Important Terms to Clarify
Atlantic World – The term “Atlantic World” is the collective nations, countries, and areas near and around the Atlantic Ocean that had interactions with each other during the 1400s to 1900s. The Atlantic Ocean is what opened up connections between the Old World and the two other continents—the Americas and Africa (Thornton 13).
Atlantic Trade – The term “Atlantic Trade” refers to all trade along the Atlantic Ocean, not just the transatlantic dimension alone (Fergus 2). While much the trade was transatlantic, countries did not always need to directly cross the Atlantic Ocean in order to trade goods with other countries countries (Acemoglu 546).
Atlantic Trade – The term “Atlantic Trade” refers to all trade along the Atlantic Ocean, not just the transatlantic dimension alone (Fergus 2). While much the trade was transatlantic, countries did not always need to directly cross the Atlantic Ocean in order to trade goods with other countries countries (Acemoglu 546).
Transatlantic Trade – The term “Transatlantic Trade,” or also commonly known as the Triangular Trade, refers to the system of trade from Europe to Africa to New World, which required crossing the Atlantic Ocean by ship (Acemoglu 546). The Transatlantic Trade was the global, economic system that connected three continents. It began when European empires in the New World brought Africans as a work force in their colonies. Lucrative trade consisted of three stages. The first stage was when ships left Western Europe loaded with goods which were to be exchanged for captive slaves in Africa. Weapons and gun powder were the most valuable commodities, and then textiles, pearls, and other manufactured goods. Rum were also in high demand. The exchange took from one week to several months. The second stage was the crossing the Atlantic, during which time Africans were transported to America to be sold throughout the continent. The final stage was when slave traders brought back agricultural products such as sugar, cotton, coffee, tobacco and rice, all produced by the slaves to Europe. The total time of the entire triangular trade route—between a slaving ship leaving Europe for Africa and its return from the Americas—was between 15 and 18 months (Angeles 14). Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, England and France were the main triangular trading countries.
Middle Passage – The term “Middle Passage” refers to the middle part of the triangular trade route which was the voyage enslaved Africans were forced to take when crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Treated as if they were cargo, 150 to 600 Africans were "packed," or forced beneath deck into the bowels of the slave ship as efficiently as possible. It is estimated that, between 1500 and 1870, more than 12 million African captives were taken from Africa to the New World and underwent the Middle Passage, but more than 1.5 million captives never reached their destination (Ahluwalia 542). The Dolben Act of 1788 fixed the number of enslaved people in proportion to the ship’s size, but conditions remained appalling. In a description of some part of the Coast of Guinea (1789) by Carl B. Wadstrom, a Swedish abolitionist, he describes the measurement of the ship. He says a man was given a space of 6 feet by 1 foot 4 inches, a women 5 feet by 1 foot 4 inches, and girls 4 feet 6 inches by 1 foot. In his speech to the House of Commons in 1789, William Wilberforce, a British abolitionist, quoted evidence showing that not less than 12 ½ percent of enslaved people perished in the passage and another 4 ¼ percent died on shore, before the day of sale. A slave revolt on board was the constant fear of the small crew of the ship. To keep control, they carried pistols and cutlasses, and whipped the enslaved for a miner act. In short, the Middle Passage was the voyage of a horrific undertaking for slaves in the cargo--who were chained together, given inadequate food supplies, and suffered from various diseases. Often violent journey with which Africans attempted to rebel or resist through suicide and crew members forcefully coerced slaves into submission.
New World – The term "New World" is one that was used in earlier centuries (around the 15th century to the 19th century) after Europeans discovered the Americas. The term was used during this time to refer to the Western Hemisphere which primarily included the Americas (i.e. North America and South America) as well as the islands in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans close to the Americas, such as the Caribbean islands. This term is no longer used.
Old World – The term "Old World" is one that was used in earlier centuries as well (around the 15th century to the 19th century) after Europeans discovered the Americas. The term “Old World” during this time included Europe, Asia, and Africa. Primarily, Europeans Atlantic traders during the Atlantic trade were Britain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain (Acemoglu 546). This term is also no longer used.
Old World – The term "Old World" is one that was used in earlier centuries as well (around the 15th century to the 19th century) after Europeans discovered the Americas. The term “Old World” during this time included Europe, Asia, and Africa. Primarily, Europeans Atlantic traders during the Atlantic trade were Britain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain (Acemoglu 546). This term is also no longer used.
