A TRIANGULAR WORLD
In the 16th century, Basque sailors retrace the routes used by the Vikings five hundred years earlier to the rich fishing waters of the north-west Atlantic. They find a world of abundance, a world in equilibrium.
The decline of fish stocks at home propels their search. They reach the Grand Banks, just south-east of Newfoundland, the most important fishing zone in the world. Cod becomes an essential source of food.
The Portuguese and Spanish discover other, more lucrative routes: leaving the shores of Europe, the most efficient and profitable course across the ocean is to follow the main currents and dominant winds. Southward down the east coast of Africa. Once off of Senegal, west-bound all the way to the Americas.
Ideally, the ships take advantage of the Westerlies on their return voyage from North America to Europe.
THESE ROUTES ARE INSEPERABLE FROM THE TRADE IN HUMAN SOULS...THE EXPLOITATION OF HUMANS AND OF NATURE
Driven by industrialization, the emerging capitalist system soon displays its formidable efficiency. It is based on the brutal exploitation of humans and other resources all around the world. Carried out by slaves, the massive logging of the mahogany tree in Central America is a prime example. This highest quality mahogany is almost eliminated within 50 years.
Already, Basque fishermen have disrupted nature through overfishing the black whale, which was an important source of oil, as was the even more lucrative bowhead whale. By the end of the 16th century so many have been killed that these species are almost extinct.
An alternate source of oil is also found in abundance in the Gulf: the Great Auk. Unable to fly, this species of penguin is an easy prey. Furthermore, its feathers are exploited industrially, and its meat used as bait. The Great Auk population soon decreases massively. When the authorities realize that it is in danger, it is already too late. The last Great Auk is killed in 1844.
The same error is repeated with the walrus, white bear, and cod populations.
The Paspéyas, while not enslaved, suffer the harsh living and working conditions of early industrial capitalism. An exploitation that also has drastic consequences on the environment.
WHY ARE LESSONS FROM HISTORY SO DIFFICULT TO GRASP?
THE AMERICAS (specifically, South America, the Caribbean Islands, Central America and, what was then still, the Confederacy).
This region has gold and silver, sugar, tobacco, coffee, wood, indigo, as well as the cotton that European industries are coming to increasingly depend upon. Massive human resources are needed to plunder all this wealth. To achieve this, the conquerors of the New World massacre and enslave the Indigenous peoples and import millions of Africans.
TO FEED THESE SLAVES, AN ABUNDANT AND CHEAP SOURCE OF FOOD IS NEEDED.
This is where low quality GASPÉ CURED cod comes into play.
THE METHODISTS AND SLAVERY
INTERESTINGLY, the Channel Islanders seem to reject active involvement in slavery early in the mid 18th century. Religion seems to have played a key role in the attitude of the “Jersey” merchants toward enslavement. The CHANNEL ISLANDS are predominantly Anglican, England’s official state religion, which supports the economic policies of the Empire, including slavery.The rise of Methodism, as a non-conformist branch within the Anglican Church, has a significant influence on the Channel Islanders. It seems that it is first introduced to the Islands by fishermen returning from their summer expeditions in Newfoundland.
Methodism is a strong voice for social justice and against the predestination of the Calvinists. Methodist preachers are therefore very much involved with those who are marginalized, preaching to the emerging working class, to prisoners and often becoming the chosen church of the enslaved. As early as 1743 John Wesley, one of its founders, prohibited his followers from buying or selling the bodies and souls of men, women, and children.
As a result, the Channel Islanders are more aware of the injustices of their time and start to question the slave-based economy of the British Empire much earlier than their orthodox Anglican brethren. Since the American colonies are more dependent on slave labour, American Methodists opt to support the use of an enslaved workforce.
THE BRITISH EMPIRE
BUILT ON SLAVERY
During the 17th century the enslavement of indigenous populations and the wholesale capturing of African men, women and children creates unprecedented wealth for the elites in Europe, particularly in Portugal, Spain, Holland, France and England. The eventual dominance of the British Empire rests on its maritime forces and the military control of the slave industry throughout its expanding spheres of influence. The ever-increasing trade in Africans is the foundation of capitalism.IN WHAT WAS TO BECOME CANADA, from the time of the French regime until the establishment of Upper and Lower Canada, there are calls for the importation of more slaves but, due to geography and climate, relatively few African slaves make it all the way up to the north. The stocks of slaves are almost all sold by the time the ships reach New France. Additionally, Europeans believe that Africans cannot adapt to colder climates. The northern colonies therefore continue to rely heavily on the system of indentured servitude for the supply of cheap labour.
Despite the FINANCIAL advantages of the Triangular Trade, Channel Island merchants are only active enslavers during the first half of the 18th century with a short list of boats involved. The ships that pass through Paspébiac are full of merchandise that comes from the south: sugar, rum, coffee, mahogany, cotton, indigo and tobacco; all produced by the enslaved under brutal conditions.
Interestingly, in New France, Roman Catholic bishops and various religious orders are the main owners of slaves, both of First Nation and African origin. Low grade cod from Paspébiac is a staple source of food for the enslaved in the Caribbean and in colonies such as Brazil. The Seven Years War, the first global war, is as much about the control of the slave trade as of access to the rich animal, mineral and plant resources in the European colonies and the waters that surround them.
Slavery is at the root of all the colonial enterprises.
IN 1833, when slavery was abolished in the British colonies, Britain used 40 percent of its national budget to compensate slave owners in the Empire. “The amount of money borrowed for the Slavery Abolition Act was so large that it wasn’t paid off until 2015. Which means living British citizens helped pay to end the slave trade.” Official Tweet from the British Treasury, 9th February, 2018
NOT A PENNY WAS PAID TO COMPENSATE THE ENSLAVED.