African Slave Trade Essay

Before Europeans joined the African slave trade, slavery was widespread throughout Africa, and slaves served to pay off debts, sold by their kin in exchange for goods during famine, or as war captives. The slaves were central to the trans-Saharan trade, and on occasion the slaves would be freed from servitude. Once the Europeans began to exploit the slave trade, they created a forced migration of African slaves into the

Europeans began to export slaves out of Africa and eventually into the Americas through Triangular trade. This put Africa on the map economically, but this economy began to disrupt their society. Different tribes began to start wars over obtaining slaves to trade for European goods. Eventually slave trade also led to a decrease in population in Africa, which caused a loss in potential for growth and as a result weakened African civilizations. Many regions were left dominated by females because of the demand for male slaves. This disrupted the previous traditional African family structure. The Europeans also took it upon themselves to impose Christianity on the Africans, who formerly practiced many different religions based on their

African slavery existed within its own continent and countries long before European interference. It wasn't until the mid-fifteenth century that the Portuguese sailed the Eastern Africa coast in search of a trade route to the East that they inherited an alternative discovery. The Portugal trade with Africans along the coast led to colonization and eventual trade of African slaves. This was the eventual segue of slaves into extend European culture (p.39-40 Roark). Slaves reached the New World in the early sixteenth century in Caribbean region discovered by Christopher Columbus, most imported from Europe, while some came directly from Africa (par. 1 Etlis). By the time African slaves made their way to the Jamestown settlement in 1619, African slavery had already been a large part of European and New World culture for well over a century. Slaves had been imported to help work on the production of America's first founded cash crop: tobacco (Slavery in America). From the tips of American roots, we see the reliance of slavery to aid with work. This European practice that

started to ship out more slaves to fulfill their strengths in other manual labor tasks which

Slavery became associated with people from Africa because Europeans could obtain skilled slaves from an already established system to increase their profits. Europeans began to create agriculture plantations and had gold mines. They needed people who could work these highly important possessions. Europeans had a high demand in products that would give them a lot of money such as sugar and cotton among other crops. The labor of the plantations and the mines was a heavy job so Europeans needed people that were strong laborers.

Slaves were purchased from West Africa around the 1500s, which started the most repulsive act of injustice on Africans and the creation of slave societies. By this time, the Europeans had realized that Africans were the most credulous targets and would serve as best laborers that this New World exceedingly needed. This slave trade of Africans was driven by Africans rulers need to make more money and therefore increase their power. The kings basically threw their people to the wolves for extremely selfish reasons. This basically perceived the Africans as weak,

All through the African Slave Trade there have been numerous huge occasions that happened amid 1450-1850. Three of which I will be expounding on in this theme. The center section was the first key occasion in which Africans were sent to the New World. The slave treatment and resistance of African men and ladies who were viewed as not as much as human was the second key occasion. The Fugitive Slave Law which permitted recover of slaves was the third key occasion. An expected 12 million Africans were transported over the Atlantic toward the Western Hemisphere from 1450 to 1850. Of this number, around five percent were conveyed to British North America and, later, to the United States, the greater part of them landing somewhere around 1680 and 1810. A little number of Africans went first to the British West Indies and afterward to North America.

Although indentured servants could not survive in the new climate because the southern places had tropical diseases unlike Europe. That is another reason why African Americans were turned upon for labor. Most of the slaves from Africa may have had owners previously in Northern Africa and in the Middle East. In those areas, Muslims sometimes owned slaves. A difference between them and the Europeans was that the Europeans did not care for the lives of slaves, where as the Muslim slave owners did because they saw that they mattered to their family and should not be separated from their family.

Two things that can be linked to the roots of slavery are the Mediterranean region and sugar. It wasn’t until the time of the Crusades that Europeans even knew about sugars existence, they had previously depended on fruits and honey to amplify the taste in their dull diets. Europeans learned about sugarcane and the labor intensive processes for making consumable sugar from the Arabs. Armed with tremendous amounts of capital investment, technology, and a disciplined work force, Europeans started building sugar plantations around the Mediterranean and several islands off the West African coast. Hardships and hazards of the work as well as limitations fastened to serf labor, and the overall lack of wage workers altogether, pointed to slavery as a foundation for labor on the sugar plantation. So why Africans? Through a process of elimination we can deduce why they were chosen as the primary source for slave labor instead of the plentiful and readily available native Indians (who were already in the Americas); poor whites and indentured servants.

Slavery developed in the Americas because of exploration and need or labor. Europeans captured Africans and transported them across the deadly Middle Passage, to the Americas, where they would be forced to poor under harsh conditions. Slavery had many lasting effects. Africa was depopulated, and Africans in America lost their cultures and identity while Europeans made money from the resources being exported in the Americas at the expense of Africans’ lives and culture.

Why not Native Americans or the white indentured servants. The Native Americans caught many diseases from the Europeans. Those who survived usually ran away from captivity. The white indentured servants were under contract not to be held against their will. For the first half of the 1600’s the slave population grows as the need to limit indentured servitude. Land in America was available for sale at any time. Which allowed the white indentured servants to save and purchase the land. As a result, the population grew in order for southern farmers to meet their labor needs. By 1750 there were over 235,000 enslaved Africans in America. About 85% lived in the Southern region. Enslaved Africans made up about 40% percent of the South’s population. The first arrivals of Africans in America were treated similarly to the indentured servants in Europe. Black servants were treated very differently from the white servants. By 1740 the slavery system in colonial America had fully developed. Slavery was founded in

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.

Africa is a big continent full with varies group of people with different belief and different government. The area that have a king as the leader tend to have more complex government system. Other area just govern by the knowledge of the people in the area. Africa is rich with goods and it attract European trader to trade with them. Some European seek an opportunity from trading people by kidnapping the African and sold them to the European. After a while more European demands for more slaves because the demand for sugar is high. It not only European kidnapped African, but the African also capture their own people for sale. All the African that had been captured will travel to the coast and wait for a ship to come pick them up.

Sugar cane, tobacco, and cotton plantations in the New-World were labour intensive and took a lot of manpower to cultivate. To meet that demand for labour, European countries such as Portugal and Britain sailed their ships to West African shores with weapons, manufactured goods and rum to give to the natives in exchange for slaves. The slaves would then be crammed into the ships and made to live in subhuman conditions so they would be taken to the Americas. More than 20% of the slaves wouldn't survive the arduous journey, some of them would commit suicide to avoid further suffering, some would die of disease and some would even be thrown overboard as a mean of discipline.

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