Slavery And The African Slave Trade

For over 2,000 years, slavery has been conducted in various parts of the world. From year 1500 to year 1900, Europeans stole individuals from West Africa, West Central Africa, and Southeast Africa and shipped them to the different parts of the Atlantic. This process dehumanized them of their identity. Europeans stole husbands, wives, merchants, blacksmiths, farmers, and even children. They removed them from their homelands and gave them new names: slaves. European slaveholders never thought to take ownership of their actions by killing humans with brutality and degradation. Slave trade was considered popular in England and soon after more countries began the process of taking slaves to newly claimed territories. These countries include

The African Slave Trade was a massive system of Europeans taking African Americans and selling them into slavery. The African Slave Trade began in the 15th century. This slave trade put Africa in a weird relationship with Europe that cause the depopulation of Africa, but it increased the wealth of Europe.

Slavery is one of the most inhumane acts the world has ever known. Africans were kidnapped and forced into slavery by Europeans; they were separated from their families and forced to work on plantations. They were placed in unbearable conditions and the prevalent racism attached onto this system fueled the mistreatment and oppression of black people for years to come. The origins of the widespread African slavery in America as we know today started in early colonial America when people needed cheap labor to care for cash crops. Slaves were brought to America from Africa on disease-infested ships and became the driving force for prosperity in America through what became known as the slave trade. In the early 1700’s, the race-based slave system that would continue on for centuries to come had officially begun.

The two majors drivers that led to the transatlantic slave trade was the European desire for the agricultural products of the Americas and the need for laborers to work the land in the Americas. All participants, besides for the slaves, benefited from the trading.

Freedom is what our ancestors fought for and because of them we are here today. Struggle and pain are just a few things that our ancestors experienced. However, I learned that this nightmare ended in 1865 after the 13th Amendment was passed. It gave them freedom. These were some of the phrases that will come to my mind when discussing slavery with other individuals. Throughout the years I have been a victim of my own ignorance for believing that Slavery undoubtedly ended in 1865. I can honestly admit that I was wrong.

Slavery has taken place throughout the world since before ancient times, and the act of trading slaves was a common act throughout the world for centuries. Slavery previously existed in certain parts of Africa, Europe, Asia, and also in America before the beginning of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. What initially started out as an enormous search for trade in gold, spices, and etc., ended up turning into an callous human trading system of exporting African slaves, which would continue for well over 400 years. In the late 15th century, Europeans and Arabs removed slaves from the West, Central and Southeast Africa overseas during the African slave trade era. The European establishment of Africa

Talking about southern expansionism would not be complete without the mention of the interstate slave trade. This is most applicable when we talk about one aspect of the slave trade that often gets overlooked, the Atlantic Slave Trade. When mentioning the Atlantic Slave Trade, it is the fact that southerners considered reopening the trade after its dissolution in the beginning of the nineteenth century. Interestingly enough, there were movements by southerners to reopen the Atlantic Slave Trade that were in the name of southern expansion. One such individual was a man by the name of Leonidas Spratt, a young South Carolinian editor who bought the Charleston Southern Standard and turned it into a mouthpiece for promoting the issue of reopening the Atlantic Slave Trade (Deyle 78-79). One of the many arguments individuals like Spratt used was that reopening the trade would enhance the political power of the south by adding more population, thus adding more slave states. This is central to the idea of this essay, as the growth of cotton was not entirely responsible for instigating expansion. Likewise, Spratt also argued that reopening the trade “strengthen[ed] the southern economy by lowering the costs of production and increasing the profits” (Deyle 79). While not explicitly mentioning cotton, the same idea of expansion stands in its place. Individuals like Spratt were eventually unsuccessful in reopening the trade due to a minimal amount of support, but it goes to show how even

Slave Societies in this chapter mean people with similar characteristics who lived together in a well or less organized community. Slave societies in eighteenth -century were common in North America in New England, the Mid-Atlantic and the Lower Mississippi Valley. The black slavery experience was not unique, that is not the same in these areas, was influenced by local conditions, nation of the colonizers, composition of men and women, statistical characteristics of a population, such as age and income, places where black people came from, nature of the slave market in the Atlantic World or methods of production of economic activities. The majority of slaves who came from Africa were more males than females and they all originated from different groups of people with a common cultural background. The second point to note during this era was an increasing number of slaves born in America and the presence of people who were not only multi-racial but had diverse religious beliefs. Many Africans were changed and became African Americans, it was a transformation of different forms of African and European cultural belief or practice, it varied from place to place, by time and freedom approaches. With time and experience Africans were forced to change their way of life to escape slave bondage.

