THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE: AN EVALUATION BASED ON IMAGE-REALITY AND INTERESTS

Yıl 2024, , 668 - 688, 16.04.2024

İbrahim Çağrı Erkul

https://doi.org/10.17755/esosder.1376512

Öz

Slavery, which has existed since the early periods of human history, entered a new phase when the Portuguese transported enslaved Africans to the American Continent. Although Britain did not initiate the transatlantic slave trade she realized the wealth that this trade brought and increased her share in the slave trade in parallel with the expansion of her empire. At this point, Britain, which had led the slave trade for a long time, made a change based on realism in her policy by passing the Slave Trade Act of 1807 and the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. Thus, this attitude of Britain, which demonstrated its will to eliminate the slave trade and slavery, was important in ending the slave trade and slavery globally. The article aims to reveal the reasons for this change of attitude in terms of Britain's interests and to justify the claim that the empire relatively maintained the benefits it gained from slavery behind the image it created. To justify this claim, a holistic approach was followed regarding Britain's involvement in the slave trade and slavery system, and the issue was discussed in accordance with the chronology. In addition, Britain's relations with Spain, Portugal, France, the United States of America (USA), and Brazil, which were prominent in the slave trade, were discussed and the subject was analyzed in its reality, using the sources of that period.

Anahtar Kelimeler

British Empire, Africa, Slave Trade, Abolitionism

BRİTANYA İMPARATORLUĞU VE TRANSATLANTİK KÖLE TİCARETİ: İMAJ-GERÇEK VE ÇIKARLAR TEMELİNDE BİR DEĞERLENDİRME

Öz

İnsanlık tarihinin ilk dönemlerinden beri var olan kölelik, Portekizlilerin Afrikalı köleleri Amerika Kıtası’na taşımalarıyla yeni bir evreye girmiştir. Britanya her ne kadar transatlantik köle ticaretini başlatmamış olsa da bu ticaretin beraberinde getirdiği zenginliği fark etmiş ve imparatorluğunun genişlemesine paralel olarak, köle ticaretindeki payını arttırmıştır. Bu noktada köle ticaretine uzun bir süre liderlik de etmiş olan Britanya, 1807 Köle Ticareti Yasası’nı ve 1833 Köleliğin Kaldırılması Yasası’nı çıkarak, kölelik politikasında realizm temelinde değişikliğe gitmiştir. Böylece köle ticaretini ve köleliği ortadan kaldırma yönünde bir irade ortaya koyan Britanya’nın bu tutumu, küresel anlamda köle ticaretinin sona erdirilmesinde hayati bir öneme sahiptir. Makale, bu tutum değişikliğinin nedenlerini Britanya’nın çıkarları özelinde ortaya koyma ve imparatorluğun kölelikten elde ettiği faydaları, oluşturduğu imajın ardında göreli olarak sürdürdüğü iddiasını gerekçelendirme amacındadır. Bu iddiayı gerekçelendirebilmek için Britanya’nın köle ticaretine ve kölelik sistemine dahli noktasında bütüncül bir yaklaşım izlenmiş ve konu zaman dilimine uygun olarak ele alınmıştır. Buna ek olarak, Britanya’nın köle ticaretinde öne çıkan İspanya, Portekiz, Fransa, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri (ABD) ve Brezilya ile ilişkilerine değinilmiştir. Ayrıca dönem kaynaklarından da yararlanılarak konu kendi gerçekliğinde analiz edilmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Britanya İmparatorluğu, Afrika, Köle Ticareti, Kölelik Karşıtlığı

