Tati, an African slave trader

Tati, surnommé Desponts, courtier de Malembe, venant de sa petite terre, en Hamac.

1801 – Louis Ohier de Granpré (La Traite à la côte d’Angole).

Doc 2 - The African slave coast – West Africa

Doc 1 : An African slave dealer
In the middle of a luxuriant landscape, Tati- • European slave
Desponts leans with elegance and nobility in his trading centres
hammock, carried by four porters. He is a wealthy 1770
and powerful African trader, organizing the supply
of slaves to the Europeans. Louis Ohier de
Granpré drew him in front of the magnificent bay
of Malembe, on the Loango coast, where slave
ships used to drop anchor and made his fortune.
Like all slave dealers, Tati wears jewels made of
elephant ivory, cowries and glass beads, a long
chain around his waist and metal bracelets at his
wrists. His hat, given to him by the local king,
identifies him as a dignitary, a person of influence.

Doc 3 : The supply of slaves for the transatlantic trade

a. Local chiefs supplied slaves to the Europeans because there were huge profits in the trade. They could get the
trade goods – textiles, alcohol and other rare imports. They were also anxious to acquire guns to make war to
their neighbours and capture more prisoners for the slave trade.
b. My name’s Olaudah Equiano. I was born in 1745, in an African village, in the kingdom of Benin. We were all
farmers and we cultivated fields to grow our food – bananas and yams, peppers and corn, and pineapples and
many other fruits. When the adults went to the fields to work, the children usually stayed behind in the village to
play. One day, I was eleven, two men and a woman got over our walls, and in a moment seized me and my sister.
We had no chance to cry out or resist. Quickly they covered our mouths and ran off with us into the woods. We
travelled many days by land and by water, through different countries and I often changed masters.
Adapted from “The kidnapped prince – The life of Olaudah Equiano” by Anne Cameron

c. Asa-Asa lived happily with his parents and five brothers and sisters in a country called Bycla, near Egie, a large
town located inland, some way from the sea. The happiness soon went up in flames one morning before daybreak
when thousands of Adinyé warriors raided the village, setting fire to the huts, killing some and capturing many
others. They tied the captives into caravans and marched them toward the coast.
The Slave Ship : a Human History by Marcus Rediker
Doc 4 : Marching to the coast Doc 5 : The sale of enslaved Africans
No money was used in the transactions. A selection of
goods was displayed on the beach. Captains and local
African traders negotiated the value of a captive and the
African trader made his choice : some rolls of textiles, a
few guns, iron bars, a few bottles of wine, some beads or
cowries…
There was some haggling but usually the two sides reached
an agreement and they shooked hands. Then the captain
recorded the transaction in his log book.

Noir au bois Mayombe – Drawing by Louis Ohier de Grandpré

Enslaved villagers were tied in pairs by the neck with a

forked branch, fixed in place with an iron bar .
The forced march to the coast could be as short as a
week and as long as several months. Many died on the
long journey.
On arrival on the coast, the captured Africans were
stripped of all their possessions, even their clothes.

Detail from the painting The Southwell Frigate Tradeing on ye

Coast of Africa (1760) by Nicholas Pocock.
The ship’s captain stands shaking hands with the African trader
who has sold him the enslaved Africans being loaded into a
rowing boat.

Doc 6 : Trade goods

Cowries were small seashells which came
from the Maldives in the Indian Ocean.
Africans used cowries and glass beads as we
use money today but also as decoration to
show their wealth and power in the society.

Glass beads Cowrie shells