9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Narrator) This is the story of a world[br]whose borders and territories 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 were drawn by the slave trade, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 where violence, subjugation [br]and profit imposed their own routes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This criminal system shaped our history[br]and our world. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 On São Tomé, the Portuguese[br]invented an economic model 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with unprecedented profitability:[br]the sugar plantation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - (English voiceover) This was [br]the first black colony, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the first slave society. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - (English voiceover) We witnessed[br]the marriage of the black men 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with sugar cane. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - (Narrator) In the 16th century,[br]other European powers 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 were eager to follow their model. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Their greed would plunge [br]an entire continent 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 into chaos and violence. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Nearly 13 million Africans were cast onto[br]new slavery routes to the new world, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 where the English, the French,[br]and the Dutch hoped to become wealthy, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 immeasurably wealthy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Intense music with strong bass drum beat) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because the Caribbean[br]has similar climatic features to São Tomé, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it eventually became[br]the principal crossroads 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of the slave trader's routes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For people in the western world, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 these islands are today[br]associated with vacation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Guadeloupe offers tourists[br]a dream destination. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Sunshine and pristine nature, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 rekindling myths of a lost paradise. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Holidaymakers tend to confine themselves[br]to the beaches of Le Gosier, Sainte-Anne, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and Saint François. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But as this sign indicates,[br]they are all too close 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to another side of the islands heritage 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that was anything but a paradise. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Just a few meters away from the bathers[br]is a burial site 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 where countless skeletons were discovered. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Between 500 and 1,000 graves[br]are still buried beneath the sand. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The Raisins Clairs beach is one of 15 [br]slave cemeteries that have been excavated. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 15, among the 1,000[br]that exist in the Caribbean. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 89 skeletons have been exhumed[br]by French archaeological research experts. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Judging by the state of the bones,[br]they concluded that these men and women 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 had not reached the age of 30. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 By the time of their death,[br]the toll from working on the plantations 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 had so deformed their bodies[br]that they seemed more like 75 year olds. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 These people were human guinea pigs[br]for the sugar experiment, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the collateral damage of an unprecedented[br]trade war: The Sugar War. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 74% of all slaves carried off, were carried[br]off because of sugar. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If you want to understand the slave trade, you[br]just need to know about sugar. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Sugar proved more addictive[br]than pepper or cinnamon. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 From the 17th century onward, Europeans[br]craved this rare and expensive commodity 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In London, Amsterdam, and Paris,[br]sugar fever was rampant, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 prompting a new generation of adventurers[br]to go to any extremes to get it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Shipowners and fitters,[br]merchants and pirates, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all knew that to produce sugar,[br]you needed a lot of slaves. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 John Hawkins was one of these[br]new entrepreneurs 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for whom profit reigned supreme. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The English privateer was a pioneer[br]in understanding that a fortune 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 could be made by shipping Black captives[br]to the New World. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In the mid 16th century,[br]he convinced Queen Elizabeth I 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to lend him a ship, The Jesus of Lubec. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For the expedition,[br]Hawkins conspicuously set the tone 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 by choosing a trussed up Black man[br]on his emblem. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - (Male speaker) "I do confirm[br]to your highness 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "that I will bring home 40,000 marks[br]without any offense of the least 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to any of Your Highnesses,[br]allies, or friends. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "I will conduct this enterprise[br]and turn it to the benefit 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "of your whole realm,[br]with Your Highness' consent. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "The voyage I propose[br]is to load negroes in Guinea 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "and sell them in the West Indies, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "in truck of pearls, gold, and emeralds[br]that I will bring back in abundance." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - (Narrator) 1620,[br]a century after sugar plantations 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 were introduced in Brazil. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The Atlantic became the battleground[br]for the sugar war. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 England, The Netherlands and France wanted[br]to break Spain and Portugal's hegemony. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In the Caribbean,[br]the Dutch took control 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of Curaçao, Sint Eustatius,[br]and Saint Martin. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The French: Guadeloupe, Martinique,[br]Grenada and Saint-Domingue. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The English occupied The Bahamas, Jamaica,[br]Antigua, Barbados and Dominica. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Only Cuba and Puerto Rico[br]remained under Spanish rule. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 After the extermination[br]of the native Arawak people, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the first sugar canes flourished[br]on this fertile land. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - The Caribbean became a space of conquest[br]for the Europeans very early on. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Really, it was the first place[br]that Columbus landed in the new world, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the first place that the Spanish[br]began to search for gold, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the first place they began[br]to enslave the Indians. