All new people, all new places, all influenced by different regions
of Europe and Africa, as well as the New World experience; gave the Atlantic Community
its diversity in culture, tradition, and religion. While the forces of trade
and economic gain fueled the drive for the new communities it also dictated how
life would be lived out by its members.
The Atlantic
community in question was sprung by discovery, and the economic drivers that
followed it brought waves of involuntary forced movements of people from Africa
to different locations in the Americas and the Mediterranean, Europe, and in
some cases back again to their point of origin. Law and Mann point out the
interconnectedness of the Atlantic community here, “The Brazilian community on the
Slave Coast was forged, not through a process of one-way migration, but rather through
the maintenance of continuous contacts across the Atlantic.” (Law and Mann p.329)
Trade between coastal areas flourished as the commonality of the people continued
to grow.
The culture
and religion that was exchanged between communities across the Atlantic found
itself perhaps starting off as one thing but morphed into something different
as worlds intertwined. Elizabeth Kiddy explains how Our Lady of the Rosary bridged
a gap between African beliefs being brought to Brazil where Portuguese
Catholicism was dominant, she writes, “She became a cultural bridge between
what the Africans had known in their native lands and what they came to know in
captivity.” (Kiddy p.49)
Old world
cities were involved in the Atlantic community also, the slave trade fueled economies
of port cities. David Richardson talks about Bristol’s rise and fall in the
slave trade and how different factors played out including war and involvements
in other trade. What can be seen from this when looking at the spread of
Atlantic community and its drivers is that of the continuing economic
possibilities, if there is money to be made then those with money will continue
the process of making it, resulting in growth.
England saw
a way in North America to weed out some the unwanted from their own communities
and ship them overseas where they could be given a second chance, without being
a continuing problem underfoot. In Georgia, community that started off as a
second chance for poor white English debtors ended up as a slave state, where in
its beginnings was illegal. The community here began with intentions that ended
up not meeting the expectations, but while Spady begins by noting most
historians agree that the Georgia Trust was a failed endeavor some things did
arise from it. It did produce two orphanages, “the Bethesda Orphan House became
an exemplar of moral reformation, order and industrious labor at gender-specific
skills and expectations. And, to repeat, the Ebenezor and Bethesda orphanages
were the first of their kind anywhere in North America.” (Spady p.262)
References:
Robin Law and Kristin Mann, “West Africa in the Atlantic Community:
The Case of the Slave Coast, “William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Series,
Volume LVI, Number 2, April1999, pp.307-334
Elizabeth W. Kiddy, “Congados, Calunga, Candombe: Our Lady
of the Rosary in Minas Gerais, Brazil, Luso-Brazilian Review,XXXVII/1 (2000)
David Richardson, “Slavery and Bristol’s Golden Age” in
Slavery & Abolition; April 2005, Vol.26 Issue 1, p 35-54
James O’Neil Spady, “Bubbles and Beggars and the bodies of
Laborers: The Georgia Trusteeships Colonialism Reconsidered.
The use of slavery is often times looked upon as degrading and inhumane, which it was, but many times the cultural influence that came from it is less talked about. The use of slavery across and around the Atlantic had lasting impacts on the religions, cultures, and traditions of all those exposed to the slave trade. It was a revolving door of new cultures going to slave ports, then those slaves being shipped to different colonies, those colonies being exposed to the slave cultures, and then those freed slaves returning to their home country. This revolving door introduced new cultures and religions all over the Atlantic, forever changing the different regions traditions and practices. The influence of the slave trade was much more than just growth and economic success of the colonies, it was a massive cultural change that affected both slave colonies and those freed slaves returning to their home regions.
ReplyDelete