How Did Portugal Take Part In The Transatlantic Slave Trade

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.

The Eighteenth Amendment, created during President Wilson Era, prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol. The Eighteenth Amendment was created because of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) that said that drinking alcohol causes a lot of problems in the society, but the WCTU couldn't establish any law for the prohibition of alcohol. So the Anti-Saloon League (ASL) was created to advance the ideas of the WCTU. The ASL convinced politicians to support the Women’s Christian Temperance Union using pressure politics. Finally, on January 17th, 1920, Eighteenth Amendment was created to prohibit the commerce of alcohol. With this Amendment, the quantity of deaths, suicides, traffic accidents, family arguments, aggression

To really show the horrendous conditions that the slaves endured, the author includes a 1787 replication drawing of the slave ship Brooks. Built in 1781 with a lower deck intended to accommodate 294 slaves, giving each slave a space comparable to the size of a coffin. Adult males were allocated a space six feet long and fifteen inches wide and allowing even less space for adult women, boys, and girls. The height of the same area was just five feet, and did not include any toilet facilities for the slaves. In most cases, the captains would load double the number of slaves their ships were designed for leading to even worse conditions onboard with more mouths to feed but not enough provisions to compensate. Those slaves who died during the journey through the Middle Passage were simply thrown overboard, where their bodies were eaten by ravenous sharks.

With the many people in such a small place and the humidity, the temperature below decks was unbearable. There was no fresh air, nothing but the nasty stench of the latrines and peoples body odor.The air became unfit to breathe and almost suffocated them. There were children that would fall into the latrines and almost drowned. Many slaves would get sick and die in this terrible place and never make it to Barbados. Shrieks of women and the groans of the dying made the whole scene a nightmare. This caused some slaves to jump off the ship and drown themselves. The first time he was flogged was on the ship when he refused to eat. Two white men tied his feet. One white man held his hands while the other flogged or whipped him. Prisoners were severely cut and flogged for hours for trying to jump off the ship. He had never seen such savage brutal cruelty among people. When the ship reached Barbados the slaves were put into a pin like animals. At the sound of a drum, buyers rushed out to pick out the slaves they wanted to buy. Then no matter if they were friends, husbands, wives, brothers, or sisters they were separated and never to see each other again. Equiano was sold and worked on a plantation in Virginia County, weeding grass and moving stones. On this plantation he saw the black slave cook with some kind of iron muzzle that locked her mouth shut so she could hardly speak. I guess this contraption was put on her

The African continent was an excellent source of labor at a low price and for sale at a reasonable price plus shipping and handling. The Atlantic Slave Trade helped the Europeans and the American settlers. The Europeans wanted cotton, tobacco, and sugar from the colonies, and they exchanged for these good with African men, women and children. The slave traders received European goods such as textiles, alcohol, horses, and guns. The colonists traded for slaves because they needed a strong labor force to maintain growing production of cotton, rice, tobacco, sugar, and other crops. Having a strong labor force was essential to the economic

The Atlantic Slave Trade lasted between 1450 and 1750 and drastically impacted the lives of both European and African people. During this time, the Europeans, such as the British, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Dutch, traveled to Africa in search of labor workers. In total, over twelve million slaves were taken, mainly because they workers to make money, but it also had to do with their race, religion – as they were not Christian – and to civilize them because the Europeans did not believe that they were humans. Due to these European beliefs, the Europeans saw themselves as the most powerful group and viewed slave trade as a business. The Africans, on the other hand, had a harder time transitioning into slavery. Many of them were taken from their homes and forced to accept a new life working as a slave. These events did not come without many sacrifices from the African people. One of the major reasons the slave trade was so expansive is due to the low life expectancy of the slaves after their capture. While the Europeans believed that they were helping the African culture, as well as themselves, the African society as a whole suffered the most.