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So they were thoroughgoing[br]colonial spaces 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 created by design of Europ,ean planters[br]and imperial policy makers 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [br]and for their profit, right? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There aren't so many places where you can[br]completely overlay a territory like that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, in some ways, the Caribbean[br]is the space where you find 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the purest of Colonial territories. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Where the masters of the space[br]actually get to create the space 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to suit their own needs. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - (Narrator) In Guadalupe,[br]every plot of land, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 every single square inch of ground, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is connected to this violent[br]and deeply rooted history. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Today, all that is left of sugar war[br]is a field of ruins. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Of the 250 sugar refineries active[br]in the late 19th century, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 only two remain in operation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In 2017, experts from France's 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 National Institute of Preventive[br]Archeological Research 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 exhumed the remains of the Saint Jacques[br]residence and sugar refinery 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in Anse-Bertrand: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A mill, stock rooms,[br]and three rows of so-called "negro huts" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 where hundreds of slaves[br]were penned up together. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In this brutal work camp, human beings[br]were but one tool among others. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Each became a mechanized, emaciated body[br]consumed by work until their final breath. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - Both the time in which the slaves[br]were digging the cane holes 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the times in which[br]they were harvesting 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 were really the peak of the labor[br]on a plantation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You could almost see the slaves[br]wasting away 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when they were digging these cane holes 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because the work was so strenuous and[br]they were getting fed so poorly. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You found women in all of the gangs, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 often times doing the hardest,[br]dirtiest labor on the plantation 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 alongside the men, or even before the men. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And one of the things that means, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when you find young women doing[br]this quite debilitating labor, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is that the birth rates are very low[br]and the mortality rates, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the infant mortality[br]rate is shockingly high. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In the mid-18th century,[br]people talked about 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9 out of 10 infants born [br]to enslaved Jamaican women dying, right, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 within the first year. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, there's no way in which the plantation[br]can reproduce itself 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 under those kinds of conditions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - (English voiceover) The plantation[br]were managed by overseers 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who saw the slaves[br]in purely functional terms. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This was an absolute exploitation[br]of the workforce. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It was a very particular society 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because the average rate[br]of life expectancy on a plantation 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was extremely low,[br]about 8 to 10 years after arriving. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - (English voiceover)[br]The logic of the slave system 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was one where the availability[br]of the workforce had to be absolute. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And for this, man was conceived[br]as an accessory of the land. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He appeared as such in house inventories. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Slaves are listed next to records[br]for livestock or manufacturing implements. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That's the archaic aspect which was[br]put to use by a capitalist system, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and which largely met[br]market supply and demand, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with its fluctuations, needs,[br]and competition - free competition. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - (Narrator) The sugar plantations[br]saw slavery enter a new era. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The stronger the demand for sugar,[br]the more the slave trade expanded, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the more the slave traders[br]sought support from banks 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to finance their expeditions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 London is one of the oldest centers[br]of global finance. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The city of London was the first[br]to create a commodities exchange, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to develop credit markets[br]and to issue banknotes on a massive scale. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Without the invention[br]of a centralized banking system, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the explosion of the slave trade[br]in the 17th century 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 would not have been possible. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Preparing for a slave expedition[br]was expensive, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and having a financial arsenal 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 gave England a decisive advantage[br]over its competitors. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You've got to remember that the State[br]is getting a tremendous amount of revenue 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 from the plantation complex, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so they had a very strong,[br]vested interest in the slave trade. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If you had gone to the king of England[br]in 1680 and said, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Look, I'm gonna give you a choice. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "You can either have these 13 colonies[br]in North America, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "or you can have this one little island[br]called Barbados." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You would have taken Barbados[br]in a split second 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because of the sugar revenues. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And this is something[br]that's going to persist 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as a very important interest[br]for European states 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 up until the very end of slavery. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 To support the sugar war,[br]the city lent money on a colossal scale. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In the midst of these[br]steel and glass buildings, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the two pillars of the English economy[br]that financed the slave trade 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 are still prominent on the London skyline. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 At the heart of the financial district[br]is the venerable bank of England, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the world's first central bank. