition, Vol. 29 (Routledge, March 2008), 13.

Bibliography:

Rodney, Walter “Africa in Europe and the Americas,” in The Cambridge History of Africa, Vol. 4 (Cambridge Histories Online, Cambridge University Press, 2008), 579-583.

Michael Guasco, "Free from the tyrannous Spanyard? Englishmen and Africans in Spain's Atlantic World," in Slavery and Abolition, Vol. 29 (Routledge, March 2008), 13.

Introduction / About Me

My name is Nicolas Kane and I am currently a Senior at ASU.  I am from Arizona born and raised and went to High School in Mesa.  I actually walked in the Fall but need to take this class before I can earn my degree.  I started off my college career as a Biochemistry major but this past year changed it to History due to my work load.  I look forward to this class as all History classes are interesting to me and I look forward to the rest of the summer!