Slavery, Globalization, and “The Columbian Exchange.” Above, Ortelius’ 1570 New Map of the African Continent.
The Atlantic Slave Trade is presently acknowledged by historians as the first example of globalization, specifically, the post-1492, “Columbian Exchange.” This transformational system of trading began with the New World and soon spread across the globe, destroying civilizations and enslaving millions.
Above, one of the earliest depictions of Africa, this superb issue in Latin is from the first “modern” atlas ever printed, by Flemish geographer Abraham Ortelius. His volume, “Theatrum Orbis Terrarum” (Theater of the World), was the first time a group of maps were bound together in uniform style and size. The “Africae Tabula Nova” (New Map of Africa), at 20″x 15,” features detail culled from some half-dozen incomplete maps, and presents decorative elements including sea monsters (a ghost sea monster, barely visible, is lurking off the Arabian peninsula), a fierce naval battle, and a bold title cartouche, all patiently hand-colored.
However, beyond the masterful engraving work and finely balanced aesthetics lies an ugly truth. Portugal’s famed seafarers had explored Africa’s West Coast, and began extracting slaves in 1444. Their early coastal raiding to capture slaves soon met resistance, but the tribal nations fought with each other to supply an inventory of captives in exchange for fine cloth, liquor, and manufactured goods, especially firearms. Portugal’s next wave of slave trading would fuel Spain’s vast New World colonial empire in Central and South America.
In North America, Spain explored Florida and tried to colonize the Carolinas with 500 settlers in 1526. But everything went awry. With malaria already in their blood, African slaves infected their masters and escaped to the Indians, never to be heard from again. The epidemic devastated the southeast tribes and reached the Mississippi River by 1670. The Columbian Exchange thus introduced African and European diseases to native populations that had no natural or acquired immunities.
In 1575, mapmaker Ortelius was appointed royal geographer to Philip II, the King of Spain, Portugal, Naples and Sicily, Duke of Milan, and lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands. Although Spain’s conquest of Inca gold and silver and its enslavement of Africans and native peoples in the mines yielded immense wealth and power, Philip II ultimately went bankrupt after a long string of military failures.
The above map’s “Bresilliae” coastline, at far left, proved very inaccurate and wasn’t corrected by Ortelius until 1587. But it was enough to encourage the slave trade, and in its time was the costliest book to be had. During the coming three centuries, the Dutch, French, British, Arabs, Danes, Norwegians, Swedish, Americans, and Brazilians would all exploit slavery as a cheap and renewable source of labor. The majority of these nations grew powerful navies to protect their colonies and slavers against piracy – and each other as well.
The Portuguese had shipped 500,000 slaves to the southern hemisphere by 1619. That pivotal year, two English privateers, the “White Lion” and “Treasurer,” but each flying the Dutch ensign, attacked a Spanish slaver in the Gulf of Mexico carrying Angolans purchased from the Portuguese in Luanda. Though hoping for silver and gold, the English made off with about 60 captives, 32 of whom they traded for provisions at Point Comfort, near the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia.
Their transaction’s impact would prove momentous.