The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering — Fexingo History

Four German Quakers in a small Pennsylvania town drafted the first known public protest against slavery in the American colonies in 1688. This episode explores the Germantown Mennonite community, the Radical Pietist theology that inspired Francis Daniel Pastorius and his neighbors, the text of their petition to the Monthly Meeting, and the complex web of reasons it was tabled — not rejected outrig...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the complex and often overlooked role that African kingdoms played in the transatlantic slave trade. They delve into how powerful states like the Asante Empire, the Kingdom of Dahomey, and the Oyo Empire participated in the capture and sale of enslaved people, driven by political and economic motivations. The conversation examines the impact of European dema...

In April 1816, enslaved Africans on the Caribbean island of Barbados rose up in what became known as the Bussa Rebellion, the island's largest and most coordinated slave revolt. This episode follows the uprising's leader, Bussa—an African-born 'ranger' enslaved at Bayley's Plantation—and the key figures who organized alongside him, including Johnny Cooper, Nanny Grigg, and King Wiltshire. We explo...

Lucas and Luna dive into the explosive opening of the Haitian Revolution, focusing on the August 1791 slave uprising in the northern plain of Saint-Domingue. They examine the secret Bois Caïman ceremony led by Boukman Dutty and the priestess Cécile Fatiman, the strategic brilliance of early rebel leaders like Jean-François and Biassou, and the French revolutionary context that made it possible. Th...

In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht granted Britain the asiento — a monopoly contract to supply enslaved Africans to Spain's American colonies. This episode dives into how the South Sea Company, a financial corporation, became the world's largest slave trading enterprise, shipping tens of thousands of captives to Veracruz, Cartagena, and Buenos Aires. Lucas and Luna explore the political machinations b...

In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht ended the War of the Spanish Succession and granted Britain a unique prize: the asiento, a monopoly contract to supply enslaved Africans to Spain's American colonies. This episode follows the asiento's journey from a Portuguese monopoly through Genoese, Dutch, and French hands to its final, most lucrative incarnation under the British South Sea Company. We trace the...

While the Atlantic slave trade dominates popular memory, the Indian Ocean slave trade transported millions of Africans across the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean for over a millennium. This episode explores the little-known networks that funneled captives from East Africa to the Middle East, India, and the islands of the Indian Ocean. We discuss the Swahili city-states as trading hubs, the Portuguese...

In 1696, the Portuguese slave ship Santo António left Luanda, Angola, bound for Brazil with over 400 enslaved Africans. But days into the Middle Passage, a coordinated uprising among the captives—many of them from the Kongo kingdom—swept the deck, killing half the crew. Lucas and Luna explore this little-known revolt, the ship's brutal aftermath, and the wider network of Portuguese slaving that li...

In 1794, the French slave ship Vengeance set sail from Ouidah, carrying over 300 enslaved Africans. But off the coast of Saint-Domingue, the captives rose up, killing the captain and most of the crew. Lucas and Luna explore this remarkable rebellion, set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, the National Convention's abolition of slavery, and the chaos of the Haitian Revolution. They disc...

Lucas and Luna take a deep dive into the harrowing day-to-day reality of the Middle Passage through the eyes of a British ship surgeon. Drawing on the 1788 logbook of Dr. Thomas Trotter aboard the slave ship Brookes, they reconstruct the precise dimensions of the hold, the daily allotment of food and water, the medical crises that erupted, and the cold calculations of profit versus human life. The...

What did enslaved Africans actually eat during the Middle Passage? This episode of The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering dives into the logistics of provisioning slave ships—from the vast quantities of horse beans and yams to the dried fish, palm oil, and rice that sustained captives across the Atlantic. Lucas and Luna examine ship manifests, the notorious 'squatting' position...

Lucas and Luna explore Cape Coast Castle, the brutal epicenter of the Atlantic slave trade on Ghana's Gold Coast. They trace its origins as a Swedish trading post in 1653, its capture by the English, and its expansion into a fortress that held up to 1,500 enslaved Africans in its dungeons. The episode details the castle's layout—the male dungeon, the female dungeon, and the infamous 'Door of No Re...

