Slavery And The 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 slave trade into the United States began in 1620 with the sale of nineteen Africans to a colony called “Virginia”. These slaves were brought to America on a Dutch ship and were sold as indentured slaves. An Indentured slave is a person who has an agreement to serve for a specific amount of time and will no longer be a servant once that time has passed, they would

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.

In discussions of the Atlantic Slave Trade, the term “Middle Passage” often arises. The Middle Passage was the stage of the triangular trade in which millions of Africans were shipped to the New World as part of the Atlantic Slave trade. The journey was one of the most horrific aspects of the morally deplorable system of slavery. Death was a constant threat as diseases, starvation, asphyxiation and severe depression rampantly claimed the lives of African and the ship’s crew. Throughout this essay you will understand the tragic journey of the slaves and what hardships they had to go through.

What is slavery? Slavery is forced labor and this forced labor is what built America and made them become more developed. “Africans peoples were captured and transported to the Americas to work. Most European colonial economies in the Americas from the 16th century through the 19th were dependant on enslaved African labor for their survival.” Many claim that enslavement was very necessary in order for America to thrive and not die off for it is now one of the best countries in the world. However, slavery was not necessary in the Americas it was just a mechanism that just stripped Africans of their human rights, giving the slave masters the “right” to abuse them. Slavery was not necessary in the Americas because without slavery America would

It is shocking how little humanitarian concern was raised for the slaves, especially with these tight quarters. Slave lives were devalued even more, when sailors were forced to throw living Africans overboard to stop the vigorous spreading of diseases, as shown in the image in Document 4. This image along with Document 5 shows how cruel slaves were treated, and clearly represent the point of view of someone who felt sympathy for the African slaves. The Middle Passage ships restricted slaves to remain motionless for several weeks of

Slavery in America started in 1619 when settlers brought over African Americans to Jamestown, Virginia. The slaves came to Jamestown to work on the tobacco plantations. The slaves were also sent to other colonies such as South Carolina to work on the cotton plantations. Slaves were people who worked for no pay. This caused the land owners to make more profit from their plantations because they didn’t have to pay their workers. Southern slave owners, specifically in South Carolina, relied on slavery as a major part of their economy.

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.

Virgina has differences and similarities when it comes to slave narratives. To explain further, this is why the details and experiences that these ex-slaves gave in describing the institution of slavery and the practice of slavery are tremendously important because Virginia became a royal colony, the first in English history. However, the English kings were occupied with affairs at home, the Virginia house of burgesses was able to continue its functions and won formal recognition in the late 1630s. Thus, representative government under royal domain was assured. By 1641, when Sir William Berkeley became governor, the colony was well established and extended on both sides of the James up to its falls.

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.

The development of the New World relied upon the buying and trading of slaves, as African Americans were critical labor force for plantations and construction crews that lead to the development of the Americas. During the course of slavery, ship Captains, Plantation owners and slaves composed journals of there their trips, tribulations and daily life. The stories and details vary, depending on who is recounting the tails, but one constant found throughout is that the poor treatment of slaves was evident. Even in journals written by people like Captain Phillips, who wrote about how he made his lively hood off of selling and buying African Americans, the inhuman treatment could be seen even though he had no intention of writing about it. On the other hand there are journals from African slaves, such as Harriet Jacobs, that served the purpose to detail the difficulties they faced and their harsh treatment rather than how they made money for their owners. No matter which stories one reads the sense of African slaves being treated inhumanly and like products in a store for the economic growth and profit for private traders can be seen.

No one issue can be claimed as the dominate issue that produced The Civil War. The war was caused by many disputes such as sectionalism, expansion of slavery, and abolitionist. Although there were many issues some were consider to be much more influential than the others. These include sectionalism and the expansion of slavery. The North and South could not seem to stop arguing over the expansion of slavery to the west as well as their many differences in other areas.

The smell of blood in the air grew thick. You hear the screams of the slaves with big, bloody scars all over their backs. You see the look of horror on people’s faces, and then noticed the expression on the slave owners face, an expression of pure malice. This was the treatment of the slaves back in the 1800’s. They experienced a lot of unfairness and racism for being African. These events can be compared to the racism people experience today. Racism and unfairness are issues and ongoing problems that need to be addressed because they both lead to violence. This is showing that history repeats itself and will always come back.

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.

Many slaves faced harsh conditions boarding slave trade boats. As it states in the article about life on board slave ships written by LiverpoolMuseum.org, a historical