The Atlantic Slave Trade Second Edition By Herbert S Klein And Economic Consequences Essay

The Atlantic Slave Trade was a part of African history that had made one of it's biggest impact on Africa's relation with the world and more importantly on the inner workings of the country itself due to its large-scale involvement of many of the people in the continent. Although the slave trade was so long ago the impact can still be seen in Africa's social workings within the people, its economy in the local and global market, and within the political landscape of the countries.

Although all this documents stress voices from the Slave Trade, each document sheds a unique light on the much-debated question about who should be held responsible for the tragedy of the Atlantic slave trade. For example, Document 15.1 sheds light on the role of both European and African merchants in the trafficking of slaves as well as the human suffering of the slave trade. However Document 15.2 reveals the cooperation between local African rulers and European and African traders in the slave trade. Moreover, Documents 15.3 focus on how disruptive European traders could be to established African governments, even those that actively opposed the slave trade. And finally, Document 15.4 shows how some African leaders were attached to the slave trade and promoted it even when European were moving to end it. Nonetheless, all the documents do shed a clear and a full light on what should be held responsible for the

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

The Atlantic Slave trade began to pick up speed with the development of colonies by the Spanish and then the English, which were used to expand the mercantilist countries empires and power. African slaves began to be seen as a necessity once the Native American population plummeted and Spanish Creoles refused to do the hard work to supply their home country with the needed raw materials. Europeans were unwilling to provide the heavy menial labor required to successfully build a colony, making it “necessary to acquire negro slaves” (Document 1). Creoles and other European settlers forced slaves to “work too hard” and gave “them too little to eat” which weakened slaves and caused many to die off (Document 1).

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 Slave Ship: A Human History” written by Marcus Rediker describes the horrifying experiences of Africans, and captains, and ship crewmen on their journey through the Middle Passage, the water way in the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas. The use of slaves to cultivate crops in the Caribbean and America offered a great economy for the European countries by providing “free” labor and provided immense wealth for the Europeans. Rediker describes the slave migration by saying, “There exists no account of the mechanism for history’s greatest forced migration, which was in many ways the key to an entire phase of globalization” (10). African enslavement to the Americas is the most prominent reason for a complete shift in the

During the mid-fifteenth century, the transatlantic slave trade occurred throughout the world and lasted well over four hundred years. Oversea trade between Africa and the Portuguese, along with other European kingdoms, formed, which began what is known as the transatlantic slave trade. Along with a variety of goods, copious amounts of slaves, roughly twenty-five million, were traded between the continents of Europe and Africa. Driving the trade were politics, economics, religion, business, and a desire for profit. Along with the majority of the African population being traded elsewhere in the world, the overwhelming amount of deaths and low fertility rate among the indigenous people neared the African culture to distinction. Among the documents provided, all can be grouped into two main groups: attitudes and impact. During the years 1450 to 1800, the Europeans showed a large amount of varied opinions towards the Transatlantic Trade slave and the impact of the trade towards the included civilizations.

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 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.

What were the social, political, and economic motives of Europeans in initiating slavery and the Atlantic Slave Trade?

It is considered common knowledge that when slavery is mentioned that cotton was the primary cash crop however, it is uncommonly known how vital it was to the world’s economy and resources. Settlers in North America produced this cash crop on large scale by turning to African slaves. The reason slaves were used was because the slaves were much cheaper as a means of labor as well as other functions too. Many business men use the desirability of slaves and grew rich in the slave trade. Some big portions of the economy were directly influenced by slaves, which made them more than just a source of cheaper labor compared to indentured servants.

Long before Europeans arrived in Africa, slavery existed. In Africa, the slaves were treated as servants, humans, though lower class. European explorers would travel throughout the world looking for resources to trade, and Africa was such a place. Europe traded weapons in exchange for African slaves—kidnapped people that would eventually serve as laborers for European plantation owners and miners. Slavery’s negative physical and mental effects have impacted everyone around the world greatly, but the way slavery has changed society is the one with the greatest effect.

Atlantic slave trade from the fifteenth century and partially illegally through the nineteenth century, has always been a very ambiguous and controversial topic in North America and all around the world, and even in the modern world continues to perplex the minds of every individual. In schools and educations all around the world focus nearly too much on the brutality and evil treatment of the “black slaves”, and forget to mention the traveling of the slaves. The slave ships not only globally the general economy of the world but also played a role on spreading a sort of worldwide communism, at the ships’ most basic functions transporting the slaves, spreading cultures and foods, and finally and arguably the most important the slave ship prepared the slaves for their inevitable life on the plantations. The conditions on board of the slave ship show great proof

New consumption patterns with the introduction of sugar in the sixteenth century triggered a commercial demand that changed the world forever and harbored consequences that lasts today. One can certainly argue massive epidemics in today’s world such as obesity, dental decay, poverty and racism (just to name a few), can almost always be linked to this “goodness”. Also linked to sugar is one of the most torrid events in our history, that being the enslavement of millions, more specifically the enslavement of Africans to produce this killer we call sugar. Why were Africans the exclusive source for slave labor in the New World? This essay will discuss why I believe haphazard developments in the old world introduced African slavery and the sugar plantation system from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic and across to the Americas. It will also discuss my disagreement with David Eltis that Africans were only enslaved because white Europeans unconsciously exempted themselves from it. Lastly, I will touch on the political fragmentation of Africa and racial justifications which made this possible.