Atlantic Slave Trade The sailor that was read about, Joseph Banfield, has a rather interesting and terrifying experience. At first, however, everything is going fine. Then, he was left behind at one of the trading spots by the larger vessel that he traveled on with the rest of his crew. Once he was reaquainted with his boat and crew, the journey could be continued, and it was. Bad weather soon caused turmoil during his next journey to Africa, and it disturbed the routine of the boat, for they could not get to the enslaved men in the lower decks to feed them. So, several slaves died, whereas the rest of the slaves were sold for a low price. The weather caused them to lose sight of their paths, but they soon saw land ahead and disembarked there. Once there, they were approached by natives of the land and were thought to be a threat. Once it was communicated that they were no harm to the indigenous people, they were welcomed into the civilization that was established there. They were offered food and clothing, both of which they were lacking for the past several days due to the horrible weather. News had gotten around that this sailor, Joseph Banfield, was stuck here. Then, a fellow slave trader, and the wife of the Governor of Fort James, came here to free him and put a slave in his place. The man who was taking care of Banfield refused a slave in his place, but his refusal was quickly taken back when the trader threatened to destroy his town if a slave was not
The aftermath of the Atlantic Slave Trade included the commercialization of African economies and the solidification of European colonization and colonialism. Describe this commercialization and its subsequent effects.
The Atlantic Slave Trade was a very important time in history. When the records of the Atlantic slave Trade are reflected upon ,the impacts of the shipboards revolts are often times overseen .Although these revolts did have an immense effect on the political, views of the Slave trade. Richardson’s “shipboard revolts,African Authority,and the Atlantic slave trade”. brings into view the fluctuating causes and effects of shore based, and shipboard insurrection . Because of Richardson occupation it grants him reliability to all of his claims and supports his opinions His profession of studying economics and international ,offers him a profusion amount of education in the countries which were involved in the Atlantic Slave Trade. Richardson expose the indispensable impacts of shipboard revolts , African Leadership on the Atlantic slave trade, the author accomplishes this by painting out the causes an effects of each specific revolt an also by exposing the progress.
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.
Everyone has their own understanding of what slavery is, but there are misconceptions about the history of “slavery”. Not many people understand how the slave trade initially began. Originally Africa had “slaves” but they were servants or serfs, sometimes these people could be part of the master’s family. They could own land, rise to positions of power, and even purchase their freedom. This changed when white captains came to Africa and offered weapons, rum, and manufactured goods for people. African kings and merchants gave away the criminals, debtors, and prisoner from rival tribes. The demand for cheap labor was increasing, this resulted in the forced migration of over ten million slaves. The Atlantic Slave Trade occurred from 1500 to 1880 CE. This large-scale event changed the economy and histories of many places. The Atlantic Slave Trade held a great amount of significance in the development of America. Africans shaped America by building a solid foundation for the country.
When Columbus sailed to the what he thought was India, he would never know the full implications of his “accident” that changed the world. Columbus’s discovery of the Americas created a whole new avenue for competing European states to jockey for world dominance, and most importantly, for wealth. In order to gain the power that Spain, France, Britain, and Portugal so greatly desired, an intercontinental trading network called the Atlantic Slave Trade was established. The need for cheap labor and the desire for large profits brought slaves from Africa, to North/South America. Slavery began to take a new shape, with a focus on plantation agriculture through a dehumanized class of workers. During the Atlantic Slave Trade, slavery was primarily beneficial to European’s. Not only did the Atlantic Slave Trade supply European’s with the resources (primarily crops) required to assume a position of world dominance, slavery also benefited Europeans by providing the wealth that was needed to compete with traditional Asian powers. However, slavery during the Atlantic Slave Trade was detrimental to African’s. They were ripped from their home lands, brought across the Atlantic, and sold into a life of manual labor, and often abuse. Similar to how Columbus would never know the full impact of his discoveries in 1492, Europeans during Atlantic Slave Trade would never know just how much it would catapult the European continent into a position of power, meanwhile having devastating effects on
In the Atlantic slave trade, African slaves were treated like animals or even objects. White people took advantage and mistreated them. A few examples of this
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 Atlantic Slave Trade was a system of slavery that took place between the 16th and 19th centuries. It comprised of capturing African tribesmen and women from areas of Western and Central Africa and placing them into the colonies of the New World in North, Central, and South America. Many countries like England, Portugal, Spain, Holland, and France, had participated in enslaving the African peoples. The African slaves were used to exploit an array of commodities such coffee, cotton, rum, sugar, and tobacco, and eventually they had become commodities themselves. Often times the slaves were treated awfully by their owners. Most were forced to work long and tiresome hours on plantations to acquire said commodities, and then use them to create products that would be later sold. The slaves did not receive any profits from the sale of the products that they produced, but they were paid with basic needs such as shelter and food. The revenue that was produced by slave labour was highly profitable, but in turn it was counter acted by the cost of keeping the slave labourers alive and well. By the end of the 18th century a period known as the Industrial Revolution had swept Europe, especially England, and her colonial partners. Never before had production been so cheap and efficient. Many believe that the enslavement of Africans was necessary to initiate the industrial revolution. They believe that the slaves provided the foundation to the development of the revolution, and without
What were the social, political, and economic motives of Europeans in initiating slavery and the Atlantic Slave Trade?
For my comparison book review, I chose to focus on the Atlantic Slave Trade Second Edition by Herbert S Klein and The Economic Consequences of the Atlantic Slave Trade” by Barbara L. Solow. My focus of the trade is labor demands, effects on Africa, European organization of trade, and economy leading up to the end of the trade and after. Together, the two books demonstrate that the Atlantic Slave Trade was more than just the trading of Africans to different continents, but was a historical point that heavily impacted the world socially, economically and politically. While acknowledging the similarities of the two books in my essay, I will also address differences and points that may challenge each other. Before the institution of slavery was confined to only Africans, there were also indentured servants and other forms of caste workers that involved other races. Until the 15th century, the Mediterranean world use slaves as domestic servants, soldiers, mining and agriculture production. But according to Solow, when colonization moved to the Atlantic, plantation slavery became black and blacks became plantation slaves. Solow says that European colonization was associated with sugar; sugar was associated with slavery; and slavery was associated with blacks. (Solow, pg.5)
Millions of lives were forever changed by the Atlantic Slave trade. Some were affected positively, in the case of slavers and wealthy slave owners. Others, the men, women, and children captured and sold into slavery were affected in an overwhelmingly negative way. Slavery was perceived and experienced in two distinctly different ways by Africans and Europeans.
In general, the Atlantic Slave trade was very significant event in American History because the millions of lives it affected from the slaves to the Americans. In short, the Atlantic slave trade were established in the sixteenth century by Spanish colonists who had become the most experience sea mariners during that time (Robin, Kelley & Lewis, 2005, p. 7). Furthermore, in our reading the author touches on the fact that before Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World, that the Spaniards were already holding Muslims, black Africans, Slavs, and their own kind as slaves (Robin, Kelley & Lewis, 2005, p. 7). In viewing the Atlantic slave trade, this system separated millions of families from each other and shift the human population balance.
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.
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.
The Atlantic slave trade occurred across the Atlantic Ocean from the 16th through to the 19th centuries. Approximately twelve million Africans were taken to Europe which was their 'new world' against their will to perform tiring labor under terrible conditions. They were viewed as weird creatures, not normal humans; they were treated brutally and they experienced harsh conditions and torture. The sources I analysed certainly did show how the shaves of Africa were viewed in the eyes of the Europeans and the treatment they experienced.