Colonial and Post-Colonial Mentalities in the Middle Passage

Slaves were treated like dangerous animals that were being loaded on a ship ready to be sent to a zoo. From the passage

Africa, like many other continents, was a very tremendous and a very diverse civilization that is very complicated to introduce due to all its wonderful but also diverse features and beliefs. From the differences between its society and language to its religion and politics, Africa always had the reputation that its empires, cities, and kingdoms never progressed in the developments and achievements for their civilization. Many people believed that the Europeans were actually the cause of Africa’s achievements and advanced developments for their civilizations. However, this is further than the whole truth. Before the arrival of the Europeans between the 15th and 16th century, African kingdoms, empires, and cities had many achievements and accomplishments

There is no other experience in history where innocent African Americans encountered such a brutal torment. This infamous ordeal is called the Middle Passage or the “middle leg” of the Triangular Trade, which was the forceful voyage of African Americans from Africa to the New World. The Africans were taken from their homeland, boarded onto the dreadful ships, and scattered into the New World as slaves. 10- 16 million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic during the 1500’s to the 1900’s and 10- 15 percent of them died during the voyage. Millions of men, women, and children left behind their personal possessions and loved ones that will never be seen again. Not only were the Africans limited to freedom, but also lost their identity in

Europeans filled in the blanks of African history by using exoticism to come up with origin theories that made sense to them. Because the African population has a different physical appearance than Europeans, they were viewed as the “other” race, and therefore were inferior in the minds of Europeans. Africa, however, was a society that was equally as complex as any European nation, unique with their own kingdoms and customs. Because of this, it was incorrect for Europeans to label Africans as “savage” individuals. Africa’s culture is rich and deserves to be interpreted in the way that they see fit, rather than having European stereotypes of the past define their culture of

One of the most interesting arguments that modern apologists makes for the practice of race-based slavery in the Americas is the fact that slavery existed in Africa during that time period and that Africans were complicit in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. What is fascinating about Olaudah Equiano's discussion of the Middle Passage is that, as a man who had been enslaved in Africa prior to being shipped as a slave to the Americas, he was in a unique position to describe slavery in Africa with his introduction to European-influenced slavery in North America. His perception was that the immense brutality of the Middle Passage foreshadowed the dehumanization of slaves in the Americas, which was more inhumane than the treatment he had received as a slave while in Africa. Furthermore, he did not suggest that this brutality was linked to the race of the traders, though that seemed to have been his initial impression, but to the nature of the Trans-Atlantic trade. Therefore, Equiano's writings suggest that shipping Africans across the ocean for slavery was part of the dehumanizing process that helped fuel the practice of slavery in America.

Historically, the Second Middle Passage refers to the era of time and action of which slaves were traded and sold between U.S. states. This is referred to as the Second Middle Passage as the first one was quite similar to it-- the original Middle Passage refers to the time and process in which slaves were first brought to the U.S. from Africa and even the West Indies. Up until December 18, 1865, when the law abolishing slavery in the U.S. was adopted, slavery remained a viable means of torture that would allow free labor and money for Southern Colonists. For a portion of time, the U.S. relied on the backs of slaves to carry on their whole production processes and maintain economic balance. Overall, the Second Middle Passage was called so due to the majority of similarities between that era and the original Middle Passage, such as the same brutal process in which slaves were attained, the auctioning of slaves, and the number of slaves traded and sold within the domestic slave trade statistics.

The Middle Passage was a triangular route that was frequently used by many European nations who engaged in the Atlantic slave trade of millions of Africans. One such African slave was a man by the name of Olaudah Equiano, who 's autobiography spoke of the mortality rate on slave ships, what he and his fellow slaves thought of their European captors, and what their captors thought of them.

During the duration of the Middle Passage, there was an abundance of hardships that had an effect on altering the many different experiences encountered by blacks. Some of these experiences included being shackled, labeled as merchandise, disease, and being crammed. Throughout this passage you will agree with the statement based upon the evidence provided from primary and secondary sources.

