Slave trader monument memorialised mindset that has no place in modern world

Slave trader monument memorialised mindset

that has no place in modern world

Slavery treated the enslaved as sub-human, nothing more than muscle power. Banning a practice through legislative action does not affect that mindset. Changing it requires coordinated action on legislative, executive, social, and economic fronts.

Rajesh Kochhar

(Indian Express (Opinion, edit page) 22 June 2020)

(slightly expanded)

Black Lives Matter protesters at Bristol in England toppled an imposing 18ft high  statue of a 17th century slave-trader Edward Colston and threw it into the river. The statue erected more than a century ego commemorated his philanthropy.  From the perspective of world history today  what he did with his money pales into significance in comparison to how he came by it. Slave trade and slave deployment were significant contributors towards the expansion of European economy

For 400 years slavery had the sanction of the Church, royalty, merchants, scientists, and the public alike. The present phase of enslavement of Africans began with Portugal.Prince Henry the ‘Navigator’ who initiated the exploration of the African west coast was appointed by the Pope   the Grand Master of the well-endowed Order of Christ. The Order became Prince’s power base, providing him with financial resources as well as disciplined manpower.

In 1441, a handful of African natives were captured and brought to Portugal, giving a hint of the opportunities in that direction. A 1444 expedition under the banner of the Order of Christ returned with a cargo of 235 slaves. As per agreement one fifth of the number were handed over to the Church whic converted them to Christianity  and sold them off. The nature of goods  traded can be gauged from the matter-of-fact names given by the sailors  to portions of the  west African coast on Gulf of Guinea: Ivory Coast; Gold Coast; and Slave Coast, corresponding respectively to modern Ivory Coast; Ghana; and  Togo, Republic of Benin and Nigeria.

The world economy in that era was dominated by Spain and Portugal. For a small share in the riches, England resorted to sea piracy and slave trade. England made a modest beginning in slave trade in 1562 when Sir John Hawkins sent 300 slaves from Africa to an island in West Indies called Hispaniola. His young relative  Francis Drake began his maritime activities under his guidance. In his adventures Hawkins had the support of Queen Elizabeth who was making a significant statement when the 1581 ceremony to confer knighthood on the navigator, sea-pirate, slave-runner and patriot, Sir Francis Drake, was held not in her palace but on his ship, The Golden Hind.

Francis Bacon brazenly declared: 'I am come in very truth leading to you Nature with all her children to bind her to your service and make her your slave'. The imagery employed here is significant. Clearly, when Bacon mentions the enslavement of nature and of human beings in the same breadth, he is using one to justify and support the other, in the name of advancement of science. The prestigious Royal Society London and slave trade grew hand in hand.

In 1660 King Charles II gave royal charter to the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa. Three years later its renewed charter explicitly mentioned slave trade as one of its activities. By this time England had acquired colonies in St Kitts, Barbados and Jamaica in West Indies, and Maryland and Virginia in North America. In 1672 the company made way for Royal African Company (RAC) which lasted till 1752. These two companies included as stockholders members of the royalty, other influential persons, London commercial establishment, and Colston. Between 1672-1713, RAC  bought 125,000 slaves on the African coast of which 100,000 reached English West Indies where they were sold . In 1660 itself Charles II issued royal charter to the Royal Society also. The Society was described as a twin sister of the slave company. It owned stock in it and held overlapping membership with it. Exploitation of slave labour, economic prosperity, and advancement of natural history all proceeded hand in hand. Finally, England banned slave trade in 1807, and abolished slavery in 1833. By this time England was well entrenched in India and its economy had become industrial.

Slave trade from Bombay

Ban on slave trade did not mean its immediate banishment. In 1830, Sir Charles Malcolm superintendent of the Bombay Marine decided to meet the shortage of seamen in Bombay Marines (later Indian Navy) by importing manpower from the east coast of Africa and the nearby islands. These ports were already notorious as ‘the great emporia of the slave trade’. on the eastern coast of Africa.  Commander John Croft Hawkins was directed  to bring ‘as many able-bodied lads as you can, in age from twelve to eighteen, free from all disease and bodily infirmity, and of that compact symmetry best calculated for seamen’. There are reasons to believe that there were other, secret, instructions, which however were never brought on record. He bought about 30 Negro boys, some of whom ’being of a more tender age than was authorized’. Two of the boys stated before the magistrate that they had not received any money but had been ordered by their master to board the ship to Bombay.

Hawkins was held guilty of slave trade, imprisoned, and ordered to be transported to Australia for the term of seven years. In the eyes of the establishment he had done nothing wrong. He was seen as the victim  in the warfare between the judiciary and the government. If anything there was great admiration for him for not having incriminated his superiors. From Bombay he was taken to Madras where he was feted as an officer and a gentleman. On reaching  Jakarta  the captain decided  that the ship would  change course and proceed to England because he had important papers to be delivered . In London the King gave a free pardon to Hawkins and invited him to appear at the next levee. The East India Company on its part compensated him financially and took him back into service where he flourished.

Slavery treated the enslaved as sub-human and nothing more than muscle power.  Blacks are still largely perceived as inferior human beings. Banning a practice through legislative action does not affect the mindset changing which requires coordinated action on legislative, executive, social, and economic fronts. When the extant framework is being challenged insisting on law and order is tantamount to preserving and strengthening the discredited framework.