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A couple of blocks away[br]is Britain's most powerful 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 insurance company,[br]the prestigious Lloyd's of London. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Atlantic slave traders[br]had to take on heavy debts 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to charter their ships. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Without an insurance company, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 most would risk ruin[br]on their first expedition. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The slave traders made investments[br]as if playing a game of poker. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The risks were high, but if successful, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the return would far outweigh[br]any other type of investment. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Insurers like Lloyd's[br]had everything to gain 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 by participating in this game of chance. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A successful expedition could yield[br]up to three times the initial stake. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In the Lloyd's archives,[br]little evidence remains 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of the profits of insuring[br]these high-risk expeditions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Most accounting records were lost[br]in a fire in 1838, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the same year that slavery[br]was abolished in the British Caribbean. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Ports had to adapt[br]to this initial scramble 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for Africa and the Caribbean. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In London, Blackwall became[br]the slave trade's principal wharf. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 All manner of goods were sold here. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Precious fabrics, jewels, porcelain,[br]weapons, and brandy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 All bought on credit [br]with the bank's money. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A giant port complex gradually evolved. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A city within a city,[br]entirely devoted to this new business. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Following London in 1663, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 other seaports rushed to take advantage[br]of this lucrative trade. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Lorient, Copenhagen, La Rochelle, Bristol,[br]Nantes, Liverpool, Bordeaux, Antwerp. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 From all over Europe,[br]slave ships set sail for Africa. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - When I began to see slave ships leaving[br]from not just Liverpool and Nantes, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but from every port in the Atlantic. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 As soon as a port becomes big enough[br]to contemplate a transoceanic voyage, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there's a good chance that voyage[br]is going to be a slave trade voyage. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And we've got like 170 separate ports, [br]tiny places. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Today, they've got no idea [br]that once upon a time, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they sent out slave voyages. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Saint Peter's Port in the Channel Islands,[br]charming place. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And yet, it's a slave trade port. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Over a period of two centuries,[br]more than 3,500 expeditions 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 set sail from French ports. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 More than half of them[br]left from the port of Nantes, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the main French hub of triangular trade. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The sculpted figures along[br]the Quai de la Fosse, or Feydeau Island, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 are reminders of an era 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when the great slave trading families[br]displayed their pride 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in being the main architects[br]of the city's wealth. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It was they who made Nantes[br]France's leading commercial port. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - (English voiceover)[br]Wealth came from slavery. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There were negotiators, ship owners,[br]and all those who produced foodstuffs. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Vintners, flour producers,[br]fabric producers, hardware producers. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - (English voiceover) The Atlantic ports[br]also generated wealth 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for areas that stretched very far inland,[br]as far as Orléans, in the case of Nantes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Goods were also transported along rivers. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So the wealth that slavery[br]produced was essential for France. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - (Narrator) 1669. From Nantes,[br]Bordeaux, La Rochelle and Le Havre, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 slavery money flowed back up rivers[br]to Rouen, Orléans and Angoulême. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It had such repercussions on inland areas[br]that it became a national objective. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Louis XIV knew that to win the sugar war,[br]he would need a powerful fleet. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The king ordered the construction[br]of 500 galleons. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The Atlantic became the theater[br]of a naval war 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 between France, England and[br]the Netherlands. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A bitter fight, in which each sunken ship[br]was a total loss 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for the respective country's economy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - (English voiceover) It was[br]very expensive to build and equip 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a 74-gun ship and pay its crew. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Ultimately, who bore the cost? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The bill for financing these wars,[br]the financing of ships and arsenals, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was mainly footed by French peasants. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The slave trade fleets were protected. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 16,000 galleons were already protecting[br]Dutch commercial ships, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 while the 3,000 light and fast[br]Royal Navy cruisers 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 terrified their adversaries. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 France paled in comparison[br]to these armadas. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Each nation needed a fortress[br]in Africa 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if it were to compete[br]in the Atlantic race. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Just like on the Caribbean islands, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 these forts were the bastions of [br]triangular trade. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 As military bases, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they offered a secure store[br]for bartered goods and captives 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 before departure by sea. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In less than 80 years, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 43 such forts were built[br]from Senegal to the Niger Delta. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Every stone, every beam,[br]every element of masonry 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was transported by boat from Europe. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - Most of these fortresses[br]are built by states. