African Americans Before Slavery

Slavery is one of the most inhumane acts the world has ever known. Africans were kidnapped and forced into slavery by Europeans; they were separated from their families and forced to work on plantations. They were placed in unbearable conditions and the prevalent racism attached onto this system fueled the mistreatment and oppression of black people for years to come. The origins of the widespread African slavery in America as we know today started in early colonial America when people needed cheap labor to care for cash crops. Slaves were brought to America from Africa on disease-infested ships and became the driving force for prosperity in America through what became known as the slave trade. In the early 1700’s, the race-based slave system that would continue on for centuries to come had officially begun.

The other component of slavery is slaves often encaptured because of war and conquest. The English put the slaves to work for profit and to ease their workload. The English did not have the physical endurance to sustain harsh conditions. As a result in 1442 Europe brought the African slaves from the West Indies because of their physical endurance. Thereafter transporting slaves began as an entrepreneur occupation for British seamen. So the British captured slaves for sugar farming to sweeten coffee and tea enslaving Africans for over four hundred years.

The slavery has one the greatest contributions to the history of the united states, American started slavery back when the new world was discovered. When slavery had just begun to evolve the United States were known as colonies of the New World. In 1619, Dutch introduce slavery to America, starting the seeds of a slavery system that developed into a nightmare of abuse and torture that would eventually divide the nation. Slavery was practiced in America throughout the American colonies in the 17-18th centuries. During 1850, around 3.2 million slaves labored in the United States and 1.8 million of whom worked in the cotton fields(U.S. History, 2014, May 07). Slaves faced arbitrary power abuses from whites, but they can sometimes cope with what's going on. For example, slaves

The Europeans created the Atlantic Slave Trade in the Atlantic World and made a huge change in the world's history. The Atlantic Slave Trade started in the 1400s and almost all slaves would go to the Americas instead of Europe or Asia, although some slaves were still deported there from Africa. There was slavery in Africa before the Atlantic Slave trade. It didn't have a major effect on the slavery in africa. As the demand for slaves grew with the European expansion in the new world, rising prices made the slave trade very profitable.

Slavery existed in Africa before the Europeans arrived there in the 1480s. Enemies captured slaves and they were taken as prisoners. The Portuguese reached at the

From the middle of the 15th century, Europe and Africa entered into a horrific relationship which eventually led to the demise of Africa, through the kidnapping and enslavement of their people which in turn led to the development of Europe. 1441 marks the date of the Start of European slave trading in Africa when a Portuguese captain brought back 12 Africans to Portugal from Cabo Branco (Mauritania)1, the slave trade would only continue to evolve and advance over the centuries. Some of the main differences that are apparent from the time periods would be the fact that America became involved after 1550, the numbers, before 1550 slavery was only just beginning and only a small portion of the approximate 12 - 15 million2 taken over the years

Slavery in the Americas started with Christopher Columbus at the end of his first voyage, west of the Atlantic. When Columbus saw the Indians (as he called them) and he thought they would make great servants to overlords in Europe. The author writes, “he promised to bring Ferdinand and Isabella as many slaves as they required” (Nowara 10). This was a suitable proposition because the lifestyle of slavery was already embedded in the minds of the Europeans during the medieval times. The Portuguese and the Spanish were already using slaves from Africa while Columbus was discovering the Americas and the Caribbean. During sometime between 500 A.D – 1500; the Iberian Peninsula became a gateway for slavery after Spanish and Portuguese kingdoms drove out Muslim kingdoms and battled them in the North of Africa. Another place that was conquered by the Portuguese was Morocco and the city of Ceuta which was a strait in the peninsula. Giving the Portuguese control and power of trade routes of gold and slaves. This soon brought the Portuguese west and down Africa coastline. But African slaves was already well known in parts of west and central Africa. The author writes “slavery was a well-rooted institution in the African societies with which they traded” (Nowara 12).

In speaking about slavery many quickly think of the African struggle under the possession of the whites, but slavery is not nearly as recent an occurrence as 1492 when Columbus reached the New World. For thousands of years

Slavery reached its highest level of infamy in eastern Europe and persisted for a time in the American colonies. Throughout history the best recollection of slavery appeared during the time when the African people first arrived to Europe and when the colonies had first developed into the earliest roots of the United States of America. Based on that statement one would believe that slavery had not existed before that time period or that the consequences and relevance of it had little historical, social, or economical importance. While some of this might be true, the act of enslaving other human being has existed for hundreds of before the Europeans ever reached and explored the continent of Africa. Proponents of slavery could argue that it is just a natural step in the evolution and development of civilized man. Historic data revealed that the African people form of enslavement on one another was drastically different then European and American way. Although slavery as we know it has been abolished, the consequences have had and will surely have everlasting effects on you, me and the future of every child.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade was one of the biggest human rights violation in history. An estimated 10 million slaves were carried across the Atlantic Ocean beginning in the early 1500’s until the mid-1800’s. Imprisoned slaves consisted primarily of West African tribes from along the coast. The sale of slaves in the Americas was legalized in 1510, resulting in the beginning of preparations for the first African cargo ship to set sail in 1518. This was the start of a new era.

African slaves were thought of as chattel (Boundless, 2014, para. 1) They were whipped, shackled, hung, beaten, burned, mutilated, branded, imprisoned, and raped (Boundless, 2014, para. 1). After multiple generations of this treatment “partus sequitur ventrem” was brought into effect in Virginia in 1662. The law protected any white male that may have a child with a female slave, by stating that any child of a

Between the years 1500 and 1900, Europeans forced hundreds of millions of people from West and Central Africa to become slaves in the Americas. Once in the Americas, they were put on plantations and worked in brutal, degrading conditions. Millions of Africans were killed in the process. They were stripped of their identity and were no longer considered human, just a slave to the forces of white men.

A major advance was the introduction of the caravel in the mid-15th century, a small ship able to sail windward more than any other in Europe at the time. Evolved from fishing ships designs, they were the first that could leave the coastal cabotage navigation and sail safely on the open. For celestial navigation the Portuguese used the Ephemerides, which experienced a remarkable diffusion in the 15th century. They were astronomical charts plotting the location of the stars over a distinct period of time. These charts revolutionized navigation, allowing to calculating latitude. Using the caravel,

In the seventeenth century European visitors we’re starting to want more of a different type “product” than any other material product they were buying, they want to slaves. In America commercial plantation we’re multiplying and that resulting in slave labor constantly increasing. The need for slave labor constantly increasing because in the plantations they needed more people to work so that caused them to have to go and get more slaves. The need for slaves had increased so much that by the 1700’s more than six million men and women were forced to cross the Atlantic to work in bondage until they passed away. Even after the 1700s they continue to increase and by the mid-18 century, every year about seventy thousand slaves were took from their homeland and forced to work until they died.

Natives and African both experienced harsh punishments and work ethic in the 16th to 19th century due to the extensive need for labor in both fields and mines. Thus resulting in a tragic outcome for the slaves but, for European a good way to find the path to riches and growth in the social structure.