Slave(s) – There are slaves all over the world from all different backgrounds from the earliest of civilization and even in present day society. When we are referring to the term “slaves” we are referring to all people of African descent, male or females, enslaved during the 18th to 19th centuries. Slavery was not always a Middle Passage affair, so the use of the term “slave” may include Africans who were taken from their homes in Africa to the New World or those born into slavery in the New World (Fergus 1).
*The video below does a good job of summarizing the Atlantic Trade, the Middle Passage, Triangular Trade route, what is meant when the words Old World and New World were used in the 18th and 19th centuries, what the term slavery means, and what distinguishes Atlantic slave trade from other forms of slavery in history.*
*The video below does a good job of summarizing the Atlantic Trade, the Middle Passage, Triangular Trade route, what is meant when the words Old World and New World were used in the 18th and 19th centuries, what the term slavery means, and what distinguishes Atlantic slave trade from other forms of slavery in history.*
Color – The term “color” refers to skin color (e.g. black, white, yellow, etc.). Skin color has been a significant factor in matters of inequality, freedom, and personhood both in the past and even in today's society; however, this is not a determining factor we use to discuss the definitions of personhood in the context of our project. Color should not be confused with race or ethnicity.
Ethnicity – The term “ethnicity” refers to cultural factors such as nationality, culture, ancestry, language and beliefs. While African slaves may share a similar ethnicity with one another and Europeans may share a similar ethnicity with one another during the 18th and 19th centuries, and while ethnicity may have been a large influence during the Atlantic slave trade, ethnicity is also not a factor we are concerned with in this project.
Race – The term “race” refers to a person's collective physical appearance (e.g. as skin color, eye color, hair color, bone/jaw structure, etc.). Race concludes that there are shared biological or genetic traits among a group people. In this case, Europeans may share a similar racial background and Africans may share a similar racial background.
In today's society, preconceptions about skin color and race are so ingrained in our culture that many of hardly anyone thinks twice about the complexity of the terms "black" and "white." To say someone is a "black man" can signify a man has a dark complexion (i.e. color), but to call some one a "black man" is often used to refer to someone of African ancestry (i.e. race) (Wheeler 2-4). Our project is concerned with the latter; we are looking at how personhood was defined during the 18th and 19th centuries and how race affected those definitions.
There is no consensus about why the overwhelming majority of the world’s slaves originated from Africa (Angeles 1). However, this is not an issue of white people enslaving black people because of the color of their skin—this is an issue of Europeans and Anglo-Americans turning Africans into slaves and using race as a determinant of who was considered a person and who was not. The enslavement of Africans began with race, and skin color may have legitimized the institution of slavery and this power dynamic between the slave who was black in color and the slaveholders who were white did eventually lead to issues of color. Conversation of how slavery started with race and eventually turned into an issue of color is a significant one then and now. Pages and pages of scholarly ink have been split on the topic; however, the concern of our project is primarily on race and how the definition of personhood changed once Africans were forced into slavery.
Person – The term “person” refers to a human being that is recognized as an individual of society. We are not referring to animals, plants, or non-living objects. We are speaking of members of the human race. The words “human” and “person” are used interchangeably throughout the project.
Para-Human – Africans and Afro-Americans were not considered entirely human by Anglo-Americans or Europeans in the 18th through 19th centuries. They were thus beside the human. African slaves were typically understood as constituting a kind of interstitial life between humans, animals, objects, and even plants (Allewaert 6). Anglo-Americans typically saw Africans as a not-definitively-categorizable form of life (7). Africans slaves were thus considered para-human. They were beside the human, but not human in the eyes of Anglo-Americans.
This idea is different from the tradition form of Europeans and Anglo-Americans seeing life on a hierarchy with human beings on the top and animals on the bottom, where black African and American Indians closest to animal creation and Europeans always at the greatest remove from animals.
Ethnicity – The term “ethnicity” refers to cultural factors such as nationality, culture, ancestry, language and beliefs. While African slaves may share a similar ethnicity with one another and Europeans may share a similar ethnicity with one another during the 18th and 19th centuries, and while ethnicity may have been a large influence during the Atlantic slave trade, ethnicity is also not a factor we are concerned with in this project.