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Individual capitalists[br]or even groups of trading capitalists 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 did not have that kind of money 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in order to build[br]those sorts of fortresses. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The English already had thirteen,[br]the Dutch ten, the Danish five. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Even the Prussians,[br]with their three forts, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 surpassed the French. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 On the Gold Coast, in today’s Ghana, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the Fante and Ashanti rented Europeans[br]plots of land to build their forts. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The Europeans established[br]trading posts and fortresses 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all along the Atlantic coast, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 From the Ewé territory[br]to the Kongo Kingdom. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Equatorial Africa became[br]the world’s principal source of slaves. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In this accounting document[br]written in 1688, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we learn that over an 8-year period,[br]it shipped 60,783 slaves. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Each cost the Royal African Company[br]8 to 12 pounds sterling — 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the equivalent of between [br]€950 and €1500 today. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They were all bought with trade goods. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The demand for slaves was so high 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that the Europeans pressured their[br]African partners to help them 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 plan, rationalize, and industrialize[br]their system of mass deportation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - Slaves were often bought on credit. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And so that meant that European ships[br]would come, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they would have a whole cargo[br]full of textiles, different metal ware, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 rum, tobacco, whatever. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And these would be given[br]to the local merchants, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 extended to them on credit. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And then the merchants[br]would go inland with those goods 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and buy slaves and come back. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - The biggest impact[br]was the level of violence, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the rising level of violence, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the level of uncertainty[br]that permeated society everywhere, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and also the opportunity [br]for new "big men" to emerge, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 new powerful leaders. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Somebody gets a hold of more firearms,[br]somebody gets more aggressive, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they build their own personal chieftain[br]and, suddenly, they’re powerful. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Among these leaders was Antera Duke, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a major African trader [br]from Calabar in what is now Nigeria. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In his diary, he spoke of the methods[br]he used to terrorize captives. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Kidnapping, detention, and murder... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (fire roars and crackles) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - (Man) "About 4am, I got up. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Awful rain. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "I walked up to the city trading house, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "where I met all the gentlemen. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "We got ready to cut off heads. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "5am, we began decapitating slaves. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "50 heads fell that day." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - Very clearly, these sacrifices[br]were intended as a form of terrorism 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that were meant to make it very clear[br]to the population who was the boss 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and who was not, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 very much the way[br]the Mafioso type organizations behave 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in terms of making sure[br]that the members of the association 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 respect whoever the Godfather is, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and if anybody steps out of line[br]they can be assassinated or killed. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And so they don't[br]step out of line, obviously. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - (Narrator) For the benefit of a handful[br]of enterprising & unscrupulous profiteers, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the entire continental economy[br]was transformed. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 On the coast, African brokers [br]knew all of the inner workings 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of the sugar plantation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A slave ship from Saint-Malo,[br]“Le Marie Séraphique”, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 docked at Loango in the Kingdom of Kongo. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Its captain’s drawings provide[br]exceptional details 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of the negotiations[br]between Europeans and Africans. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The merchants from the coast knew 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that the Marie Séraphique’s captain[br]was in a hurry: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 he had to arrive in the West Indies[br]before harvest time. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This was the time of year[br]when slaves sold best 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and when the best sugar was available. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So they deliberately [br]prolonged negotiations 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to drive prices up. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 312 captives were rounded up[br]in 116 days. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The Marie Séraphique arrived[br]in Saint-Domingue, now Haiti, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 one year after leaving France. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Only nine captives had perished: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a good ratio for the crew,[br]who celebrated their success. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In the drawings of the[br]Marie Séraphique, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 no allusion to the[br]slaves’ suffering appears. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They were dehumanized shadows, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 tallied and lined up like barrels[br]at the bottom of the hold, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the transportation of human beings[br]turned into a nightmare. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - It’s very important to understand[br]that violence on board slave ships 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 would be used selectively. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In other words, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 no captain wanted to kill[br]the entire allotment of people on board 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because that voyage[br]would then have no profit. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So when there was resistance,[br]what the captains would do, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is organize a spectacle in which[br]a small number of people would be executed 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in extremely vicious, horrific ways[br]as a means of terrorizing everybody else. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 All of the enslaved would be forced[br]to come up on deck in order to view these