The New World in the seventeenth century presented itself in different ways to differing groups of people as portrayed in the accounts written by Olaudah Equiano in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, John Smith in The General History of Virginia, and William Bradford in Of Plymouth Plantation. Olaudah Equiano is a slave through the Middle Passage as a child and spends ten years of his life being traded from owner to owner in Barbados. John Smith is one of the men to lead the first set of colonists to the New World and to establish the first settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. William Bradford is one of the leaders of the Pilgrim colony aboard the Mayflower who settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Each man experiences his own form of fear upon board the ship that will take him to the New World as the anticipation of seeing what the future holds grows. Aboard each ship and in each settlement, conditions worsen as food supplies run low and the chance for illness increases. Dehumanization also occurs in each passage to a group of people who those from a richer, European background deem as a threat to an orderly community or as lesser in quality. As written by Olaudah Equiano, John Smith, and William Bradford, journeying to a new land is a petrifying experience when the level of supplies decreases, the chance of illness increases, and the respect for outside groups decreases.

The Africans captured during the Middle Passage encompassed a variety of ethnic groups that did not identify as a singular unit, but slavery in the Americas forced them to see themselves as such, and further isolated them from their individual identities and brought them closer to the institution of slavery. This is exemplified in the attempt to repatriate African-American slaves in 1787 in the United States. It was unsuccessful because of the fact that these African-Americans no longer belonged to simply one ethnic group/tribe/nation. Rather, they were a multifaceted composition of a wide array of various groups in Africa. The attempt at repatriation was disastrous because of the extensive cultural differences between the ‘returnees’ and the

Although African Americans were making progress with civilization, the ignorance of Europeans sparked the beginning of various studies. These studies focused on African Americans and there was an emphasis placed on categorizing people according to race. Going back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans weren't fond of African Americans–most Europeans considered African Americans to be repulsive and inferior. Religious writings were used as evidence to support the inferiority of African Americans; dark skin and slavery were a proclamation from God; Africans were deemed to be the ancestors of a cursed biblical figure; and the Babylonian Talmud held that blackness and slavery were direct punishments for disobeying God. After attempts

The trade of Africans was part of Triangular trade, from Europe to Africa, Africa to the Americas, and the Americas back to Europe. The journey from Africa across the Atlantic was known as the Middle Passage. For many months, enslaved Africans were treated terribly on the voyage. Slaves were packed on top of each other into the bottom of the ship. African men wore iron chains around their wrists and legs and had little room to move. The chains and cuffs prevented revolts and escapes. Revolting slaves would be shot or drowned. Women and children were sometimes

Victors Of The Middle Passage From the 16th century to the mid-19th century several millions of African men, women, and children were enslaved and transported to the Americas for the purpose of meeting labor needs. The African captives experienced a miserable setting aboard slave ships, and suffered several afflictions bestowed unto them by their capturers. A firsthand account of the African prisoners deepest fears regarding the middle passage was expressed in a former slaves autobiography. Furthermore, The unrelenting captors of the enslaved Africans were suspected of having no fear of God.

     Racism or slavery, neither, this essay will document the prejudice against Africans from Europeans that led into slavery and racism. Prejudice issues in a dislike for an individual or group of these individuals. This dislike can simulate from many differences that are shared, religion, culture, system of living (government and social practice), or in some cases looks.

Since as early as the fifteenth century and continuing to the present day, European colonies have always viewed Africa as an economic object with a wealth of resources waiting to be extracted and exploited through colonization or by what ever means necessary. The recent history (500 years) of the world justifies the conclusion that Europeans have always sought to assert superiority over people of darker pigmented complexions (all of who just happen to be non-Europeans) by the free and unrestrained assertion of their will and authority, unfettered by any moral constraints on human conduct. As a substitute for any notion of a “humane” code of conduct, the European psychology operated a regime based upon the principles and practices used to control and domesticate lower forms of animal life. In the beginning, the slave trade was the main attraction of these European nations because they saw a law filled with cheap labor and always felt that Africa was uncivilized country begging for colonization. There was undeniable thirst for Africa, deeply rooted in racism. The European nations saw Africa as empty and undiscovered land simply because there were no Europeans present. Judging by the particularly heinous treatment of the Congolese people, it is far to posit that these Europeans believed