In 1733, enslaved Akwamu warriors from the Gold Coast seized control of the Danish island of St. John for six months. This episode follows the revolt from its planning to its brutal suppression, exploring how the rebels used their military experience from West Africa to fight Danish planters and how the Danish governor finally crushed the uprising with help from French Martinique. We discuss the r...

When we think of the Atlantic slave trade, we think of Britain, France, Portugal, Spain. But what about Denmark? For over a century, the Danish West India Company ran a brutal triangular trade from Copenhagen to the Gold Coast to the Caribbean sugar islands of St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix. This episode explores Denmark's surprisingly significant role in the slave trade—how a small Scandinav...

In 1763, the island of Jamaica became the stage for one of the most determined slave rebellions in British colonial history. Tacky, an Akan-speaking overseer from the Gold Coast, led a coordinated uprising across the island's parishes, seizing weapons, burning plantations, and nearly capturing the entire colony. This episode unpacks the rebellion's Akan military strategies—including the use of abe...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore a lesser-known but dramatic episode of the Atlantic slave trade: the 1794 capture of the French slave ship Vengeance by its own captives off the coast of West Africa. The Vengeance, owned by Nantes merchants, had taken on 400 enslaved Africans from the port of Ouidah when a coordinated rebellion broke out. The captives seized control, killed several crew mem...

In 1719, the British privateer John Hawkins intercepted a Portuguese slave ship named Burla off the coast of Angola. This episode dives into the Burla's voyage, the cargo of 450 enslaved Africans, and the legal battle that followed over prize money and the legality of Britain seizing Portuguese slave ships before the abolition era. We explore the Burla's route from Luanda to Brazil, the role of th...

In 1693, the Portuguese slave ship Princesa set sail from Angola bound for Brazil with over 500 enslaved Africans crammed into its hold. But the ship never reached its destination. What happened instead reveals a forgotten chapter of the Atlantic slave trade: the interception of slave ships by pirates — and the brutal choices that followed. Lucas and Luna dig into the Princesa's final voyage, the...

In 1807, after decades of tireless campaigning by abolitionists like Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce, Britain outlawed the transatlantic slave trade. But the story behind the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act is far more complex than a simple moral triumph. This episode explores the political maneuvering, economic pressures, and grassroots activism that finally pushed Parliament to act. We...

In 1839, fifty-three Africans aboard the schooner L'Amistad rebelled against their captors, sparking a legal battle that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. This episode explores the Mende captives' journey from Sierra Leone to a Connecticut courtroom, the role of translator James Covey, and the landmark case that pitted property rights against human liberty. Lucas and Luna discuss the abolitionist ne...

In January 1811, the largest slave revolt in US history erupted along the Mississippi River in the Territory of Orleans. Led by Charles Deslondes, a mixed-race enslaved driver from Saint-Domingue, a column of several hundred men marched from plantation to plantation, gathering weapons and recruits, their destination the city of New Orleans. The uprising was crushed within two days by planters and...

This episode dives into the history of the Royal African Company, the English corporation that held a monopoly on the West African slave trade for decades. Lucas and Luna explore its founding in 1660 under King Charles II, its key figures like Prince Rupert and the Duke of York, and its brutal operations from fortified castles on the Gold Coast. They discuss how the company shipped enslaved Africa...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the story of the Clotilda, the last known slave ship to bring enslaved Africans to the United States, which illegally smuggled 110 captives into Mobile, Alabama in 1860, decades after the international slave trade was banned. They trace the journey of the ship, its wealthy backer Timothy Meaher, and the captain William Foster, who burned and sank the vessel...

In 1781, the captain of the British slave ship Zong ordered 132 enslaved Africans thrown overboard to claim insurance money. This episode examines the legal case Gregson v. Gilbert, the role of Granville Sharp and Olaudah Equiano in bringing the atrocity to public attention, and how the Zong massacre galvanized the British abolitionist movement. We discuss the insurance laws of the time, the trial...

The Haitian Revolution is the only successful slave revolt in history, but how much do you know about the strategy, diplomacy, and leadership that made it possible? In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Toussaint Louverture's military genius, the alliances he forged with the British and Spanish, and the diplomatic tightrope he walked between revolutionary France and the slaveholding United State...