Slavery,the treatment of human beings as property deprived of personal rights has occurred in many forms throughout the world.One institution stands out for both of its global scale and lasting legacy "The Atlantic Slave Trade"occurring from the late 15th century to the mid 19th century and spanning three continents forcibly brought more than 10 million Africans to the Americas.The impact it would leave affected not only these slaves and their descendants,but the economies and histories of large part of the world.There had been centuries of contact between Europe and Africa via the Mediterranean.But, the Atlantic Slave Trade began in the 1400s with Portuguese colonies in west Africa and Spanish settlements of the Americas shortly after.The crops grown in the new colonies sugarcane,tobacco and cotton were labor intensive and there were not enough settlers on indentured servants to cultivate all the new land.American natives were enslaved,but many died from new diseases while others effectively resisted.And so to meet the massive demand for labor,the Europeans looked to Africa.
African slavery had existed for centuries in various forms.Some slaves were indentured servants,with a limited term and the chance to buy one's freedom.Others were like European serfs.In some societies,slaves could be part of a master's family,own land or even rise to positions of powers.But when the white captains came offering manufactured goods,weapons and rum for slaves.
African kings and merchants had little reason to hesitate viewed the people they sold not as fellow Africans but as criminals,debtors or prisoners of war from rival tribes.By selling them,kings enriched their own realms and strengthened them against neighboring enemies.African kingdoms prospered from slave trade.But meeting the European demands created intensive competition slavery that replaced other criminal sentences and capturing slaves became a motivation for war,rather than its results.To defend themselves from slavery raids,neighboring kingdoms needed European firearms,which they also bought with slaves.The slave trade has become an arm race altering societies and economies across the continent.
As for the slaves themselves,they faced unimagined brutality. After being marched to slave forts on the coast,shaved to prevent lice and branded.They were loaded onto ships bound for the Americas..About 20% of them would never see land again.Most captains of the day were tight packers,cramming as many men as possible below the deck.While,lack of sanitation cause many to die of diseases and others were thrown overboard for being sick or as discipline.The captains ensured their profits by cutting off slaves ears as proof of purchase.Some captives took matters into their own hands.Many inland Africans had never seen Whites before,and thought them to be cannibals,constantly taking people away and returning for more.Afraid of being eaten,or just to avoid further suffering,they committed suicide or starved themselves.believing that in death,their souls would return home.Those who survived were completely dehumanized,treated as mere cargo.Women and children were kept above deck and were abused bu the crew,while the men were ordered to perform dances in order to keep them exercised and curb rebellion.
What happened to these Africans who reached the New World and how the legacy of slavery still affects their descendants today is fairly well known.But what is the effect that Atlantic Slave Trade had on Africa's future?Not only did the continent lose tens of millions of it's able bodied population because most of the slaves were men,but the long term demographic effect was even greater.When the slave trade was finally outlawed in the Americas and Europe,the African kingdoms whose economies it had come to dominate collapsed leaving them open to conquest and colonization. The increased competition and influx of European weapons fueled the warfare and instability that continues to this day.The Atlantic Slave Trade also contributed to the development of racist ideology.
Most African slavery had no deeper reason than legal punishment or inter tribal warfare. The Europeans who preached a universal religion and who had long outlawed enslaving fellowed Christians needed a justification for a practice so obvious at odds with their ideals of equality. Therefor they claimed that Africans were biologically inferior and destined to be slaves making great efforts to justify this theory.Thus,slavery in Europe and America acquired a racial basis,making it impossible for slaves and their future descendants to attain equal states in society.
In all of these ways,the Atlantic Slave Trade was an injustice on a massive scale whose impact has continued long after its abolition.
