The Atlantic Slave Trade was about importing and exporting of commodities such as sugar, cotton and humans beings (slaves) which would be considered the most valuable product. A slave is defined as "a person being held in servitude as the chattel (property) of another; one that is completely subservient to a dominating influence.” (Merriam-Webster) According to Paul Lovejoy “slavery was one form of exploitation. Its special characteristics included the idea that slaves were property; that they were outsiders who were alien by origin, or who had been denied their heritage through judicial or other sanctions;….” This “slavery” commerce became a position of wealth in the African countries among its leaders, and spread throughout Europe …show more content…
People were considered as "wealth and security" because they labored to produce food and other goods. It was the norm for the eldest man in the "founding" family to be the leader and that leader used his leadership ability to distribute resources and make the important decisions as well as "commanding respect." A strong leader had people who were loyal to them. A wealthy person was also a leader, but with the ability to organize labor in order to clear out and farm the land.
Polygyny was also an accepted practice in the African culture which assisted in the production of labor power. Therefore African societies were not "slave societies" because "wealth in people" was the norm in African lifestyles.
Rules of slavery were more dehumanizing in the American slavery methods. African slaves held positions in administration, served in the military, sometimes positions of command, personal servants and agricultural laborers.
War was a vehicle to increase slaves by taking them Captive (outsiders). War was made by African rulers and was always a way to increase wealth. Waged war by African leaders was specifically for humans. The more humans, the more power, the more wealth accumulation. They sold people who were already Captives of war. Slaves held by the owner (European or African) and not immediately sold could be used to obtain additional resources that would “strengthen the king and his administration.” West Africa traded the largest majority of slaves.
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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
Slaves were bought and sold in many places, mostly for laboring farm land. In the Atlantic world during the 1500's and 1600’s there were many causes and effects to African slave trade. Many Europeans needed slaves to labor on their lands.
4. Slavery in the Americas and Europe was much different than African slavery because Americans and Europeans treated slaves more like animals than humans, which led to racism against blacks. It led to a cruel form of human servitude. While in Africa, slaves were able to marry, build a family, own property, have their own slaves,
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.
Africa had been the target of colonialism and slavery for many years. The colonies that European’s developed during fifteenth and sixteenth century were the main reason that started slave trade in Africa.
Africans were considered “better” slaves because they were helpless compared to the Indians who were at home in the Americas and could escape much easier than the blacks that were now alone in a strange place.
The act of slavery was already happening in Africa prior to The Atlantic Slave Trade. The slave trade provided no restrictions, this caused chaos in both Africa and America. Africans captured slaves and as the demand grew getting slaves became a motivation for war. This lead to internal conflict in Africa that can still be seen today. An article in The Abolition Project did a good job summing up this statement, “Forms of slavery existed in Africa before Europeans arrived. Some
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.
Screams for relief, cries for comfort, and moans for death all revolved around the slave trade. The slave trade is an event that not only impacted Africa, but the whole world even still today. This essay will explain how cultures were ruined and families were torn apart. The slave trade has influenced history worldwide because it has impacted continents economically, socially, and politically.
Back when there was Slavery it was unfair to some people, at least to the African Americans. By unfair I mean the whites, like most of us would torture the Africans. Some of the things the owners did was made the slaves work in fields without pay and they had no control over their own self, their owner did. But, if they were not doing, that the owners would do something bad like whip them with a whip with metal on the end.
A black African-American that was one of the many few who was born free in Wilmington, North Carolina went by the name of David Walker. Walker’s father whom died before his birth was a slave but his mother was a free woman. In the state’s laws Walker inherited his mother’s liberated status although, being free did not keep him from witnessing slavery. Walker traveled throughout his time in his younger days in the South, noticing the injustices of the slave system that the whites had going on. Even though Walker was a free slave he still seen and knew what slavery and racism was. Charleston, South Carolina is where he settled and eventually found a church home that goes by the name of African Methodist Episcopal church. A large population of free African Americans lived there at the time. In the year of 1822, a revolutionary plot was uncovered that resulted in severe cruelty of black churches which made things very difficult for the blacks during those times. Walker up and moved to Boston in the year of 1825 where he married a fugitive slave that went by the name Emily. He established a profitable secondhand clothing business and very active in helping the poor and needy even including the runaway slaves. During that time he joined a political organized black community group. Walker became involved with the nation 's first African American newspaper, that went by the name Freedom 's Journal out of New York City, in which Walker contributed some. He spent a lot of time
Slavery is a period of time where people were bought, sold, and treated as property for many years. Slaves were given no rights once so ever from the time they were captured, purchased, or born. Slavery existed in many countries such as contemporary Africa, Mali, Haiti, Niger, Sudan, and Mauritania. Although slavery was equally devastating in many different countries one form of slavery that stands out the most for American history is slavery in the New World. Slaves were shipped from various locations in Africa and also different islands of the West Indies. Contrary to belief, there was a method in Africa specifically Goree Island, where wealthy Africans would sell out other Africans from their country into slavery. These “merchants”
The African Slave Trade has affected a very large part of the world. This phenomenon has been described in many different ways, such as slave trade, forced migration and genocide. When people today think of slavery, many envision the form in which it existed in the United States before the American Civil War (1861-1865): one racially identifiable group owning and exploiting another. However, in other parts of the world, slavery has taken many different forms. In Africa, many societies recognized slaves merely as property, but others saw them as dependents whom, eventually might be integrated into the families of slave owners. Still other societies allowed slaves to attain positions of military or administrative power. Most often, both
African slavery started at the 16th century and ended in the 19th century. Slave life was the most brutal and disrespected period of America. When Africans first stepped foot on the slave ships coming to America things were bad. The white man beat, raped, and treated the black men like animals. Life on the plantation wasn’t any better. The slaves didn’t work for a paycheck, they worked for their lives. The black man had difficulties adapting to the environment, learning another language, and being a monogamous.
Slavery has played a strong role in African society from as early as prehistoric times, continuing to the modern era. Early slavery within Africa was a common practice in many societies, and was very central to the country’s economy. Beginning around the 7th century, two groups of non-African slave traders significantly altered the traditional African forms of slavery that had been practiced in the past. Native Africans were now being forced to leave the country to be used as slaves. The two major slave trades, trans-Saharan and trans-Atlantic, became central to the organization of Africa and its societies until the modern era. Slavery and the slave trade strongly affected African society, and