Kaynakça

• Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. (1807, March 25). http://www.esp.org/foundations/freedom/holdings/slave-trade-act-1807.pdf (11.08.2023)
• Anti-slavery crisis : policy of ministers : reprinted from the Eclectic review, for April, 1838 : with a postscript on the debate and division in the House of Commons, on the 29th and 30th of March. (1838). London: William Ball.
• Anstey, T. C. (1848). Charges Against the Lord Viscount Palmerston: Proceedings on the Motion of Thomas Chisholm Anstey. London: George Woodfall and Son.
• Armaoğlu, F. (2017). 19. yüzyıl siyasi tarihi 1789-1914. İstanbul: Timaş Yayınları.
• Ataöv, T. (2010). Emperyalizmin Afrika sömürüsü. İstanbul: İleri Yayınları.
• Bales, K. (2007). Ending slavery how we free today’s slaves. University of California Press.
• Benezet, A. (1785). A caution to Great Britain and her colonies: in a short representation of the calamitous state of the enslaved negroes in the British dominions. London: J. Phillips.
• Black, J. (2017). Kısa İngiltere tarihi. (Ekin Duru, Çev), İstanbul: Say Yayınları.
• Blouet, O. M. (1991). Earning and learning in the British West Indies: an image of freedom in the pre-emancipation decade, 1823-1833. The Historical Journal, 34(2), 391–409.
• Brett, S. R. (1960). British history 1783 – 1936 a school certificate course. London: John Murray.
• Brown, C. L. (1999). Empire without slaves: British concepts of emancipation in the age of the American Revolution. The William and Mary Quarterly, 56(2), 273–306.
• Canbolat, İ. S., (2007). İmaj-gerçek ve işlevsellik bağlamında eleştirel bir uluslararası ilişkiler çözümlemesi üzerine. Gazi Akademik Bakış, 1(1), 1-24.
• Clarkson, T. (1808). The history of the rise, progress, & accomplishment of the abolition of the African slave-trade by the British Parliament. Vol II, London: R. Taylor and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme.
• Clarkson, T. (1823). Thoughts on the necessity of improving the condition of the slaves in the British colonies: with a view to their ultimate emancipation: and on the practicability, the safety, and the advantages of the latter measure. London: The Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions.
• Copley, E. (1836). A history of slavery, and its abolition. London: Sunday-School Union.
• Corwin, A. F. (2014). Spain and the abolition of slavery in Cuba, 1817–1886. University of Texas Press.
• Cotter, W. R. (1994). The Somerset case and the abolition of slavery in England. History, 79(255), 31-56.
• Coupland, R. (1933). The British anti-slavery movement. London: Thornton Butteworthi Limited.
• Craton, M. (1974). Sinews of empire: a short history of British slavery. New York: Anchor Books.
• Davidson, W. (2021). Kısa Amerika Birleşik Devletleri tarihi. (Evren Topaktaş Çev), İstanbul: Say Yayınları.
• Dobson, J. M. (2006). Bulls, bears, boom, and bust, a historical encyclopedia of American business concepts. Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Draper, N. (2007). “Possessing slaves”: ownership, compensation and metropolitan society in Britain at the time of emancipation 1834-40. History Workshop Journal, 64, 74–102.
• Drescher, S. (2009). Abolition a history of slavery and antislavery. Cambridge University Press.
• Eltis, D. (2009). Was abolition of the U.S. and British slave trade significant in the broader Atlantic context?. The William and Mary Quarterly, 66(4), 715–736.
• Erkul, İ. Ç. (2021). Commonwealth’i anlamak beşikten mezara Britanya İmparatorluğu. Konya: Çizgi Yayınevi.
• Fanon F. (1996). Ezilenlerin psikolojisi ve yabancılaşma siyah deri beyaz maskeler. (M. Haksöz, Çev), İstanbul: Sosyalist Yayınlar.
• Ferguson, N. (2015). İmparatorluk Britanya’nın modern dünyayı biçimlendirişi. (Nurettin Elhüseyni, Çev), İstanbul: YKY Yayınları.
• Ferrer, A. (2014). Freedom’s mirror Cuba and Haiti in the age of revolution. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Grimshaw, W. (1847). History of England, from the first invasion by Julius Cesar, to the accessıon of Victoria. Philadelphia: Grigg, Elliot & Co,
• Güneş, B. (2015). “Afrika’nın paylaşılması ve berlin konferansı”, (Barış Özdal, R. Kutay Karaca, Ed), Diplomasi Tarihi 1, Bursa: Dora Yayınları.
• Hagadorn, W. JR. (1851). A comparison of American and British slavery. New-York: E. B. Thomas.
• Hall, C. (2020 Jun 23) There are British businesses built on slavery. this is how we make amends, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/23/british-business-slave-trade-university-college-london-slave-owners (05.09.2023)
• Halpern, R. ve Dal Lago, E. (Eds). (2002). Slavery and emancipation. Blackwell Publishing.
• Heuman G. (2011), Slave rebellions, (G. Heuman and T. Burnard, Ed), The Routledge History Of Slavery. Routledge, 220-233.
• Hill, C. (2015). İngiliz devrimler çağı demokratik devrimden sanayi devrimi’ne 1530-1870. (Lale Akalın, Çev), İstanbul: Kaynak Yayınları.
• HM Treasury. (2018 January 31). Freedom of information act 2000: slavery abolition act 1833, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/680456/FOI2018-00186_-_Slavery_Abolition_Act_1833_-_pdf_for_disclosure_log__003_.pdf (08.09.2023)
• House of Lords. (2019, August 1). Britain and the Transatlantic slave trade, https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/LLN-2019-0104/LLN-2019-0104.pdf, 1-5. (14.07.2023)
