African Slave Trade Can Be Expressed Through Various Points Of Views Essay

From the 17th century until the 19th century, almost twelve million Africans were brought to the New World against their will to perform back-breaking labour under terrible conditions. The rationalizations and defences given for slavery and the slave trade were absurd and self-serving. Slavery was a truly barbaric, and those who think that they can control what another group of people eat, where they sleep, whether they are to live or die, or even whether they are to be bought or sold, are acting on a totally inhumane level.

There are different experiences of the slave trade that are reflected in these documents such as those of an enslaved person (Olaudah Equiano), a European slave trader (Thomas Phillips – an English merchant), an African monarch (King Jao) whose kingdom and personal authority suffered from the slave trade, and an African monarch (Osei Bonsu) who opposed the ending of the slave trade. Of all the commercial ties that linked the early modern world into global network of exchange, none had more profound or enduring human consequences than the Atlantic Slave Trade. And in all these documents, we can see how people reacted differently to this system based on how they encountered it and how it affected them.

The Slave Trade in Colonial America The first blacks in the American Colonies were brought in, like many lower-class whites, as indentured servants. Most indentured servants had a contract to work without wages for a master for four to seven years, after which they became free. Blacks brought in as slaves, however, had no right to eventual freedom. The first black indentured servants arrived in Jamestown in the colony of Virginia in 1619.

The changes in African life during the slave trade era form an important element in the economic and technological development of Africa. Although the Atlantic slave trade had a negative effect on both the economy and technology, it is important to understand that slavery was not a new concept to Africa. In fact, internal slavery existed in Africa for many years. Slaves included war captives, the kidnapped, adulterers, and other criminals and outcasts. However, the number of persons held in slavery in Africa, was very small, since no economic or social system had developed for exploiting them (Manning 97). The new system-Atlantic slave trade-became quite different from the early African slavery. The

The trans-Atlantic slave trade set in motion a series of events that ultimately crippled a continent, and forever change how those of African descent became viewed around the world. The effects of the slave trade were both immediate and far reaching. In this essay I will discuss a few of the immediate effects of the slave trade as well as some of it farther reaching consequences.

The Transatlantic slave trade is a “wrenching aspect of the history of Africa and America” (Colin Palmer). The transatlantic slave trade transported African people to the “New World”. It lasted from the 16th to the 19th century. Slavery has had a big impact on African culture. The Africans were forced to migrate away from everything they knew, culture, heritage and lifestyles (Captive Passage). Coupled with they were faced with racism and overcame life-threaten situations everyday. Nevertheless the Africans preserved and survived tremendous conditions. Even though the slave trade was horrible it still contributed to the economy of the

In the 1800’s there was an increase soar in the use of the domestic slave trade because of the need for slaves in the tobacco planting lands. Many landowners and planters looked towards the Chesapeake area to seek for slaves. Many slave owners started looking towards that region because the International Slave Trade had been blockaded off. The domestic slave trade began something different; where African Americans were moved to a new location either through being sold or being transferred. Because of the desperate need of slaves in order to earn a profit, within that century, hundreds of thousands of slaves were transported, allowing many American traders to earn a profit.

One could argue that the only important factor of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade is the creation of the political system in America; however, the geographic aspects, economic developments, and social status of people are the most important factors created from the introduction of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. These three factors are significant elements of the slave trade, while the political system simply derived from these factors. Without the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the United States of America would not be shaped the way it is today. Politics are the foundation of a country; a nation is born when the political system is set.

Slaves were significantly important to both Southern America and Northern America; both regions profited greatly from the slave trade. While Northern America were focusing on manufacturing, Southern America were considering to increase slavery so that they could use them in their agricultural places. Most of the slaves were from Africa, who were forcibly brought to America. The journey from Africa to America was not that easy though. Many of them died on the way to America because of the brutal condition of the journey. They risked their life to come to America with the hope of getting a better life in America. However, will they be accepted well and treated equally by new people in America? Will the new land give them new better life? Will the new land be actually better than their homeland? The treatment of slaves in America depended on slave owners, conditions, times, and places, though, generally majority of slaves had to face with brutality, degradation, and inhumanity. Slavery was one of the most significant issues in American history. Technically, slaves provided America economy, especially during the Antebellum period. Besides, they caused tensions between America two regions; the Southern states and the Northern states, over slavery issues, which was one of the reason that caused the Civil War. The influences of slavery issues didn’t end after the Civil war, it continued to the civil rights movements period and some of the equality issues are still going on till

Widely admired for its vivid descriptions of the slave trade, Olaudah Equiano 's autobiography reveals many aspects of the eighteenth-century Western world through the experiences of one individual. Throughout the narrative, Equiano -- a man defined by his abilities and usefulness, not by his skin color -- demonstrates the foundations for America’s role in the world and how his experience became a global story. From the west coast of Africa to the east coast of America, Equiano encounters a different culture in which he was able to develop his own sense of identity. In this Narrative, Equiano goes through a cultural change by learning the English language, meeting new people from different places, and experiencing different cultures and beliefs.

Through the use of several colonial documents and records, the author reveals not only the history and experiences of African slaves in the African-Portuguese world, but how the traditions and ritual practices their ancestors brought

In this passage, Stephanie E. Small articulates both the political economies and anomalous intimacies of captives (slaves) along the western coast of Africa. These captives were perceived as a commodity which garnered exchange value; captives could be equated to other West African exports, i.e gold, metal, and salt. European traders understood the correlation between maximizing the hull capacity and net revenue. When traders were primarily transporting gold, its high value and low weight allowed sailors to overlook ill-utilized space. Merchants meticulously arranged slaves in the hull of the ships, often folder together in a spoon-like manner. These ships contain approximately three hundred slaves. Compensation of ship captains

In the last 50 years much has been done to combat the entirely false and negative views about the history of Africa and Africans, which were developed in Europe in order to justify the Transatlantic Slave Trade and European colonial rule in Africa that followed it. In the eighteenth century such racist views were summed up by the words of the Scottish philosopher David Hume, who said, ‘I am apt to suspect the Negroes to be naturally inferior to the Whites. There scarcely ever was a civilised nation of that complexion, nor even any individual, eminent either in action or in speculation. No ingenious manufacture among them, no arts, no sciences”. In the nineteenth

The institution of slave trade and the actual experiences of slavery that occurred in the Caribbean were to form a monumental part of that region's culture, society, and everyday interactions, both in the past and in the present. The culture that is present today in the Caribbean is the result of many different influences varying from those introduced by ruling colonial countries, to influences that the slaves stressed, and even from brand new colonies being developed. The diverse and multifaceted culture that is present today is a direct result of the institution of slavery.

Slavery has played a strong role in African society from as early as prehistoric times, continuing to the modern era. Early slavery within Africa was a common practice in many societies, and was very central to the country’s economy. Beginning around the 7th century, two groups of non-African slave traders significantly altered the traditional African forms of slavery that had been practiced in the past. Native Africans were now being forced to leave the country to be used as slaves. The two major slave trades, trans-Saharan and trans-Atlantic, became central to the organization of Africa and its societies until the modern era. Slavery and the slave trade strongly affected African society, and