Race – The term “race” refers to a person's collective physical appearance (e.g. as skin color, eye color, hair color, bone/jaw structure, etc.). Race concludes that there are shared biological or genetic traits among a group people. In this case, Europeans may share a similar racial background and Africans may share a similar racial background.
In today's society, preconceptions about skin color and race are so ingrained in our culture that many of hardly anyone thinks twice about the complexity of the terms "black" and "white." To say someone is a "black man" can signify a man has a dark complexion (i.e. color), but to call some one a "black man" is often used to refer to someone of African ancestry (i.e. race) (Wheeler 2-4). Our project is concerned with the latter; we are looking at how personhood was defined during the 18th and 19th centuries and how race affected those definitions.
There is no consensus about why the overwhelming majority of the world’s slaves originated from Africa (Angeles 1). However, this is not an issue of white people enslaving black people because of the color of their skin—this is an issue of Europeans and Anglo-Americans turning Africans into slaves and using race as a determinant of who was considered a person and who was not. The enslavement of Africans began with race, and skin color may have legitimized the institution of slavery and this power dynamic between the slave who was black in color and the slaveholders who were white did eventually lead to issues of color. Conversation of how slavery started with race and eventually turned into an issue of color is a significant one then and now. Pages and pages of scholarly ink have been split on the topic; however, the concern of our project is primarily on race and how the definition of personhood changed once Africans were forced into slavery.
Person – The term “person” refers to a human being that is recognized as an individual of society. We are not referring to animals, plants, or non-living objects. We are speaking of members of the human race. The words “human” and “person” are used interchangeably throughout the project.
Para-Human – Africans and Afro-Americans were not considered entirely human by Anglo-Americans or Europeans in the 18th through 19th centuries. They were thus beside the human. African slaves were typically understood as constituting a kind of interstitial life between humans, animals, objects, and even plants (Allewaert 6). Anglo-Americans typically saw Africans as a not-definitively-categorizable form of life (7). Africans slaves were thus considered para-human. They were beside the human, but not human in the eyes of Anglo-Americans.
This idea is different from the tradition form of Europeans and Anglo-Americans seeing life on a hierarchy with human beings on the top and animals on the bottom, where black African and American Indians closest to animal creation and Europeans always at the greatest remove from animals.
Europeans and Anglo-Americans did treat slaves as objects and animals, but there was a type of treatment of slaves that made them fall into a more para-human category. The gray area of para-humanity in the Atlantic World created an interesting dilemma for Anglo-Americans, as the definition of personhood was now redefined completely. Since African slaves were not considered strictly inhuman or human, a hierarchy does not quite seem to fit. Instead, a horizontal relation (that is to say para or beside each other) without conflating them (86). Please scroll down to the bottom of the page to look at the interview with Dr. Allewaert to read more about para-humanity.
Personhood – When using the term “person” and “para-human,” one must define what personhood is. What does it mean to be a person? What is sufficient to count as a person, as opposed to a non-person? The quality or condition of being an individual person continues to be debated, for there are a number of distinct questions at issue. Some have concentrated on analyses of class differentiation distinguishing a person from baboons, robots or human corpses; while others have been primarily interested in individual differentiation. Still, others have been concerned with individual re-identification distinguishing the same individual’s successive stages, or the characteristics that form the identity of a person. Since the topic of personhood remains a large concept, there are two major ways to look at personhood:
In short, Dennett views the ability to reason and to communicate as the basis for definition of personhood. Taking this view a step further, Charles Taylor, a Canadian philosopher states, “At least, a person must be the kind of being who is in principle capable of all this, however damaged these capacities may be in practice” (2).
We have found that there are five different ways in which personhood was redefined in the 18th and 19th centuries after the birth of para-humanity:
- the way we define personhood now
- the way personhood was defined in the 18th and early 19th centuries
- "persons are rational beings and to which state of consciousness is attributed;"
- "persons are moral being with the concept of values, as well, must be capable of verbal communication, and be able to act upon free will” (1).
In short, Dennett views the ability to reason and to communicate as the basis for definition of personhood. Taking this view a step further, Charles Taylor, a Canadian philosopher states, “At least, a person must be the kind of being who is in principle capable of all this, however damaged these capacities may be in practice” (2).
We have found that there are five different ways in which personhood was redefined in the 18th and 19th centuries after the birth of para-humanity:
- Legal
- Political
- Social
- Economic
- Religious
Interview with Monique Allewaert: Thoughts on Para-Humanity
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