• Ingersoll, C. J. (1856). African slavery in America. Philadelphia: T. K. and P. G. Collins Printers.
• Ingram J. K. (1895). A history of slavery and serfdom. London: Adam and Charles Black.
• Karakaş Özür, N. (2015). Keşifler ve coğrafya 15 ve 16. yüzyıl keşifleri. İstanbul: Yeditepe Yayınevi.
• Kearney, H. (2015). Britanya adaları tarihi dört ulusun tarihi: İngiltere, İskoçya, İrlanda ve Galler. (Özgür Umut Hoşafçı, Çev), İstanbul: İnkilap Yayınevi.
• Kelly, C. (1820). History of the French Revolution and of the wars produced by that memorable event: from the commencement of hostilities in l792, to the second restoration of Louis XVIII;and the deportation of Napoleon Buonaparte to the Island of St. Helena, including a complete account of the war between Great Britain and America; and the memorable Battle of Waterloo. London: Thomas Kelly.
• Kennedy, P. (2015). Büyük güçlerin yükseliş ve çöküşleri 16. yüzyıldan günümüze ekonomik değişim ve askeri çatışmalar. (Birtane Karanakçı, Çev), İstanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları.
• Kielstra, P. M. (2000). The politics of slave trade suppression in Britain and France, 1814–48 diplomacy, morality and economics, Palgrave-Macmillan,
• Klein, H. S. (1986). African slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Lovejoy, P. E. (2011). Slavery in Africa, (G. Heuman and T. Burnard, Ed), The Routledge History Of Slavery. Routledge, 35-51.
• Machiavelli, N. (1999). Hükümdar. (Selahattin Bağdatlı, Çev), İstanbul: Der Yayınları.
• Magdoff, H. (2006). Sömürgecilikten günümüze emperyalizm. (E. Usta, Çev), İstanbul: Kalkedon Yayınları.
• Malkani, B. (2018). Slavery and the death penalty a Study in abolition. Routledge.
• Manjapra, K. (2018 Mar 29). When will Britain face up to its crimes against humanity?, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/29/slavery-abolition-compensation-when-will-britain-face-up-to-its-crimes-against-humanity (02.09.2023)
• McKibbin, S., Connors, L. ve Harmes, M. K. (2021). A legal history for Australia. Hart Publishing.
• Miller, R. M. (1969). The failure of the Colony of Georgia under the trustees. The Georgia Historical Quarterly, 53(1), 1–17.
• Moohr, M. (1972). The economic impact of slave emancipation in British Guiana, 1832-1852. The Economic History Review, 25(4), 588–607.
• Morgan, K. (2000). Slavery, Atlantic trade and the British economy, 1660-1800. Cambridge University Press.
• Nelson, B. H. (1942). The slave trade as a factor in British foreign policy 1815-1862. The Journal of Negro History, 27(2), 192–209.
• Page, A. (2011). Rational dissent, enlightenment, and abolition of the British slave trade. The Historical Journal, 54(3), 741–772.
• Reckord, M. (1971). The colonial office and the abolition of slavery. The Historical Journal, 14(4), 723–734.
• Roberts, J. (2013). Slavery and the enlightenment in the British Atlantic, 1750–1807. Cambridge University Press.
• Robinson, H. (1927). A history of Great Britain. Houghton Mifflin Co.
• Roskin, M. G., Berry, N. O. (2014). Uluslararası İlişkiler: Uİ’nin Yeni Dünyası. (Özlem Şimşek, Çev), Ankara: Adres Yayınları.
• Sá da Bandeira, B. (1840). The slave trade and Lord Palmerston's bill, y.y.
• Sander, O. (2003). Siyasi tarih, ilkçağlardan 1918’e. Ankara: İmge Kitabevi.
• Scanlan, P. X. (2021 August 1). Aug. 1 is emancipation day. but the end of British slavery didn’t mean freedom, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/08/01/aug-1-is-emancipation-day-end-british-slavery-didnt-mean-freedom/ (08.09.2023)
• Sheridan, R. B. (1958). The commercial and financial organization of the British slave trade, 1750-1807. The Economic History Review, 11(2), 249–263.
• The guidance of Her Majesty's naval officers employed in the suppression of the slave trade, (1844). London: Printed by T.R. Harrison, St. Martin's Lane.
• The slave colonies of Great Britain: or, a picture of negro slavery drawn by the colonists themselves; being an abstract of the various papers recently laid before parliament on that subject, (1826). London: Printed by Ellerton and Henderson for the Society,.
• The treaty with Spain for preventing the slave trade. (1818 January 28). https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1818/jan/28/copy-of-the-treaty-with-spain-for (31.08.2023)
• Tocqueville, A. (2001). Writings on empire and slavery. (Jennifer Pitts Ed. and trans). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
• UK Parliament. (1839 August 08). Slave-trade-Portugal, https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1839/aug/08/slave-trade-portugal#S3V0050P0_18390808_HOC_73 (25.08.2023)
• Van der Linden, M. (2010). Unanticipated consequences of “humanitarian intervention”: The British campaign to abolish the slave trade, 1807-1900. Theory and Society, 39(3/4), 281–298.
• Walvin, J. (2009). The slave trade, abolition and public memory. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 19, 139–149.
• Williams, E. (1943). Laissez faire, sugar and slavery. Political Science Quarterly, 58(1), 67-85.
• Wilson, H. H. (1950). Some principal aspects of British efforts to crush the African slave trade, 1807-1929. The American Journal of International Law, 44(3), 505–526.