The night of 22 to 23 August 1791, in the western part of the island of Saint Domingue , present day Haiti, marked the genesis of a slave revolt and rebellion that eventually play a vital role in the 1807 and 1833 abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. Ever since the Abolition Act was passed in August 1833, August 23 has been declared as International day for celebrating the abolition of slavery nationwide. This announcement came following the declaration made by UNESCO that 23rd of August should be designated and commemorated as International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.
Actually, the ideal of this day is not basically meant for celebrating, but the sole objective of commemorating August 23rd is to document the tragedies of slave trade.
It is a day designed to give the peoples of the world with an opportunity to consider the historical causes, methods and consequences of this tragedy, carefully analyzing the relationship that has evoked between Africa, Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean through the triangular trade and creating awareness about the terrifying and horrific implication of the transatlantic slave trade that affected nearly 15 million people, including children, for a period more than 400 years.
This day is just a celebration in disguise but in the real sense, it is a day in the memory of all those victims who perished to the inhumane act of the slave trade.
August 23rd as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Black Slave Trade and Its Abolition was observed for the first time by a group of countries championed by Haiti in 23 August 1998 and Senegal in 23 August 1999.
In this context, every year the Director-General of UNESCO calls on the Ministers of Culture of all Member States to organize annual events on this date, with the participation of all the inhabitants of their countries, especially young people, educators, artists and intellectuals. Educators promote the day by informing people about the historical events associated with slave trade, the consequences of slave trade, and to promote tolerance and human rights.
However, it is very important we note that the story of the Black people of the world will not be complete without the events covering commencement and the abolition of the Transatlantic slave trade, which today has formed part of the indelible land-mark of world history. Without further ado, let’s take a slip into the history of slavery in Africa and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.
How slave trade began and its abolition
To begin with, the period between the 16th and 17th century marked the dispersal of Africans all over the world, the darkest chapter in her history based on the account of its consequences. This was the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the largest known forced migration in a world history. The Atlantic slave trade according to Philip Curtain was the largest known forced intercontinental migration in the world history. Its significance lies in the fact that apart from being the most important factor in the dispersal of Africans all over the world, its scope, modus operandi, and consequences made it the darkest chapter in the history of black race.
Based on Hopkins A.G. book titled “An economic History of Africa”, what makes the trans trans-Atlantic slave trade unique was its scope, because prior to the advent of the trans-atlantic slave trade, domestic slavery had long existed in Africa where slaves were kept for domestic use and were considered members of their master’s household and virtually indistinguishable from freemen. However, the trade in slave assumed a large volume when the Portuguese began to import slaves into Western Europe around 1442 and when the Spanish brought slaves into the New world after 1517.
The usefulness of African slave labour on plantation was first discovered by the Portuguese through their sugar cane plantation at Sao Tome, their first labour supply was through Benin.
By the beginning of the 16th century the Spaniards had joined in the inhumane trade. The first batch of slaves from West Africa arrived at the Spanish Island of Haiti in 1510 while another batch arrived in Cuba in 1524.
What actually triggered off the massive demand for cheap labour was the opening of the new world which was unfavourable for white labour and American Indians. They were however discovered to be highly unsuitable for manual labour of any sort. Many of them died not only from the stress of unusual task, but also from disease brought to their land by the Europeans. It was as a result of this circumstances that the Europeans slave traders resorted to cheap and subservient labour (Africans slaves). The subsequent result of this was that the Europeans traders who had originally sailed to West Africa initially to trade in gold changed over to supplying labour for the new sugar cane plantation. It was the activities of these European traders that developed into the trans-Atlantic slave trade or the triangular trade. A trade that involved three continents- From Europe = To Africa = Down into the New world (America).
According to D.P. Manix, in his book titled “Black Cargoes”, he wrote that slaves were normally packed like sardines in the hold of the vessels. Very few of the filthy and under nourished slaves survive such ordeal. The condition in the ship and the manner at which the slaves were packed were so appalling that slaves often went mad if they do not die. Unfortunately, there has been no accurate figure for the estimated numbers of Africans slaves that were shipped down to the New world, but going by Walter Rodney estimate in his book titled “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa”, he estimated that over 15 million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean. However, given the number of deaths in the course of transportation, he believes that about 25 million Africans must have been victims of the inhumane trade in humans.
The trade in slaves continued until 1807, a time people felt that it has to stop. So many reasons had been given for the abolition. The reasons given are mainly humanitarian and economic. A critical appraisal of the various reasons reveals that the economic factor was the major one. The economic factor in these cases was the industrialization in Britain that rendered slave labour obsolete. However, it is sad to note that the trade in slave did not end with its abolition in 1807. it was finally abolished with the Abolition of Slavery Act which was passed in August 1833, after Wilberforce’s death on 29th July 1833.