Rise of Slavery in West Africa Due to the Chocolate Trade

The Rise of Slavery in West Africa Due to Chocolate Agriculture

Chase Anderson

May 16th, 2013

Professor Sheyda Jahanbani

History 314: The History of Globalization

There are three reasons chocolate became so popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries: methods to turn chocolate from a drink into a confectionary item made it cheaper, easier to transport, and more desirable; efficiency in transportation methods overseas and cross-country created the ability for a global market where cocoa could be harvested in Africa, manufactured in Western Europe, and then sold in America; and the Industrial Revolution gave way to significantly quicker production than previously possible which enabled chocolate manufacturers to create large quantities of their product in addition to advertising it extensively as well. Due to this sudden increase in chocolate demand, it required countries whose primary export was cocoa to increase their production of chocolate significantly over a short period of time. This led to a vast increase in slavery or various forms of slavery such as child labor, indentured servitude, wage labor, lack of means, etc. But throughout the 19th century, almost all western countries had abolished slavery so the question presents itself: how did slavery increase so prominently throughout the Gold Coast (a British colony) when Britain had abolished slavery in 1833? Aside from the obvious fact that demand for cocoa had increased there are three reasons why slavery increased in West Africa due to chocolate production: a lack of appropriate paperwork and enforcement by the Royal Navy, the failure of international law to quickly deal with the sudden explosion of globalized companies submitting staggering demands for product, and the sudden collapse of the global economy throughout Europe in the early 20th century which was worsened by the Great Depression in the United States.

The cocoa bean, grown from the Cacao tree, was one of the many trade items...