Before 1776: America and Africa's Shared Colonial Fate

Overlapping British Rule in America and Africa

America and Africa share a historical connection through their past ties to the British Empire. Before gaining independence, the American colonies were under British rule, which shaped their governance and economic systems. Similarly, parts of Africa, particularly along the West African coast, including the Gold Coast and the Slave Coast, suffered under British colonial administration and exploitation. This shared history reflects a complex legacy of British oversight, the transatlantic slave trade, and the role Africa played in making the American colonies profitable.

Before 1776: America and Africa's Shared Colonial Fate

British Colonial Administration: Africa and the Americas

There was a period when parts of Africa and the American colonies, now the United States, were under British colonial administration. From the 1650s to 1776, parts of the Americas and coastal regions of West Africa were both under British authority and connected through the transatlantic trade.

The Thirteen Colonies in the Americas

The Thirteen Colonies, which would later become the United States of America, were under British rule from their establishment in the early 1600s until the Declaration of Independence in 1776. These colonies were vital components of the British Empire’s mercantile system because they provided raw materials and served as markets for British goods.

New England Colonies
The Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire Colonies, collectively part of New England, were characterized by small-scale farming, maritime trade, and Puritan-influenced governance, forming British colonial New England's cultural and economic backbone. 

Middle Colonies
New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware colonies were agriculturally productive, producing wheat and other grains, and featured many ethnic and religious populations, including large communities of European immigrants.

Southern Colonies
Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia were dominated by plantation agriculture, relying heavily on African slave labor to produce tobacco, rice, and indigo for export to Britain and other markets.

Colonies were very important to the British Empire's economy because they supplied natural resources like sugar, tobacco, and cotton, which were used to make products in Britain. At the same time, these colonies were also customers, buying British-made goods like clothes, tools, and furniture. This system helped Britain grow wealthy and powerful. The wealth generated was in part due to the labor of African slaves forcibly taken from regions under British influence in West Africa.

Africa Under British Colonial Administration

Africa Under British Colonial Administration

Britain maintained a strong presence along the West African Gold and Slave Coast through the transatlantic slave trade and military fortifications. The British acquired control over several of these forts from the Portuguese and Dutch, consolidating their influence along the Gold and Slave Coast. 

British traders along the West African coast were like competing representatives from rival corporations (e.g., Portuguese and Dutch traders). Instead of technology or services, they were trading commodities and, tragically, people captives destined for the Americas in the transatlantic slave trade. Later, in 1787, Sierra Leone would become a British colony and a settlement for freed African slaves from the Americas and the Caribbean. 

British Transatlantic Slave Trade and Economics

During the transatlantic slave trade, British ships played a crucial role in the transportation of African slaves. These vessels journeyed from seedy West African ports where countless blacks were forcibly captured and sold to distant shores in the Americas including the Thirteen Colonies as well as the Caribbean islands. 

Slaves were a vital labor force for plantation economies in colonies like Virginia for tobacco, Florida for indigo, and Georgia for rice. Raw materials produced in the American colonies, such as sugar, cotton, and tobacco, were shipped to Britain for processing and sale. Manufactured goods, including textiles and weapons, were exported to Africa and exchanged for slaves in the triangular trade.

America and Africa's Shared Colonial Fate

Well-Documented British Slave Ships

Captain Thomas Phillips commanded the Hannibal, a British slave ship that embarked on a notorious voyage from West Africa to the Americas in 1693. This voyage involved the kidnapping and forced transportation of approximately 700 African captives. 

Phillips documented the journey in detail, providing one of the most extensive firsthand accounts of the slave trade's inner workings. His records describe the horrific conditions aboard the ship, including the overcrowded, unsanitary quarters where enslaved Africans were chained for weeks or months, with hundreds dying before reaching their destination. 

Another particularly well-documented voyage is that of the Zong, a British slave ship owned by the Gregson Slave Trading Syndicate in Liverpool. The Zong 1781 journey became infamous for the horrific act of the ship’s crew throwing over 130 enslaved Africans overboard to claim insurance money. 

Independence from Britain for Some

The Thirteen Colonies declared independence in 1776, and the Treaty of Paris (1783) formally ended British rule in the region. While Britain lost the American colonies, its influence in Africa grew over the following centuries, culminating in the colonization of large parts of the continent during the Scramble for Africa.
Before 1776: America and Africa's Shared Colonial Fate. From the 1650s to 1776, parts of the Americas and coastal regions of West Africa were under British authority and connected through the slave trade.

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