@ -682,28 +682,31 @@ A geographer and historian, he is the author of a dozen books on black Africa an
\chapter[Servile economy and capitalism]{Servile economy and capitalism: a quantifiable overview}
In his 118th Persian Letter, Montesquieu noted in 1721 that Africa's coasts
"must have been furiously stripped for two hundred years that little kings or village chiefs sell their subjects to the princes of Europe to carry them to their colonies in America".
In a later work, L'Esprit des Lois (1748), he ironize on the laziness of the peoples of Europe:
"having exterminated the people of of America, had to enslave those of Africa, to use them to clear so much land."
\enquote{must have been furiously stripped for two hundred years that little kings or village chiefs sell their subjects to the princes of Europe to carry them to their colonies in America}.
In a later work, \emph{L'Esprit des Lois} (1748), he ironize on the laziness of the peoples of Europe:
\enquote{having exterminated the people of of America, had to enslave those of Africa, to use them to clear so much land}.
In the same place (XV, 5), he draws attention to the economic dimension of the problem:
"Sugar would be too expensive, if we did not work the plant that produces it by slaves."
\enquote{Sugar would be too expensive, if we did not work the plant that produces it by slaves.}
Eleven years later, Voltaire explains in Candide (chap. XIX), through the mouth of a mutilated slave:
"It is at this price that you eat sugar in Europe"…
\enquote{It is at this price that you eat sugar in Europe}…
Everything is said, in a few words: the wealth of the conquering Europe, the cradle of capitalism, was built on the exploitation and extermination of the Amerindians and on that of the coastal peoples of West Africa:
The Native American population fell in three centuries from 40 to 20 million people (with in some cases a total extinction, as in the Bahamas and the Greater Antilles, as well as on the east coast of North America)
The African population had to suffer a loss of 20 million people (ten million dead and ten million deported) in three centuries of trafficking, that is to say from 1510 to 1850 approximately.
The revenues of the servile economy, which for the great European powers accounted for more than half of the export profits in 1800, cost the lives of more than thirty million human beings.
The Americas numbered forty million men at the time of the European invasion:
more than five million for North America (Canada and the United States) the rest, in equal parts, in Central America (mainly Mexico) and in South America, in the Andean regions, equatorial forests and southern pampas.
We remain stunned by the most recent censuses: The United States has less than 2 million Indians!
If natural demography could have played a role (for example, as in Europe during the last three centuries), the Native Americans of the United States would have to be at least thirty million.
What happened in Peru and Colombia, Chile or Argentina, where Indians, just like mexico, are only in the majority, whereas they should constitute, if there had been no genocide, 90\% of the general population?
And this regardless of the miscegenation and other "assimilations" that some believe can use to blur the figures.
And this regardless of the miscegenation and other \enquote{assimilations} that some believe can use to blur the figures.
The case of the Amerindians therefore boils down to a sinister count: at least twenty million people were sacrificed to God Profit in a direct way, through massacre, misery, deportations and dispossession.
Details are missing. The overall picture is, however, terribly edifying:
Restive, stubborn, diabolically allergic to the forced labor that the colonists imposed on them, the Amerindians, declared foreigners on their own land, were thrown into nothing by the European emigrants.
For its misfortune, Africa was in turn sacrificed on the altar of the "civilizing mission" of European capitalism to "clear so much land."
For its misfortune, Africa was in turn sacrificed on the altar of the \enquote{civilizing mission} of European capitalism to \enquote{clear so much land}.
\section{The collapse of Africa}
@ -713,8 +716,8 @@ Two hundred and fifty years after the humanists of the Enlightenment, we have ev
shipowners' logbooks, masters' reports, travellers' accounts, amounts of marine insurance policies, plans and number of vessels,
the statements of account of the enriched slave traders, the books of the freedmen, the liquidation of inheritances, the value of the currencies, the quantified balance sheets of the triangular trade,
the statements of the ship's doctors, the bounties paid to fugitive slave hunters, the accounts of lynchings, the minutes of the trials and the count of executions.
No serious historian disputes this figure anymore.
No serious historian disputes this figure anymore.
No researcher today seeks to minimize the extent of the catastrophe that was for Africa its encounter with the fledgling capitalism of the metropolises of Europe.
This capitalism could only reach maturity thanks to the extraordinary profits generated by the invasion of one continent (America) developed by populations torn from another, Africa.
@ -726,7 +729,7 @@ At the great time of the slave trade, from 1650 to 1850, deportation reached 100
But the most terrible period for Africa coincided with the rise of cotton cultivation in the United States, between 1800 and 1850: up to 120,000 people displaced annually.
It is obvious that we cannot drain a continent without dramatic consequences in this way:
First of all, on the statistical level of the strict demographic "shortfall", it is worth noting the steady decline of Africa's weight in the world population:
First of all, on the statistical level of the strict demographic \enquote{shortfall}, it is worth noting the steady decline of Africa's weight in the world population:
in 1600, it represented 30\% of all human beings. The figure fell to 2\% in 1800.
The fall continued until 1900, when only 10\% of humanity lived in Africa. The west coast, from Senegal to Angola, is obviously the most affected.
