Slaveholders relied on ethnic divisions among Africans to secure their rule

Evidence

The mightiest guarantee for the security of large Brazilian towns is the incompatibility of various African nations for if they ever overlook the enmity which naturally disunites them, those of Agomes will become brothers with the Nagos, the Geges with the Aussas, the Tapas with Sentys, and in this way the great and inevitable peril will darken and devastate Brazil. And, there is no doubt that misfortune can bring about the brotherhood of the unfortunate. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 771

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to divide-and-rule mechanisms across colonial empires — parallels the ’” + “the enmity which naturally disunites” + ”’ strategy in the Frankfurt School material on elite manipulation and elsewhere.