Liverpool Museums
09-28-2009, 08:00 AM
I find graveyards and cemeteries fascinating places not only on a spiritual levelbut also as sources of stories ? each stone bears testimony to lives, some detailed,some obscure.
While looking around Childwall?s ancient yard in Liverpool recently I stumbled acrossmemorials to the Okill family. These were principled people because John Okill &Cowere the only Africa merchants in Liverpool not engaged in the slave trade.
The impact of the slave trade on Africa was profound as it blighted progress in allaspects of life on the continent for many generations.
The transatlantic slave trade operated for almost 400 years, fuelled by Europe?s almostinsatiable desire for sugar, cotton, tobacco and other products of the New World whichwere then regarded as luxuries.
Liverpool ships were a key part of the trade and the town became Europe?s leadingslaving port in the second half of the 18th century.
At least 12 million Africans were forcibly transported by Britain and other countriesbut many millions more were profoundly affected. The transatlantic slave trade destroyedAfrican societies, robbing them of young people.
A staggering two-thirds of enslaved people were young men aged between 15 and 25.They were in huge demand to work the booming plantations producing ever-growing quantitiesof crops.
Arms and ammunition brought to Africa by European traders helped perpetrate conflictand political instability.
Displays at the International SlaveryMuseum (http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism/), in the MerseysideMaritime Museum (http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/) building, focus on the consequences of the trade on Africa.
Successful trade routes that existed before European intervention were disrupted.The development of African communities and cultures was severely stunted. Agriculturesuffered as communities abandoned fertile land as they fled the long reach of theEuropean slavers.
The labour and inventiveness of enslaved peoples shaped the Americas and enrichedWestern European, rather than their African homelands.
http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/graphics/niger_echo_copyright.jpgShipson the Niger expedition. Image courtesy Liverpool Daily Post and Echo
On display is a lithograph featuring ships on the 1841 Niger Expedition (pictured).Thomas Fowell Buxton was leader of the British anti-slavery movement in the post-slavetrade era.
He urged the British government to make treaties with African leaders to abolish theslave trade. The expedition went to the Niger River delta to set up a headquartersand began negotiations. The party suffered so many deaths from disease that they hadto return home.
There is a half model of the Balmore, bought by John Holt & Co in 1908. The Holtfamily was involved in the West Africa trade from the 1860s.
A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the LiverpoolEcho (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/). A paperback ? Mersey Maritime Tales (?3.99) ? is available from the museum,newsagents, bookshops or from the MerseyShop website (http://www.merseyshop.com/products/productdetail.php?category_id=&product_id=1124&variation_id=2573&search_term=maritime%20tales) (?1.50 p&p UK).
More... (http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/AfricansAndSlavery.aspx)
While looking around Childwall?s ancient yard in Liverpool recently I stumbled acrossmemorials to the Okill family. These were principled people because John Okill &Cowere the only Africa merchants in Liverpool not engaged in the slave trade.
The impact of the slave trade on Africa was profound as it blighted progress in allaspects of life on the continent for many generations.
The transatlantic slave trade operated for almost 400 years, fuelled by Europe?s almostinsatiable desire for sugar, cotton, tobacco and other products of the New World whichwere then regarded as luxuries.
Liverpool ships were a key part of the trade and the town became Europe?s leadingslaving port in the second half of the 18th century.
At least 12 million Africans were forcibly transported by Britain and other countriesbut many millions more were profoundly affected. The transatlantic slave trade destroyedAfrican societies, robbing them of young people.
A staggering two-thirds of enslaved people were young men aged between 15 and 25.They were in huge demand to work the booming plantations producing ever-growing quantitiesof crops.
Arms and ammunition brought to Africa by European traders helped perpetrate conflictand political instability.
Displays at the International SlaveryMuseum (http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism/), in the MerseysideMaritime Museum (http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/) building, focus on the consequences of the trade on Africa.
Successful trade routes that existed before European intervention were disrupted.The development of African communities and cultures was severely stunted. Agriculturesuffered as communities abandoned fertile land as they fled the long reach of theEuropean slavers.
The labour and inventiveness of enslaved peoples shaped the Americas and enrichedWestern European, rather than their African homelands.
http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/graphics/niger_echo_copyright.jpgShipson the Niger expedition. Image courtesy Liverpool Daily Post and Echo
On display is a lithograph featuring ships on the 1841 Niger Expedition (pictured).Thomas Fowell Buxton was leader of the British anti-slavery movement in the post-slavetrade era.
He urged the British government to make treaties with African leaders to abolish theslave trade. The expedition went to the Niger River delta to set up a headquartersand began negotiations. The party suffered so many deaths from disease that they hadto return home.
There is a half model of the Balmore, bought by John Holt & Co in 1908. The Holtfamily was involved in the West Africa trade from the 1860s.
A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the LiverpoolEcho (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/). A paperback ? Mersey Maritime Tales (?3.99) ? is available from the museum,newsagents, bookshops or from the MerseyShop website (http://www.merseyshop.com/products/productdetail.php?category_id=&product_id=1124&variation_id=2573&search_term=maritime%20tales) (?1.50 p&p UK).
More... (http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/AfricansAndSlavery.aspx)