preview

The Causes Of The African Slave Trade In Africa

Decent Essays

13 million lives were taken away from Africans in only 300 years. If they were not killed from overworking, they died along the way here. The Atlantic World’s state today would not be achieved without the African Slave trade. Europeans greatly benefitted from the trade, but at the cost of entire generations of Africans, and even Native Americans from the 1550s to 1850s. In the early 1500s Africans were not the only race of people being used as slaves. At first, the people of Europe used Native Americans, as well as some of their own willing people. The Natives were sufficient for a few years, but they were too versed in the land and their population quickly died off after being exposed to the diseases brought from Europe. Europeans even began using indentured slaves to do their bidding, but most people realized that they would die before they would become free. So, the last resource for Europeans was the Africans.
The cause for using few hundred African slaves that had already been used in the Caribbean was because they were the perfect option for the European people. They were already exposed to the diseases brought by the Portuguese centuries before. The climate in Africa was similar to the areas in the Caribbean; they were used to the 95 degree weather. Africans were experienced in farming and raising animals, and had no knowledge of the land, unlike the Native Americans.
The source of prejudice, however, was a whole different story. Race was not the reason for

Get Access