Evolution of Slavery: The Impact of Atlantic Creoles

Ira Berlin introduces how slavery evolved over time. Berlin, a history professor at the University of Maryland, focuses on the journey of how Atlantic creoles came to the New World and the impact they made throughout the years. The creoles played an essential part in the history of the United States and the Atlantic trade. Berlin clarifies the importance of the charter generation in slavery and compares it to the generations that followed.

The charter generation refers to the Atlantic creoles. The Atlantic creoles were slaves which were not originally from America, or even from one specific place in the Northern Hemisphere. “Black life in mainland North America originated not in Africa or America but in the netherworld between the continents. Along the periphery of the Atlantic - first in Africa, then in

Often times, they were used as mediators in the trade. “Many served as intermediaries, employing their linguistic skills and their familiarity with the Atlantic's diverse commercial practices, cultural conventions, and diplomatic etiquette to mediate between African merchants and European sea captains. In so doing, some Atlantic creoles identified with their ancestral homeland (or a portion of it)-be it African, European, or American-and served as its representatives in negotiations with others.” To an extent, this exonerates the responsibility of white enslavers. The creoles had helped to create the Atlantic slave trade. They were knowledgeable in the trade business, which gave them the upper hand in the situation. It also complicates the responsibility of the white slave owners. “Slaveholders learned that slaves' ability to negotiate with the diverse populace of seventeenth-century North America was as valuable as their labor, perhaps more so.” The white enslavers used the creoles to their advantage by using the creole’s knowledge as a crutch in the slave