- The Atlantic Slave Trade
- The origin and development of the Atlantic Slave Trade
- The Atlantic Slave Trade refers to the transoceanic migration that took place in the seventieth century (Feelings 11). The slave trade concerned various communities from African that migrated to America. The migration was different form others that took place during the same period because of its high death rates and social dislocation (Williams 39). Most of the European countries had a thirst to discover places during the time that the slave trade took place. The European countries were eager to know various sources of wealth that existed in the rest of the world. There were on going tension in Europe and many feared that there was a possibility of war to occur. This condition made them to travel to the rest of the world while they were exploring new fishing areas. During the European countries exploration, they came across countries in northern Africa and established trading centers.
- The Europeans used to trade in various commodities that include ammunition, ivory and gold. The Portuguese developed the slave trade to Europe and to the rest of the world. However, the slave trade existed within some counties in Africa where they could sell people for hard labor to their neighbors. The slave trade developed due to the need of work force in many parts of Europe and America. They also used to trade on slave from Africa who they could sell in North America. The slaves were to cultivate in the white fields while others used to work in cotton farms. The slaves also had an obligation to grow sugar, cane, tobacco and rice in most of the American fields.
- Perpetrators
- Most of the countries that engaged in this development of slave trade include Spain and Portugal. Another country associated with the slave trade was England. The Portuguese were the first to introduce slave trade in Europe after exploring northern Africa. According to history, the Portuguese had a direct advantage over the trade where they sold the African slave to most of northern American countries. The British also played a significant role in the existence of slave trade.
- The significance of the year 1492
- In 1942, a person by the name Columbus mistakenly found himself in America while he was on his way to India. Columbus discovered that there are certain ethnic groups staying in this region. The discovery of the American land has a great connection to the begging of slave trade in this area. According to many historians, Columbus inaugurated the Atlantic slave trade trough his invention of the new land. This is the main reason why year 1492 is of significance remembrance in relation to slave trade.
- Why the Choice of Africans
- The Europeans took advantage of the Africans because they were uncivilized. They described the Africans as people living in the third world. This contributed to the racial ethnicity that made the Europeans engage in slave trade. The economic advantage that contributed to the rise of slave trade included the profitability that many industries in Europe and America experienced. Cheap labor was one the main factors that contributed to the existence of the trade.
- The African people were very hard working and they had much experience in farming. The African also had an experience the in cattle rearing activities and this made theme to be suitable in farm activities of the American Lords. According to the history of slave trade, the Africans were able to resist many of the disease that broke in the plantation fields. Some of the African slave an experience with the mining and artisan work. Most of the Europeans died of various diseases that broke up during the slave trade activities but the African were able to resist most of them.
- How was the slave trade justified?
- The Americans and Europeans justified themselves on the issue of slave trade arguing that they were paying them after offering labor services. They also stated that there were various wars occurring in some ethnic tribes in Africa and the therefore the slave trade contributed to free people from such situations. Their main argument was that they provide security to the slaves who were not happy in their home country. The Europeans were justify themselves for associating with slave trade by stating that they were helping people from Africa to become Christians.
- Slave Trading Practices
- The Europeans used to capture the Africans in the course of warfare that they could establish when they were in need of slaves. In most case, the Europeans used some of the African rulers to capture their own people and sell them as slaves. The African rulers would capture the slaves in raids and hold them as prisoners while they waited to sell them. In most cases, the housing that the captured slaves received was in various prisons within the African territory before they waited for transportation (James 188). The Europeans mostly used the sea as a means of transport after buying the slaves from Africa. They used highly modified ships of the early times to transport the slaves to America.
- The role of African collaborators
- The Africans elders played a significant role in the establishment and existence of slave trade. Most of the elders were collaborating with the European Lords who used to buy slaves. According to most of the African elders, they engaged in the slave trade in order to achieve monetary benefits from the Europeans who mostly were the main buyers of the slaves. For example, some of the African elders were collaborating with the whites who were located in South Africa in order to ensure the existence of the slave trade. Many of the academics argue that the continental Africans were responsible for the enslavement of their own people and later sold them to oversea buyers.
- The main role of African collaborators was to find eligible people in their community who were efficient to become slaves. According to the requirement of slave buyers, the potential candidates that they could buy were to be mentally healthy. The other requirement was that the people they could buy were to be physically strong and with no defection. The role of the African collaborators was to find strong people who qualified to become slaves. They could check whether the people to sell fit, their chest was wide enough and they had no physical deformity.
- The middle passage
- While the Europeans and American were transporting the slaves using the ships, there were various aboard conditions. The slaves rocked in cages build in the ships while other slave buyers, tied them using chains. The captains used two methods to transport the slaves. One of the methods used was to loose packing. The slaves taken to different areas were in few in numbers to avoid death and outbreaks of diseases while using this method. The other method was the tight packing. In this method, the slaves were in large numbers that contributed to the existence of diseases and many deaths occurred.
- In most of the voyage that lasted from five weeks to three months, there was the amount of food set that the slaves were to receive while in the ships. Food was one of the major problems in the ships. Some of the foods that the slaves ate include stew of oats, turtle meat and dried vegetables. There were disease outbreaks that occurred during the transportation and many of the slaves could die.
- African resistance to slave Trade
- Africans could resist from slavery either individually or as a group (Tibbles 37). Either the men or the whole community in the society carried the resistance. The salves that were already in captive could try to jump from the sailing ships but with minimal successes (Harding 112). After the Europeans sold the slaves, some of the Africans refused to convert to Christians and continued with their tradition religion. For example, the place known as Georgia in Carolina received a big number of slave but some of them refused to convert into Christianity (Jabir, University of California & Santa Barbara Religious Studies 39).
- Overall Impact
- The slave trade had a significant impact upon many Africa countries. The slave trade contributed to loss of national interest among many African countries. Security failed to exist in many of the African countries where slave trade took place. There was loss of population where slave trade existed. The existence of slavery destroyed African civilizations. Slavery made Europe rich according to Walter (Walter, 56). The slaves contributed to industrialization in many parts of the European countries. In America, there was the economic transformation because of the existence of slave trade. The country experienced an economic shift due to the presence of slaves.
- Works cited
- Feelings Tom. The middle passage: white ships/black cargo. New York: Dial Books, 1993. Print.
- Harding Vincent. There is a river: the Black struggle for freedom in America. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993. Print.
- Jabir Johari, University of California & Santa Barbara. Religious Studies. One more valiant oldier here: Music, masculinity, and manhood in the black religious imaginary. New York: ProQuest, 2007. Print.
- James C L R. The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution. New York: Penguin Adult,1963. Print.
- Rodney Walter. How Europe underdeveloped Africa. New York: Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications, 1972. Print.
- Tibbles Anthony. Transatlantic slavery: against human dignity. New York: Liverpool University Press, 2005. Print.
- Williams Eric. Capitalism & slavery. New York: UNC Press Books, 1944. Print.
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