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

In this episode of The Atlantic Slave Trade, Lucas and Luna explore the often-overlooked role of Angola—the single largest source of enslaved Africans for the Americas. They focus on two figures: Queen Nzinga, the 17th-century monarch of Ndongo and Matamba who fought Portuguese colonialism and participated in the slave trade; and the Imbangala, feared warriors who allied with the Portuguese to rai...

In November 1781, the captain of the British slave ship Zong ordered 132 enslaved Africans thrown overboard to their deaths—not in a storm, not in a revolt, but because he wanted to collect insurance money. This episode of The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering examines the Zong massacre, the subsequent legal case that treated enslaved people as cargo, and the unlikely figure wh...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the 1839 Lemba slave revolt in Cuba, a largely overlooked uprising led by a Congo-born slave named Lemba. They discuss the context of Cuba's booming sugar economy, the brutal conditions on ingenios, and how Lemba organized a rebellion that burned plantations and evaded Spanish forces for months. The conversation touches on the role of Cabildos de Nación, the...

In August 1823, over 10,000 enslaved Africans on the sugar plantations of Demerara (modern-day Guyana) rose up in what became the largest slave rebellion in British Caribbean history. This episode tells the story of the Demerara Revolt, a rebellion that shook the British Empire and accelerated the abolition movement—yet ended in brutal suppression and the execution of its leader, a literate enslav...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna delve into the 1794 Kościuszko Uprising, a pivotal but often overlooked chapter in the struggle for Polish independence. They explore the leadership of Tadeusz Kościuszko, a hero of the American Revolution who returned to his homeland to lead a desperate rebellion against Russian and Prussian domination. The conversation covers the Proclamation of Połaniec, which pr...

In February 1763, a slave revolt unlike any before erupted in the Dutch colony of Berbice, on the Caribbean coast of modern Guyana. Led by a Coromantee man named Cuffy (or Kofi), thousands of enslaved Africans seized control of the colony for nearly a year, demanding independence and recognition from European powers. This episode explores Cuffy's rise, the multi-ethnic coalition of rebels that inc...

The transatlantic slave trade is often told through the experiences of men, but women were subjected to unique horrors and forms of resistance. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the gendered dimensions of enslavement—from the disproportionate capture of women in Africa to their role in plantation labor, reproduction as a tool of capital, and acts of defiance like infanticide and poisoning. T...

This episode shifts focus to the Senegambia region, a major source of enslaved Africans for the Atlantic trade, yet often overshadowed by the Bights of Benin and Biafra. Lucas and Luna explore the role of the Wolof and Fula kingdoms, the French slave trade from Saint-Louis and Gorée Island, and the infamous 'House of Slaves' door of no return. They discuss how regional politics—like the wars betwe...

In September 1739, about 20 enslaved people from Kongo, many of them Catholic, gathered near the Stono River in South Carolina. They seized firearms, killed several white colonists, and marched south toward Spanish Florida, gathering recruits along the way. The rebellion, known as the Stono Rebellion, was the largest slave uprising in the British mainland colonies before the American Revolution. L...

In 1812, Cuba came closer than ever to a full-scale slave rebellion, orchestrated by a free black carpenter named José Antonio Aponte. This episode explores the Aponte Rebellion, a conspiracy that aimed to overthrow colonial rule and establish an independent black republic. We trace Aponte's network of free and enslaved Africans, the "Book of Paintings" he used to organize his followers, and the b...

In 1762, during the Seven Years' War, a British expedition force of over 12,000 men descended on Havana, the pearl of the Spanish Caribbean. After a two-month siege, the city fell, and British occupation lasted nearly a year. But this episode goes beyond the military campaign to a hidden chapter: the massive influx of enslaved Africans brought by the British to rebuild Havana's fortifications and...

In January 1811, the largest slave uprising in American history erupted just 36 miles upriver from New Orleans. Led by Charles Deslondes, a free mixed-race plantation driver from Saint-Domingue, a force of 200 enslaved men marched toward the city with flags raised and weapons improvised from cane knives and axes. This episode follows the week of terror, the brutal suppression that left over 100 he...

