Hello and welcome to today's lesson on the impact of the transatlantic slave trade on West African society.

This lesson is part of a broader inquiry where we'll be answering the inquiry question, what was the impact of the transatlantic slave trade on West African society? Across this inquiry, we'll be looking at lots of different things, including the kingdoms of the Sahel, the arrival of the Europeans, the structure and expansion of the trade, but also how British involvement changed over time.

But in this lesson, we'll be putting all those different things together to look at how those different parts of the transatlantic slave trade and the changes of the transatlantic slave trade over time impacted West African societies.

But before we get into all of that, you're going to need a piece of paper and a pen.

If you don't have one, that's absolutely fine, just pause the video now, get everything you need, and then come back and press play when you're ready to go.

Great.

Now you've got everything you need, let's have a look at our lesson outcome for today.

So by the end of this lesson, you'll be able to explain how the transatlantic slave trade impacted West African rulers and local people.

So we'll be able to make some really great specific explanations of how the transatlantic slave trade impacted West African society, looking at different people groups.

But in order to do this, we're going to need some keywords.

And for today's lesson, we've got five, prisoners of war, indentured labour, chattel slavery, enslaved people, and society.

Now it's great to have these keywords 'cause it gives us something to focus on as we go through the lesson and learn some new things, and when we're doing our practise task to try and include these keywords.

However, what's really helpful is to have some definitions of these words before we get started on the lesson.

So prisoners of war are people captured by the opposing side during a war.

Indentured labour is a system where someone is made to work without pay for a set period of time, either as punishment or voluntarily for later repayments.

Chattel slavery is when people become legal property and cannot be freed without the permission of their slave holder.

Enslaved people are people who have been forced to work without pay, lose their freedom, and become the property of another person.

And finally, a society is a large group of people who will live within the same area, and usually share similar cultures and beliefs.

Now we've got our five key words and definitions, and we know what we want our lesson outcome to be, we can get started on today's lesson.

So in the first part of today's lesson, we'll be looking at the impact of the transatlantic slave trade.

So by the late 1400s, the Portuguese merchants had become wealthy from trading people who had been held as prisoners of war, from one west African kingdom to another.

As the Portuguese began to build colonies in the Americas, they looked to use enslaved people to work on plantations in these new colonies.

This changed life for the local African people who had been taken as prisoners of war as they would no longer work under a system that was similar to indentured labour.

So if you remember earlier, that was one of our key words.

So indentured labourers were sometimes taken by force or voluntarily to work for a set period of time without pay.

But this was often for four to seven years, and after that, they may receive a small amount of payment or land to live on as a free person.

But life would change for these local African people as they would not be sold into a system that was similar to indentured labour.

They would now be taken to the Americas and forced to work under a system of chattel slavery as enslaved people.

If you remember from our definitions, chattel slavery was different because these people would not be freed after a set period of time.

They would be enslaved to their entire lives unless their freedom was granted by their slaveholder.

Now, in thinking about how these local people were impacted by the trans-Atlantic slave trade, more than just knowing that they were taken from the West African coast and taken out of a system that was similar to indentured labour into a system of chattel slavery, we should also consider what happened once they were taken from the coast.

So if we have a look at the slide here, we can see a map of the triangular trade.

The transatlantic slave trade was sometimes referred to as the triangular trade because it involved the trade of manufactured goods from Europe to West Africa, and the taking of enslaved African people from West Africa to the Americas, and then the taking of raw materials like tobacco, sugar and cotton from the Americas back to Europe to continue to trade.

When these West African people were taken, usually as prisoners of war, they were taken across the middle passage and this journey was unimaginably bad.

For around 12 weeks, enslaved people would be forced below the deck of a ship and chained closely together with very few opportunities to come up for air.

It's estimated that around 2 million people, at least 2 million people died on the Middle Passage.

For local West African people, their lives were further disrupted when more European traders began kidnapping people along the coast to enslave.

Although this has happened from the late 1400s, it was not common.

And as the transatlantic slave trade expanded, there were many more people taken into slavery.

It was no longer just those who had been taken as prisoners of war or those of low social status, the wealthier groups of people who were previously protected were now at risk of being enslaved.