The coastal forests and savannahs are literally raked by African kinglets who with their armies capture and then transport the prisoners to the exchange zones.
@ -759,20 +762,20 @@ Slowly the continent is sinking into a barbarity that it had never really known:
the slave trade during the African Middle Ages had never been anything but exceptional, even marginal.
Islam in the Sahel had not been able to impose polygamy. Human sacrifices were rare and limited to strictly defined occasions.
At the same time, the "African market" is experiencing a real structural reversal:
before the arrival of Europeans, black Africa lived around what was called the "Saharan Sea":
At the same time, the \enquote{African market} is experiencing a real structural reversal:
before the arrival of Europeans, black Africa lived around what was called the \enquote{Saharan Sea}:
the central desert, traversed by caravans like so many ships going from port to port, served as an economic hub:
exchange between the west coast and eastern Sudan, trade with the Islamic civilizations of the Maghreb.
On the other hand, the ocean, bordered by thick forests, served as a limit, offering no real economic interest.
However, suddenly, the construction of the counters by the European powers turned the African economy inside out like a simple sock.
In less than a century the prosperous peoples of the wooded savannahs became a granary of slaves and the warlike kingdoms of the coastal forests took over,
creating real empires of "slave economy", whose only activity was the penetration of peaceful areas, raids, captures, transport and sale of prisoners.
creating real empires of \enquote{slave economy}, whose only activity was the penetration of peaceful areas, raids, captures, transport and sale of prisoners.
The relative prosperity, due to the economic take-off of West Africa (sensitive from the twelfth century), could not survive such shocks.
By 1800, the entire continent had regressed by a millennium.
\section[Servile economy and "primitive accumulation"]{The share of the servile economy in the "primitive accumulation"}
\section[Servile economy and \enquote{primitive accumulation}]{The share of the servile economy in the \enquote{primitive accumulation}}
It seems inconceivable that twenty million men, women and children have been uprooted from their homes and land to address a productivity problem:
given the risks of transatlantic trade, the wage bill had to be reduced to zero in order to obtain a satisfactory profit.
@ -796,7 +799,7 @@ For example, a century later, the same slave traded for a used rifle and four ba
For slavery to become the main pillar of nascent European capitalism, and not only the opportunity for subsidiary income for the feudal economies of the Middle Ages, it was necessary the conjunction of several elements:
\begin{enumerate}
\item The construction ex nihilo of a market based on a demand for products deemed rare, and sold expensive despite a low cost of production.
\item The construction \emph{ex nihilo} of a market based on a demand for products deemed rare, and sold expensive despite a low cost of production.
\item The establishment of a real monetary circulation around the transatlantic slave trade, and for this the rationalization of transport.
\item The joint regulation of the price of slaves and the cost of their maintenance.
\item The establishment of agreed prices for bonded labour products, the organisation of the return to Europe of most of the investment profits without hindering the reinjection,
@ -806,7 +809,7 @@ at the local level of colonial economies, of the minimum necessary, in order to
These elements necessary for maximum extortion of the surplus value produced by the slave workers of the New World were all gathered only around 1800.
The ensuing economic boom was such that it can be said without hesitation that European capitalism would not have experienced its extraordinary growth in the nineteenth century without the decisive contribution of the labor of the slave labor of the New World.
Appearing under Louis XIV, the fashion of "French breakfast" (coffee with milk, or cocoa with cane sugar) became a universal phenomenon throughout Europe from 1750.
Appearing under Louis XIV, the fashion of \enquote{French breakfast} (coffee with milk, or cocoa with cane sugar) became a universal phenomenon throughout Europe from 1750.
Sweet honey teas were suddenly abandoned for the new breakfast, even in the deepest layers of the people, even in the countryside.
The demand was such that the New World increased its import of slaves tenfold and converted to new cultures intended to supply Europe with exotic drinks in fashion:
@ -816,7 +819,7 @@ This first market created, another succeeded it when shortly after 1800 an Ameri
Suddenly, the entire southern United States began to cultivate this culture. The demand for slaves skyrocketed in all areas of production:
Cuba imported between 1800 and 1850 more than 700,000 additional slaves, attached to the cultivation of cane.
The southern United States brought more than 150,000 slaves a year between 1810 and 1830 into the cotton belt.
Far from the tinkering of the beginnings, a real "servile capitalist economy" was born.
Far from the tinkering of the beginnings, a real \enquote{servile capitalist economy} was born.
The resale of coffee and sugar production from America accounted for 50\% of the France's export earnings in 1750.
@ -836,7 +839,7 @@ At the same time, in squalid ships of French, Portuguese and English adventurers
The nascent capitalism's liability when it comes to the ten million deaths of the transatlantic slave trade makes little doubt since this trade had from the beginning the appearance of a fairly organized market,
structured by regional and even international agreements, trying to best meet the fluctuating demands of European planters and importers of exotic commodities.
There was never a "Slave Stock Exchange", but a set of completely standardized business practices, which can be known today from many accounting documents.
There was never a \enquote{Slave Stock Exchange}, but a set of completely standardized business practices, which can be known today from many accounting documents.
