Tea and slavery
2007-03-23 15:02
London - As Britain marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery on Sunday, a new exhibition is opening in London to shed light on links between the practice and that quintessentially British beverage: tea.
The Victoria and Albert Museum is inviting visitors to stroll among its decorative arts and discover the birth of Britain's tea-drinking culture and its importance in the country's empire in the 17th and 18th centuries.
An 18th century painting in the west London museum - Family of Three at Tea - shows the elevated social status of what was then a relatively new custom.
"It was such an important occupation, people wanted to be painted doing it," Christopher Maxwell, the museum's assistant curator of ceramics and glass, told AFP.
But this typically British custom would not have prospered without the slave trade, he added.
"The tea culture was introduced by Catherine of Braganza, King Charles II's queen, from 1660," he explained.
"Tea was imported by the Dutch, then the demand soared and the British started to trade it, too.
Sugar harvested by slaves
"The consumption was half green tea, half black fermented tea. Soon the black tea became the favourite, with sugar to sweeten it."
Tea was imported from India via the monopoly of the East India Company, but even if the firm was not directly involved in the slave trade, its exports of South Asian cotton to Africa fed a three-way business.
The slave trade proper was carried out by the South Sea Company, which controlled business with South America, then by private merchants, who exported to Europe cotton, coffee and in particular sugar cane that was harvested by slaves in the Caribbean plantations.
"The British sweet tooth nourished the trade," said Maxwell.
As Britain's naval power and colonial empire increased, Britain became the main commercial player in the slave trade in Europe - and got rich on its monopolies.
"Until 1780, there was a 100% tax on tea," said Maxwell. Large quantities of tea were therefore imported illegally, he added.
Elaborate tea ceremonies
"If you had legally-imported tea, you wanted to show off," he added.
Ornate silver tea caddies, some of which are on show at the museum, in which to keep the precious leaves, and the tiny teapots in which to brew the black liquid all date from this period.
An elaborately stylised tea ceremony also developed.
The servant would bring the kettle and place it on a kettle stand. The lady of the house would then carefully measure out the tea leaves and place them in the pot before pouring in hot water.
It would then be poured in front of the household and assembled guests.
"There was a strict etiquette," said Maxwell. "It was very bad to drink from the saucer. The hostess would keep filling the cup until you would put your spoon in the cup, meaning, 'enough'."
Britain helped abolish slave trade
But if the British contributed to the development of the slave trade, they also helped abolish it with possibly the world's first consumer movement.
A boycott on Caribbean sugar cane cut by slaves was widely followed up to the end of the 18th century.
In the V&A's collections, a blue glass jar dating from around 1800 carries the inscription, "East India sugar not made by slaves."
At the same time, the abolitionist campaign was gaining widespread support, eventually leading to Britain banning slavery throughout its empire on March 25, 1807.