So this is a huge change for the local people.

We are looking at people who were previously taken as prisoners of war, who would've been sold into another West African kingdom for a set period of time being taken to a new continent across an unimaginably bad journey, and now it includes different groups of people being taken because as the European traders began to kidnap more people along the coast, those who were previously protected like wealthier groups of people, were now also at risk of being enslaved.

And as you can see on the slide here, we've got a plan of Bridgetown, Barbados.

You may already know that Barbados in the 16-1700s was part of the British Caribbean.

And by 1700, the British merchants had taken a major role in the transatlantic slave trade.

Half of all enslaved people from West Africa were taken on British ships to the Americas.

Now, most of these people had lived under Muslim rulers in West Africa.

As many rulers had begun to convert to Islam before the transatlantic slave trade began.

But they were now taken and forced to work and live under British slave holders who were often Christian.

The society they left behind was marked by the loss of a huge number of people.

And the people who had been forcefully transported were often forced to abandon their way of life and embrace the culture of their slave holders.

So we see their power being taken as their forced to become enslaved people under chattel slavery.

We see their culture being forced to change as they're being forced to embrace the culture of their slave holders, but they're also being forced to live in an entirely new continent with a new language, with new people.

And that's for those who were able to survive the journey across the Atlantic.

Now before we have a look at how the transatlantic slave trade impacted rulers of West African society, we're going to pause for a moment and check our understandings so far.

Local African people would've known a system of slavery that was similar to indentured labour.

How was this different to the system of slavery that they faced in the Americas? Was it different because A, a different system of indenture labour was being used, which meant that they would have to work on plantations for twice as long? B, a system of chattel slavery was used, which meant they could only be freed by their slave holder? Or C, a system of chattel slavery was used, which meant they would be freed after 7 to 12 years? Pause the video now, when you think you know the right answer, come back and press play.

Good work, the answer is B.

Indentured labour was different because in the system of chattel slavery, they could only be freed by their slave holder.

But if you remember from what I said earlier, indentured labour lasted for a set period of time.

So if they had been taken as indentured labourers, which was a system that they would've been more used to in West Africa, they would've been working on these plantations for a set period of time, rather than enslaved their entire lives unless freed by their slave holder.

Let's have a look at another question.

The transatlantic slave trade only impacted local African people who were of low status.

Is that true or false? Pause the video now, when you think you know the answer, come back and press play.

Good work, we know this answer is false, but we need to think about why.

So now I'd like you to justify your answer.

Is this statement false because as kidnapping on the West African coast increased, wealthy people also risked being enslaved, or because wealthy people were usually taken as prisoners of war, so had always risked being enslaved? Pause the video now, and when you think you have an answer, come back and press play.

Good work, we know that this statement is false because as kidnapping on the West African coast increased, wealthy people also risked being enslaved.

Now, let's look at another group of people who were impacted by the transatlantic slave trade in West African society.

So as we've said already, it wasn't just local people who saw change as a result of the transatlantic slave trade.

Long before the arrival of the Portuguese in the 1400s, West Africa had been home to several wealthy kingdoms whose gold mines attracted the attention of Muslim traders.

For example, the kingdoms of Mali and Songhay.

These traders travelled from across the Sahel to trade their goods for gold, and in the process they shared their religion.

So here we can see Elmina Castle, which was built by the Portuguese on the Gold Coast in 1482.

This castle is a testament of the relationship between the Portuguese and these local African kingdoms who began to lose power to these newly arrived Portuguese traders.

Because if you are able to build a castle on the coast, it suggests that you either had a good enough relationship with the local rulers to be granted permission, but that they had enough influence to build a castle, which could act as a fort from which they could trade enslaved people.

But at first, remember, they were there to trade gold, and this trade in gold would at first impact the wealth of these local African rulers.

But we'll also look at different ways that these rulers were impacted.

Now, you can see on the slide here a map of West African kingdoms from around 1200 to 1700.

And some of these kingdoms you might recognise, a couple of them I've already mentioned, Mali and Songhay.