Slave Societies in this chapter includes people with similar characteristics who lived together in a well or less organized community. Slave societies in eighteenth -century were common in North America in New England, the Mid-Atlantic and the Lower Mississippi Valley. The black slavery experience was not unique, that is not the same in these areas, was influenced by local conditions, nation of the colonizers, composition of men and women, statistical characteristics of a population, such as age and income, places where black people came from, nature of the slave market in the Atlantic World or methods of production of economic activities. The majority of slaves who came from Africa were more

Religious institutions have played a prominent role in the history of American culture, and legislation. These institutions were especially impactful during the start of American colonization. Colonization caused the aggregated need for mass amounts of workers for cultivation infrastructure. For this reason, American settlers began the transatlantic slave trade trade. Christianity played an important role in advocating for the morality of the slave trade (Richard). In order to drive the slave industry, pastors across America used the traditions and stories found in the Bible to endorse and even encourage the practice of slavery. At this time, America was seeing ever dividing sects of protestantism. There were countless institutions

“Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves, ” said George Gordon Byron. Though slavery has never had a universal definition, one might describe it as the dependent labour by one person performed to another who is not of his or her family. It was thought to have come about after a dramatic labour shortage in particular areas or countries. In America, slavery has always been a highly debated topic throughout the years. Often, people associate slavery with words such as “brutal, cruel, inhumane, and horrible”. Slaves were forced to forget about freedom and about the liberties of life that Americans now take for granted. During the years 1775 to 1830, African American slavery saw simultaneously the freedom of many colored men and the enlargement of the institution of slavery. The free and enslaved African Americans had different methods in approaching the challenges in front of them. The demand for a labor force in the production of cotton encouraged the expansion of slavery; however, due to increasing national identity, the republican value of equality and freedom denounced the systems of slavery, allowing for a more widespread bondage; the free slaves in the North focused on tangible reasons for freedom, while the enslaved African Americans in the South focused gaining freedom through practical means.

African slave trade or Atlantic slave trade was the result of advancement of maritime innovation and the ambitious imperialism that swept among the powerful countries of Europe. With new set of maritime skills and innovation, firstly Portuguese’s traders crossed harsh seas along the coast of western Africa. What began as the quest for the exchange of goods between European and African merchant, swiftly changed into the massive potential of cheap labor and unlimited resources to exploit with the founding of new European colonies in Caribbean, Central and south America respectively. These colonies used slaves as the laborer in the coffee, coco, tobacco and sugar production, often in harsh conditions and longer working period, which not possible by white settlers’ due drastic change of climate and tropical diseases.

The slave trade wreaked havoc in Africa. For four centuries this continent was the scene of wars for the capture of slaves. Millions of Africans exported to the distant lands, millions more died in long marches to the coast and in the warehouses waiting to be shipped. The forced exodus of millions of people caused the decline of the vegetative growth of the African population, as men and women of childbearing age were sold.

For this assignment, I have decided to write about slave ships. There is an extreme amount of sadness and cruelty that surrounds the slave trade. I am very passionate about this subject because I don’t think that slaves are given the proper recognition that they deserve. I don’t think people think about what it was like to actually be on one of these slave ships. I think it is important to keep the history of the slave trade alive since we will never fully know what life was really like on a slave ship and to honor those who died on the voyage and those who died once reaching their destination.

The Slave Trade gave power to many and found support from influential people, leaving those who did oppose the immorality of the operations terrified of the repercussions of speaking out against it. Lives were shaped by the slave trade; countless groups of people were growing prosperous and powerful (14). “At the top [there was] a small, high, and mighty Atlantic ruling class of merchants, planters, and political leaders, who, in ruffles and finery, sat in the American Continental Congress and British Parliament” (14). Likewise, selling, transporting, and using of slaves had become lucrative operations and were heavily protected by this ruling class. One such example is found when a pirate by the name of Bartholomew Roberts terrorized slave