Bought in Africa by a pre-capitalist barter system (one slave for twenty liters of brandy in 1770, or two pieces of cloth, or two hats and a necklace of shells),
therefore not very rational and quite dicey, the captives had a fixed price as soon as they arrived in America, according to their age, gender, health and local needs.
The transformation of profits into investments, the transfer of capital gains to Europe or the big colonial cities, the state subsidy to slave shipowners (Richelieu in 1635),
@ -844,8 +847,8 @@ English taxes (from 1661), the regulation of punishments inflicted on slaves in
all this indicates that from the seventeenth century the servile economy of the New World was as important a pillar for primitive capitalist accumulation as the enclosure movement or the founding of the Lombard banks a few centuries earlier.
The King of Spain gave the green light to slave ships by a decree of 12 January 1510. The first African captives were landed in Hispaniola a year later, in 1511.
After a century of "tinkering", during which the elements of servile capitalism were put in place, official stock market ratings of exotic commodities imported into Europe began to reflect the state of the "markets";
more than a hundred shopping counters on African shores having agreed on a floor price for "ebony wood", the item "acquisition" was limited to that of transport costs.
After a century of \enquote{tinkering}, during which the elements of servile capitalism were put in place, official stock market ratings of exotic commodities imported into Europe began to reflect the state of the \enquote{markets};
more than a hundred shopping counters on African shores having agreed on a floor price for \enquote{ebony wood}, the item \enquote{acquisition} was limited to that of transport costs.
The fifteen or so ports between the Rio de la Plata and New York Bay provided most of the reception of the captives having also agreed,
the average selling price of a healthy adult slave fluctuated (in constant pounds) from five to twenty units of account from 1800,
or between one and twice the price of a draught animal, ox or horse. The only thing left was to regulate the price of commodities
@ -855,7 +858,7 @@ On the one hand, the importance of the profits of bonded labour can be measured
the wage bill tending towards zero, the ratio between production (whatever it may be) and this mass gives an infinite value, a mathematical image of the maximum possible extortion of the surplus value produced.
On the other hand, the monopoly situation associated with a captive market ensured profits that enabled Europe to establish a solid pre-industrial capitalism.
Which enabled Europe to move to a higher stage during the nineteenth century, that of the conquest of the world.
After imposing "parisian breakfast", the servile economy (constituted by the system banks / shipowners of Europe / slave kings of Africa / transporters / planters and exporters of America / importers of Europe) put cotton in fashion.
After imposing \enquote{parisian breakfast}, the servile economy (constituted by the system banks / shipowners of Europe / slave kings of Africa / transporters / planters and exporters of America / importers of Europe) put cotton in fashion.
Having constituted the need (after having managed to put out of fashion honey, herbal teas, linen and silk) it first responded to it in a simply mercantile way with taxes and protectionist barriers,
then in a more capitalist way in the modern sense, through franchises, cartels, joint-stock companies and competition.
After a century, the equilibrium of prices, achieved by supply/demand regulation, literally caused European capitalism to take off.
@ -875,18 +878,18 @@ Two entire continents sacrificed to establish a criminal system without morals a
\section{Philippe Paraire}
Author of Les Noirs Américains, généalogie d'une exclusion, coll. "Pluriel intervention", Hachette, 1993.
Author of \emph{Les Noirs Américains, généalogie d'une exclusion}, coll. \enquote{Pluriel intervention}, Hachette, 1993.
\section{Bibliography}
\begin{itemize}
\item Franz Tardo-Dino, Le collier de servitude (The necklace of servitude), Éditions Caribéennes, 1985.
\item Ibrahim Baba Kaké, La traite négrière (The slave trade), Présence Africaine, Larousse Nathan international, 1988.
\item Jean Meyer, Esclaves et négriers (Slaves and Slaves traders), coll. "Découvertes", Gallimard, 1986.
\item Hubert Deschamps, Histoire de la traite des Noirs (History of the slave trade), Fayard, 1972.
\item Kenneth M. Stamp, The peculiar institution, Random House, New York, 1956.
\item Benjamin Quarles, The Negro in the making of America, Collier Books, New York, 1987.
\item Partick Manning, Slavery and African Life, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1990.
\item Franz Tardo-Dino, \emph{Le collier de servitude} (The necklace of servitude), Éditions Caribéennes, 1985.
\item Ibrahim Baba Kaké, \emph{La traite négrière} (The slave trade), Présence Africaine, Larousse Nathan international, 1988.
\item Jean Meyer, \emph{Esclaves et négriers} (Slaves and Slaves traders), coll. \enquote{Découvertes}, Gallimard, 1986.
\item Hubert Deschamps, \emph{Histoire de la traite des Noirs} (History of the slave trade), Fayard, 1972.
\item Kenneth M. Stamp, \emph{The peculiar institution}, Random House, New York, 1956.
\item Benjamin Quarles, \emph{The Negro in the making of America}, Collier Books, New York, 1987.
\item Partick Manning, \emph{Slavery and African Life}, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1990.
LaTeX Anon
2 years ago