But as these Portuguese traders continue to arrive with new goods, gold miners and traders who lived and worked along the West African coast began to trade more with the Europeans than they did with other empires and states in the Sahel.

So like I mentioned earlier, when we were looking at that castle, Elmina Castle, and I said that that trade would impact the wealth of these rulers, that's because local African traders would move closer to places like Elmina Castle to trade with these European merchants rather than other West African rulers.

And this meant that local African kingdoms began to lose their power to the newly arrived Portuguese traders as some of these kingdoms were also facing internal problems like the Kingdom of Songhay.

The loss of power to the the Portuguese was difficult to recover from and many did not.

This meant that power shrunk into smaller kingdoms along the coast like the Wolof and the Kaabu kingdoms. This also meant that the influence of Islam in the region began to shrink, as many of the merchants were Christian and many enslaved people were taken to colonies run by Christian settlers.

So we can see here that we've got these huge kingdoms like Mali and Songhay, but Songhay was still a great kingdom when the Portuguese began to arrive.

However, the kingdom of Songhay began to collapse, like I said, because of different internal problems that were made worse by the fact traders were moving to the coast to trade with the Portuguese instead of them.

And then power shrunk into smaller kingdoms. If you look at the map, like I said earlier, the Wolof and Kaabu kingdom can be seen right on the coast.

And you can see they're much smaller than some of the other kingdoms I mentioned earlier, like Mali and Songhay.

And in the 15 and 1600s, the trade and enslaved people continued to expand as more European merchants became involved.

This often led to conflict between kingdoms because the transatlantic slave trade exacerbated the trade and weapons, which led to more conflict.

This increase in conflicts further weakened the power of their rulers.

Some European traders then decided that more conflict between West African kingdoms was needed as this meant that more people could be captured and traded, making European traders more money.

One example of this is the kingdom of Kongo, which you can see annotated on our map here.

West African rulers formed alliances with European merchants.

This meant their power became dependent on European merchants.

When these merchants lost wars against other European merchants, their West African allies would also be forced to agree to peace treaties that usually reduce their power and weaken their kingdoms. And like I said, the Kingdom of Kongo is one example.

You may already know that they were allied with the Dutch who had begun to trade in the region as well.

And when the Dutch lost to the Portuguese, the kingdom of Kongo was forced to sign a harsh peace treaty.

And part of that treaty meant that they had to sell more enslaved people to the Portuguese, even if that meant selling people who were of a higher status.

So here we see the impact on the West African rulers and local people happening at the same time.

But not all kingdoms were weakened by the transatlantic slave trade.

In the kingdom of Benin, the Obas, who were both the kings and spiritual leaders refused to sell their people into slavery.

Benin continued to trade with the Europeans.

They bought much of the bronze, which the Obas used to create important sculptures known as the Benin Bronzes today.

But they refused to offer enslaved people in return.

However, as they had established peaceful trading relationships with the Portuguese, they were able to continue thriving in the 1600s.

Unfortunately, other kingdoms did not follow the Obas in refusing to sell enslaved people to the Europeans, and therefore, the trade and enslaved people continued.

Now that we've had a look at how the transatlantic slave trade also impacted West African rulers, let's pause for a moment and check our understandings so far.

I'd like you to tell me which two of the following statements explains why the transatlantic slave trade led to West African rulers losing power.

A, European merchants led rebellions in their kingdoms. B, when European merchants lost war against each other, their West African allies also suffered.

C, growing European power led to war between kingdoms. Pause the video now, when you've made a decision, come back and press play.

But remember, there's two correct statements.

Really good work.

B and C are the correct statements.

Let's have a look at another question.

Not all West African rulers lost their power to European merchants.

True or false? Pause the video now, when you've got an answer, come back and press play.

Good work.

We know the answer is true, but we need to think about why.

So now, can you justify your answer? Is this statement true because A, kingdoms like Benin established peaceful trading relationships with the Portuguese or B, kingdoms like Benin successfully defeated the Portuguese in several wars? Again, pause the video, when you have an answer, come back and press play.

Good work, we know that this statement is true because kingdoms like Benin established peaceful trading relationships with the Portuguese.