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

To what extent did Nazi propaganda influence the citizens of Germany during World War II? Propaganda is the function to attract supporters and the function to win different members over to make the people believe in certain beliefs. “World War II, which began in 1939 and ended in 1945, was the deadliest and most destructive war in history.” (The National WWII Museum para.1). The object of propaganda is to indoctrinate the people to allow people to change their behaviour in the desire of the propagandist. Forms of propaganda were eye opening to the Germans who were affected by fear and beliefs from the propagandists who implemented it into the society. However, Hitler was able to maintain his dictatorship due in large part because of the ideas and messages presented in the propaganda that was produced in Germany. The propaganda had to be simple and direct because most people during this deadliest war were not very intelligent since it was so power to new ideas from Hitler’s ideology, everyone was so susceptible to it. Hitler was able to persuade the people to his belief of unification of Germany through propaganda and the pride of the people. But, without propaganda, it is without a doubt that the war would have taken another route to make the ideology as widespread as it got during WWII. The citizens of Germany during World War II were emotionally drawn into the war due in large part because of propaganda. Propaganda affected individual beliefs and values, as well as

The history of the Atlantic slave trade is long and sordid, from the working and transportation conditions to the structure of the trade itself. Historians and scholars from all backgrounds have worked to understand the impact of slavery and why it went on for so long. Two scholars, John Thornton and Mariana Candido, have extensively studied both the impact and organization of the Atlantic slave trade, but disagree on a few main conclusions. Upon thorough review of both sides, however, John Thornton’s ideas regarding the Atlantic trade are more convincing than Candido’s, and by looking deeper into each side it is clear why.

There are a series of events that led to the Atlantic slave trade. At first slaves were indentured servants in Portugal, “but as European powers acquired new territories in the Americas, slaves were needed as a source of labor” Sugar was the biggest need for slave labor and Portugal had plantations located in the Americas. Portugal decided to import slaves from Africa rather than having Native Americans be laborers, because Africans were more efficient.

The transatlantic slave trade first began in 1502, with records of the first slaves in the New World, lasting nearly four centuries. It connected the economies of three continents. The route began in West Europe, where it continued to Africa, trading manufactured goods such as rum, textiles, weapons, and gunpowder for slaves. From Africa, the ship went along the Atlantic to America, distributing slaves, and bringing agricultural products such as coffee, cotton, rice, and sugar back to Europe. The entire route typically lasted eighteen months. The slave trade ended in 1867, seventeen years after Britain began arresting slave ships.

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 reality, they exchanged goods of equal value. The Europeans were interested in gold, slaves, and various foods while the Africans were primarily interested in obtaining additional horses for their military campaigns4. During the years of rapid European population growth when the demand for food and particularly sugar exploded, the Africans may have even had an upper hand when trading slaves to the Europeans. The Europeans depended on the slave labor to produce food for the continent with between 1.5 and 2 million slaves imported to the Americas by 1700; these slaves were used to work on plantations that primarily supplied Europe with sugar and alongside the increasing population of Europe, the slave population consequently had to expand at a similar rate to keep up with demand6. Another impact on the demand was the fact that the slave population in the Americas was not sustainable through procreation, so a constant influx of slaves was neccessary6. This sudden increase in demand likely brought the Africans more money and goods in exchange for slaves and benefited the Africans as well as the Europeans. When it comes to military

Due to the extreme life threatening conditions on the ships many of the slaves did not make it to the Americas. Many of them suffered mental and physiological problems. These problems that were brought over into the Americas because of depression and much more. All stemming from the fact that you have been taken from the only life you knew and unable to do anything about it. So as a result many committed suicide on the trips by jumping off board or refusing to eat the scraps given. In many written accounts of life on the slave ships describe the horrible conditions they were in. Many of the ships tightly packed their slaves exceeding the limit. It has been recorded many times with visual diagrams showing how they packed the slaves onto the ships. So, there were diseases all throughout the ship and the smell was unbearable. This contributed to the high mortality rate amongst Africans once they arrived in the Americas. Little physical activity on the ships involved the slaves on top deck dancing so they could keep their strength and be prepared for auction. Many times the slaves tried to overtake the ship in hopes of sailing back to Africa. It was unsuccessful because of their lack of skill in sailing and the fact that they were unequipped to overthrow the Europeans on the ship. This ultimate

Slavery in Portugal happened before the country was formed. During the pre-independence period, the people of Portuguese’s territory were often enslaved, and they enslaved others. After independence, during the time of the Kingdom of Portugal, the country played a vital role in the Atlantic Slave Trade (i.e.,