Women of West Africa

Meanwhile in Europe

This episode examines how the Atlantic slave trade became democratized across 17th- century Europe, focusing on the Dutch Republic, France, and Britain. It details the evolution from royal monopolies to common investment, revealing how ordinary citizens – clerks, shopkeepers, artisans, and widows – purchased shares in slave trading companies. The episode explores Amsterdam’s financial innovations, Nantes’ merchant dynasties, and Liverpool’s dominance through supporting industries in Birmingham and Manchester. It highlights the economic infrastructure, institutional wealth, and Age of Enlightenment contradictions that enabled mass participation in the trade across all levels of European society.

Inventory

This episode examines the barracoons and other holding facilities where captives awaited transport across the Atlantic. It details the systematic assessment, categorization, and commodification of enslaved people through European traders’ documentation practices. The episode draws on historical accounts like Alexander Falconbridge’s testimony to reveal the clinical brutality of the sorting process, while exploring how the financial infrastructure developed for the slave trade (ledgers, insurance policies, and banking systems) would shape modern commerce. The episode also draws parallels between gold mining and human extraction, and contrasts European and African concepts of time.

Women of West Africa

This episode examines the complex and multifaceted roles of women during the Atlantic slave trade period in West Africa. It profiles the Mino (Agojié), Dahomey’s all- female military regiment, and explores women’s positions as traders, political advisors, and warriors. It highlights three remarkable figures: Queen Agontimé, who rose from captivity to become a Candomblé priestess in Brazil; Queen Nzinga Mbande of Ndongo and Matamba, a diplomatic and military leader who resisted Portuguese colonization; and Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita, a religious visionary whose Antonianism movement challenged both church authority and the slave trade. The episode also details the unique practice of woman-to-woman marriage in Dahomey, emphasizing how women navigated survival, power, and legacy in a society where they could be simultaneously victims, traders, and architects of their own destinies.

Paper Bulls

This episode explores how religion shaped the Atlantic slave trade. It traces the Church’s reinterpretation of the “Curse of Ham” as justification for slavery, contrasts it with biblical passages against enslavement, and highlights the complicity of popes and the Church of England. Alongside, it examines African spiritual traditions such as Vodou, their survival in the Americas, and the Church of England’s recent admission of its historic ties to slavery.

Captive Markets

This episode investigates the developing mechanics of the Atlantic slave trade, emphasizing the immense suffering involved. It details methods of capture, including warfare, kidnappings, and false accusations of witchcraft. The episode explores the market dynamics of assessing and trading captives, the roles of African and European traders, and the evolution of violence. It also notes efforts by communities, like the Tofinu, to evade enslavement.