It was not that they defeated the Portuguese in several wars.

It was those peaceful trading relationships that allowed them to continue trading bronze, but continued to refuse to sell enslaved people in return.

However, we know that not all kingdoms followed the Obas in refusing to sell enslaved people and therefore the trade continued.

Now, let's put our learning so far into practise.

On this slide here, you'll see five different statements.

What I would like you to do is to place each statement in the correct section of the Venn diagram.

You'll place it in the left-hand side if you think this statement shows change for local people.

You'll place it in the right-hand side if you think this statement shows change for rulers, and you'll place it in the middle if you think that this statement shows change for both local people and rulers.

You don't have to write out the whole statement, you can just write the letter in the correct section of the Venn diagram.

I'd like you to give yourself about five minutes to complete this task and then come back when you're done.

So for example, enslaved people were forced to live under a system of chattel slavery.

With that statement, we know that they're talking about change for local people.

So we'd write A in the left-hand side.

Now I'd like you to have a go at the remaining four statements.

Give yourself up to five minutes to complete this task.

So you can pause the video now, come back and press play when you've completed the Venn diagram.

Really good work.

Let's have a look at what the completed Venn diagram should look like.

So local kingdoms began to lose power to the Portuguese merchants.

That would be B, because this is a change for local rulers.

By 1700, wealthier people were also at risk of being enslaved.

Sounds like a change for local people so C is in the left side of the diagram.

Conflict between kingdoms increased so more people were taken as prisoners of war.

Now, this is a bit trickier because if conflict is increasing, that's going to affect the power of the rulers.

But also if more people are being taken as prisoners of war, that's going to affect the local people.

So that's why D goes in the middle part of the paragraph.

And finally, C, many kingdoms became dependent on European merchants.

Now, that's going to affect the rulers if their power and wealth is dependent on European merchants.

So that's why E goes in the right-hand side of the diagram.

Really good work in the first part of this lesson.

Now let's move on.

So in the second part of the lesson, we are going to be explaining the changes in West African society.

So we're going to be putting everything we've learned in this first part of the lesson into practise, using it to write some incredible paragraphs.

So in order to explain the changes, we need to think about the different parts of society.

Now, in thinking about the different parts of society, it's helpful to break it down into three main areas.

So first, we can talk about power as you can see on the slide here, thinking about how powerful were the rulers and what individual freedoms did people have.

So power in terms of the rulers, we're thinking about how powerful they actually were and how we can see that.

But for local people, we are talking about individual freedoms. If they had individual freedom, so freedom to do more or less what they wanted, we might say these individual local people had power.

We can also think about religion.

So what religious practises did the rulers and local people follow? And how did that change as a result of the transatlantic slave trade, but also money and wealth, who controlled most of the trade in West Africa? So now we've got an idea about the different parts of society, we're just gonna check quickly that we can apply this to what we know so far.

Enslaved people were taken to the Americas and forced to embrace the Christian culture of their slaveholders.

Think just now about the different categories I mentioned.

This statement is an example of a change in which aspect of society? So is this statement talking about a change in power, a change in religion, or a change in money and wealth? Pause the video now, have a think, and when you've got an answer, come back and press play.

Good work.

This is an example of a change in religion because we're thinking about beliefs and cultures, and here we see enslaved people being forced to embrace the Christian culture of their slave holders.

So that's a change to the religion of the local people.

Let's have a look at another one.

Many local kingdoms had become dependent on trade with European merchants by 1700.

This statement is an example of a change in which aspect of society? So have a think again.

Is it power, religion or money and wealth? Pause the video and then press play when you think you know the answer.

Good work, money and wealth.

So now we've seen some statements that we can link to different parts of society.

Let's have a look at what explaining these different changes might look like.

So we've got two students here.

Aisha said, before the arrival of European merchants, many West African rulers were wealthy as they had lots of gold to trade.

As the Portuguese began to trade enslaved people, they grew more powerful.

So African rulers often lost lots of their wealth as local traders moved to the coast to trade with European merchants.

Then we have Sofia, who said many West African rulers were very wealthy as they controlled many gold mines, for example, Mali and Songhay.