This episode explores the aftermath of Britain's 1807 Abolition Act, examining how the world's most powerful slave-trading nation attempted to enforce its ban on the high seas. Lucas and Luna discuss the establishment of the West Africa Squadron, the diplomatic pressures on other nations, the creation of the Mixed Commission courts in Freetown, and the brutal reality of the illegal slave trade tha...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the end of slavery at the Cape of Good Hope, a story often overshadowed by events in the Caribbean. They discuss the unique social structure of Cape slavery, shaped by the Dutch East India Company, with slaves from Madagascar, South Asia, and Indonesia. They delve into the 1808 slave trade abolition, the British takeover, Ordinance 50 of 1828 granting rights...

In 1733, the Danish island of St. John in the Virgin Islands erupted in one of the longest and most brutal slave revolts in Caribbean history. For nearly a year, enslaved Akwamu people from present-day Ghana seized control of the island's forts and plantations, holding out against Danish, French, and British forces. This episode traces the revolt from its careful planning during a Christmas party...

In November 1841, the American slave ship Creole was transporting 135 enslaved people from Virginia to New Orleans when Madison Washington led a daring mutiny that would ignite an international crisis. This episode explores the rebellion itself, the complex motivations of its leader, the legal showdown in the Bahamas where British authorities granted freedom to the mutineers, and the ensuing diplo...

In 1831, tens of thousands of enslaved people in Jamaica rose up in what became known as the Baptist War, or the Christmas Rebellion. Led by the charismatic preacher Samuel Sharpe, a literate enslaved man who was a deacon in the Baptist Church, the rebellion drew on a network of Black Baptist leaders across the island. The revolt began with a peaceful strike after Christmas, but quickly escalated...

In 1839, the Spanish schooner La Amistad became the stage for one of the most remarkable slave ship rebellions in Atlantic history. Fifty-three Mende captives, led by a man named Sengbe Pieh (later known as Joseph Cinqué), seized control of the vessel off the coast of Cuba. This episode follows the Mende people from their homes in Sierra Leone through the horrors of the Middle Passage to their dra...

In the early hours of April 7, 1712, a group of enslaved Africans in New York City set fire to a building and ambushed white colonists who came to put it out, killing nine and wounding several others. This episode explores the revolt itself and its brutal aftermath, which saw over seventy people arrested, twenty executed, and some burned alive. Lucas and Luna unpack the conditions in colonial New...

In 1844, Cuba's sugar boom collided with a brutal wave of state terror. The Escalera conspiracy, named for the ladder used in torture, saw hundreds of free and enslaved Black Cubans executed or imprisoned on suspicion of plotting a massive uprising. Lucas and Luna explore the tensions behind the plot: the British-backed abolitionist network led by David Turnbull, the fears of Cuba's planter elite,...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the slave trade in the Bight of Biafra, focusing on the Igbo and Ibibio peoples. They discuss the role of the Aro Confederacy, the oracle at Arochukwu known as the Long Juju, and the secret society Ekpe. The episode covers the major slave ports of Bonny and Old Calabar, the rise of the Efik traders, and the impact on Igbo society. Personal stories like that...

This episode shifts focus to southeast Africa, where the slave trade operated on a vast scale but is less discussed than the Atlantic routes. Lucas and Luna explore the Portuguese prazos—massive estates in the Zambezi Valley that functioned as feudal holdings, producing ivory and slaves. They discuss the role of the Prazeiros, a mixed-race elite who controlled these lands, and the violent expansio...

This episode dives into the inner workings of the Kingdom of Dahomey, a major player in the Atlantic slave trade. Lucas and Luna explore how Dahomey transformed from a small Fon kingdom into a militaristic empire built on captive-taking and tribute. They discuss the annual customs ceremonies where slaves were sacrificed, the role of the Agojie (female warriors), and the controversial figure of Kin...

This episode turns to the Bight of Biafra, the second-largest source of enslaved Africans after West-Central Africa. Lucas and Luna explore the region's unique slave-trading system: the Aro Confederacy, a network of Igbo and Ibibio traders who used oracular authority and long-distance caravans to supply European ships at coastal ports like Bonny, Old Calabar, and Elem Kalabari. They discuss the or...

This episode of The Atlantic Slave Trade takes you to the coast of Benin, to the port of Ouidah—once the busiest slave trading post in West Africa. Lucas and Luna explore how the Kingdom of Dahomey transformed from a regional power into a military machine fueled by the human trade, with King Agaja's conquest of the coast in 1727. They walk through the Portuguese Fort of São João Baptista de Ajudá,...