Overview:
- The Cape, located at the bottom tip of South Africa, was a “slave society”. A Slave Society is one that slavery is in cooperated into every aspect of life, making them central to social, economic, and legal institutions. The Cape Colony could not survive without their use of slaves. Almost all of the European settlers had slaves, but most had under 10.
- The slaves in the Cape Colony were defined by their race and were very much polarized from the slave owners. Slaves were black and slave owners were white. There was a very small amount of slaves who managed to free themselves and then acquired slaves of their own. These free slaves were titled “free blacks”
- The Dutch East India Company, or the VOC, were the main importer of slaves into the Cape. The Roman-Dutch law defined slaves as property. This system of slavery is known as chattel slavery, meaning that one human was the legal belonging of another human. Slaves could be bought and sold along with being used as security for loans. The VOC made a system of laws to make sure slavery was secure.
- The Cape Colony allowed slaves to be severely punished for acts such as running away or refusing to obey orders. The slave owners could use punishment like withholding food, whipping, and making them work longer hours. Those who tried to run away could be put into chains. Those who attacked their owners could be executed.
- After the slave trade was banned, slaves were no longer easily available and more expensive. It was then that slave owners started to treat their slaves better because they were no longer easy to come by and were much more expensive. Treating slaves better would hopefully cause the slaves to not want to run away or die when they were young.
Timeline: 1806- Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. Britain banned slaver trading, including the importation of slave to the Cape, but ownership was still legal. 1813- Fiscal Daniel Dennijson arranges the Cape Slave Trade Law 1814- The Cape officially became a British colony. The ]effects of a changing economic system in Western Europe contributed to the questioning of the practice of slavery. 1823-The Cape governor, Lord Charles Somerset, introduces a series of laws which attempts to improve the relationship between slave owner and slave by regulating punishments the slaver owners could use. Slaves were given the right to form legal marriages if they were baptized Christians and if their masters agreed. Marriages were protected from disruptions by sale. Children under ten were not allowed to be sold away from their mothers only if their mothers were Christian. Maximum hours of slave labor in the field was set at ten in the winter and twelve in the summer, except for plowing, harvesting, and 'extraordinary' occasions. Slave owners could not give more than twenty-five lashes with a whip. Slaves gained the right to own and dispose of property. 1825- An uprising of slave and Khoikhoi laborers against their owners takes place in the Worcester district. Slaves are increasingly demanding the vindication of their rights in terms of the amelioration legislation that had been introduced as of 1823 1826- Ordinance 19 is passed, which provides for the appointment of a Guardian of Slaves to ensure that slave owners follow the extent of punishment that they can give to their slaves. Slaves could make complaints of violations of the legislation to the Guardian of Slaves or his assistants who were required to investigate the accusations and take action against the perpetrators. Children under ten, no matter their religion, could not be sold away from their mother. Slaves could not purchase their freedom, with or without their masters' consent. 1828- Ordinance 50 is passed, which granted slaves the freedom to seek work and to own their own land. This lead to a shortage of slave labor. Ordinance 50 also made all “free inhabitants” of the Colony equals in regards to law. 1833- The British Parliament passes the Abolition Act, which abolishes the system of slavery, but which writes a kind of indentured labor system, called "apprenticeship", into the legislation. This is to ensure that the slave-based economies of the British Empire do not collapse because of the end of slavery 1834- Official emancipation of slaves in the Cape Colony. Although legally emancipated, the Cape slaves are indentured as "apprentices" to their owners for a period of four years. Despite this system, numerous slaves desert their owners, while those who remain to serve their "apprenticeship" accepted a less subordinate attitude towards their masters. 1835- Ordinance 1 forbids slave owners from meting out punishment. A judicial and magisterial system is introduced to implement punishment to establish the "rule of law" in the Cape Colony 1838- Cape Colony: The "apprenticeship" of slaves, formally emancipated in 1834, ends. This marks the factual end of slavery in the Cape, as the "apprentices" are officially no longer slaves |
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