These rulers lost a lot of their wealth.

Local African traders moved to the coast to trade with European merchants who had begun to trade enslaved people to take their colonies in the Americas.

So these two students are talking about changes in West African society, but which of these students is beginning to explain the way the control of wealth in Africa? But which of these students is beginning to explain the way the control of wealth in West African society changed? So just stop for a moment, reread the statements if you need to, but think about which of these students is beginning to explain the changes, not just state them.

When you've got an idea, come back and press play.

Good work, I hope you said Aisha.

And that reason is really clear here.

We can see it highlighted in green.

She's saying things like before the arrival of European merchants.

And then as the Portuguese began to trade enslaved people.

here, she's clearly explaining how things were before the arrival of European merchants and what changed as a result of the transatlantic slave trade.

So she's done an excellent job here of explaining that change, not just telling me how things were before and how things were afterwards.

She's using that clear vocabulary, before the arrival of, or as a result of the Portuguese beginning, you know, that language to really show how things changed over time.

So now let's check whether you can spot which of these three students is explaining the way power in society changed.

So we've got Alex who says, before the arrival of Europeans, most local people were free to work as traders, but after transatlantic slave trade began, many were sold into chattel slavery in the Americas.

We've got Sam who says, it is estimated that 2 million people died in the Middle Passage, the enslaved people that survived would be taken and sold into chattel slavery on plantations in the Americas.

And then we've got Jacob, who says that the transatlantic slave trade led to European merchants becoming increasingly powerful.

They used this power to enslave local people and weaken the power of local rulers.

So now I'd like you to pause the video and you need to decide which of these students is explaining the way that power in society changed.

So take a moment, have a think.

If you need to take a little bit longer to reread the statements, that's absolutely fine.

But come back when you think you know which student is explaining the way power in society changed.

Excellent work.

I hope you said Alex.

Now let's have a look at why Alex is explaining the way that power in society changed.

So here we can see that Alex is clearly explaining how things were before the arrival of European merchants and what changed as a result of the transatlantic slave trade.

And that's clear in these phrases, before the arrival of Europeans, and then later he says, but after the transatlantic slave trade began.

So really clearly explaining how things were before and afterwards in order to show and explain that change.

So now we've got an idea of how we can explain change.

If you remember in the first part of the lesson, we were looking at the impact on both local people and rulers.

Let's see how we can incorporate that into our answers.

So we've got two students here.

Aisha, who says, before the transatlantic slave trade began, many local rulers were very powerful as they controlled the land and the trade of gold across the Sahel.

As the Europeans became more powerful, these rulers often struggled to keep their power as some faced ongoing internal problems. So like the statement says, she's explaining how power in West African society has changed.

Sofia, on the other hand, has said, in the 1400s, local people had the freedom to trade across the Sahel, and rulers had the power to control the trade.

However, as the Europeans grew more powerful, many of these local people lost their freedom and became enslaved people.

Many rulers faced internal problems and lost their power to the European merchants.

So both of them are explaining how power in West African society had changed.

Great work for both of them.

But I need you to think about which of these students is showing the change for both rulers and local people.

So they've both used what we've learned so far, and they're explaining the change by telling us what happened before and afterwards.

But which of these students is thinking about the change for the different groups of people we spoke about earlier? Pause the video.

And again, if you need a little bit longer just to reread the statements, absolutely fine.

But come back when you think you know which of these students is showing the change for both groups of people.

Great work.

I'm hoping you said Sofia, she got it right this time.

She clearly shows how power changed for local people.

As we can see up at the top, in the 1400s local people had the freedom to trade across the Sahel.

But then she also explains how power changed for rulers in West Africa as a result of the transatlantic slave trade, which we can see closer to the bottom, where she says, many rulers faced internal problems and lost their powers to European merchants.

So now we've got an idea of how we can explain the change by showing what happened before and as a result of the transatlantic slave trade, but also incorporating how these changes impacted local people and the rulers.

Before we put all of this into practise, we've got one more check for understanding just to make sure we've got everything together to write some incredible paragraphs at the end of this lesson.

I'd like you to number these statements from one to four to show the order in which religion changed for rulers and then for local people.

Pause the video, give yourself up to five minutes just to order these statements, and then come back and press play.

Remember that you're showing the order in which religion changed for rulers and then for local people.

Off you go.

Really good work.

Let's have a look at what the correct order should have looked like.

So to start with, as a result of Muslim traders from across the Sahel, many rulers in West Africa converted to Islam.

As some of these kingdoms began to collapse, the influence of Islam also reduced.

So that's talking about the change for rulers in West Africa.

We are looking at the increase in the influence of Islam as many rulers are converting, but then the collapse in the influence of Islam as a result of the arrival of European traders, and their growing influence.

Then in thinking about for the local people.

Local people in West Africa often continue to practise traditional African religions instead of converting to Islam like their rulers.

And finally, as a result of the transatlantic slave trade, as enslaved people, many West African groups were forced to embrace the Christian religion of their slave holders.

So that's how we see religion changing for both rulers and then for local people.

Now, let's put everything we've learned this lesson into practise.

We're going to be writing some incredible paragraphs.

So first, I would like you to write me one paragraph explaining how the control of wealth in West African society changed for both the rulers and local people as a result of the transatlantic slave trade.

Remember to use keywords to clearly explain how things were before and after the transatlantic slave trade in order to show the change, and to use at least one example to show the change for local people, and then at least one example to show the change for local rulers.

Pause the video now, give yourself up to 10 minutes to write this paragraph and then come back when you're done.

Brilliant work.

Let's have a look at what your answer might have included.

Before the arrival of European merchants, wealth was controlled by the rulers of West African kingdoms like the kingdoms of Mali and Songhay.

They had become very rich from their control of the local gold mines, which had attracted European merchants.

However, as European merchants arrived on the coast and moved from trading their goods to trading their goods for enslaved people, these European merchants took control of the wealth in West Africa.

Although it wasn't all kingdoms who lost their wealth, it did lead to many rulers losing their wealth and eventually the collapse of their kingdoms. For local people who gained wealth from trading the gold of their rulers, many became enslaved who were sold into chattel slavery in the Americas.

This meant that they not only lost their wealth, but also their freedom.

If you managed to get those keywords in and making sure that you're explaining the changes for the rulers and local people, really well done.

We've got one more paragraph for today.

I'd now like you to write one paragraph explaining how power in West African society changed for both the rulers and local people as a result of the transatlantic slave trade, remembering the same things from before, using keywords, clearly explaining how things were before and after the transatlantic slave trade in order to show the change, and using at least one example to show the change for local people, and then another example, at least one, to show the change for the rulers.

Pause the video now.

Give yourself up to 10 minutes to give this task a go, and then come back and press play when you're done.

Excellent work.

Let's have a look at what your final practise task may have included.

In the early 1400s, power was held by large kingdoms in West Africa, like the kingdom of Songhay.

When the transatlantic slave trade began, European merchants set up forts along the coast and became increasingly powerful.

As some rulers faced internal issues, they could not recover from their internal problems and the growing power of Europeans in West Africa, and so lost their power.

For example, the kingdom of Songhay faced a civil war in 1591 and never fully recovered.

For local people, they held their individual power in their freedom to live and trade where they chose.

When the European merchants first arrived, local African people still had the freedom to choose to trade closer to them along the coast.

As the transatlantic slave trade expanded, many more local people were taken as enslaved people losing all their freedom as they were sold into chattel slavery in the Americas.

Really fantastic work.

You've done so well this lesson.

Let's finish up by looking at a summary of what we've learned.

So we've learned this lesson that West African kingdoms were wealthy from trade across the Sahel prior to the arrival of Europeans.

We've also learned that some local people in West Africa had known a system of slavery similar to a system of indentured labour.

We learned that the arrival of European merchants led to more wars, and conflicts, and more people taken as prisoners of war, and then sold as enslaved people.

And finally, many West African kingdoms became reliant on trade with Europeans, which led to the collapse of several kingdoms. However, some kingdoms continued to thrive in the 1600s.

You've done excellent work this lesson.

You should be so proud of your final two paragraphs putting everything we've learned together.