The Enlightenment Period

Beginning in the late 1600s and continuing through the 1700s the demand for sugar became incredibly high due to its addictive qualities. To supply the consumers with sugar they were craving, wealthy Europeans established sugar plantations throughout the Caribbean and built a thriving slave industry, so their need for cheap labor could be satisfied. Sugar consumption increased from 4.6lbs to 16.2lbs per capita annually from 1700 to 1770 due to the increasing addiction of the consumers. The manufacturers were faced with maintaining a high crop yield, but luckily the Caribbean islands provided an ideal location for growing cane sugar. Once plantations were constructed yet another issue confronted the owners, cheap labor. For the plantations to produce large enough quantities of sugar to fulfill the demand, many slaves were necessary; thus, a successful slave industry arose with the aid of these wealthy entrepreneurs who hoped to own successful plantations. The absentee owners in England, Spain, and France became increasingly wealthy as the demand and industry for sugar

The Atlantic Slave Trade was the movement of Africans to the Americas as slaves. The slave trader, Captain Thomas Phillip in document B he says “ We endure twice the misery; and yet by their mortality our voyages are ruined.”(Phillips). He is saying that they are dying and that it isn’t a good thing, but for a different reason. He also says “But what the smallpox spared, the flux swept off, to our great regret, after all our pains and care to give [the slaves] their messes,... keeping their lodgings as clean and sweet as possible…”(Phillips). That is saying the conditions that they live in and how they “try” to keep it clean.

The Trans-Atlantic slave trade was responsible for the forced migration of between 12 to 15 million people. From Africa to the Western Hemisphere, the slave trade not only displaced millions of Africans to a life of exploitation, but also a painful death. Nobody knew the total number of people who died during slavery in Africa. The Atlantic slave trade Many died a slowly painful death during transportation and imprisonment, or in horrendous conditions during the Middle Passage. The voyage from Africa to the Americas was horrifying and painful for the slaves so many slaves considered suicide as an option. The African Kingdoms were kidnapping slaves from other Africans Kingdoms and trading them with Europeans. In the 15th century some enslaved

The sugar trade was a million pound industry (today many billions of dollars) that forced a great migration of African people, a handful of empires expanding, and large amounts of wealth dealt to people who have never set foot in the west indies. The sugar trade was a trade between England and others to the West Indies back to England and others and around the world. The sugar trade was driven by wealthy families of England, the popularity of sugar and, also by the hard work of slaves.

The end of the fifteenth century is attributed as the time period in which Christopher Colombus “discovered” the Americas. Although he was allegedly the first European to have reached these unknown lands at the time, many sought to reach the new world, for a variety of reasons. Most of those people could be divided in two: the settlers and the conquerors. In North America, there were more of the former, people looking for a new home where they could rebuild their families and lives. In Meso-America, however, the goal was to exploit the lands in order to produce and extract new goods which they could trade. Despite the different outcomes they were trying to reach, both held a common truth: natives and African slaves were both lesser than Europeans,

After years of peasantry and disease, Europe was ready for an economic and cultural upturn. The Crusades introduced Europeans of higher education to the culture of Eastern Europe, and as the renaissance swept throughout Europe, it spurred a revival of knowledge and eagerness to know and see more. This newfound philosophy of living to be happy rather than just to survive triggered European exploration to the Western Hemisphere as well as to the nations to the south. Two countries that did exactly this are Portugal and Spain, leaving lasting impacts, some similar and some different, on Africa and the Americas.

The Atlantic Slave Trade is one of those topics that has a lot of controversies. There are people who believe that the trade did not influence the Americas and the Atlantic, while others believe that it did. The Atlantic Slave Trade did have an impact in the Americas and the Atlantic based on the book “Africa in World History.” Therefore, this is the view that will be presented in this paper. In order to understand how the trade had an impact, one must understand its past, how was the Atlantic Slave Trade different from other trades, and why were Africans the ones chosen for the trade.

During the fifteenth century, Europeans started to colonize the Americas; North, South, and the Caribbean. While this period of colonization was occurring, the demand for cheap labor and money was consistently growing. Europeans attempted to use various different sources for slavery, such as Native Americans, but the numerous flaws with these other societies resulted in Europeans using African people as slaves. During the period of Atlantic slave trade, many issues contributed to the result of using Africans as slaves in the New World as well as effects for using them. These different causes and effects led to a great percent of African population to go to the Americas, and racism that lasted hundreds of years and still exists in today’s society.

It is an obvious truth that in order to have a functioning society, there must be workers. In modern, first world countries, labors are paid well and are reasonably treated. However, some third world nations use an economic model harkening back to older times—slavery and serfdom. Between 1450 and 1750, European countries in the Caribbean and in the Old World utilized two forms of cheap labor—slavery and serfdom—to line their coffers and feed their populace. In the Caribbean, slavery was preferred; but in Russia, serfdom ruled. While Caribbean slavery and Russian serfdom are similar in regard to economics costs, they differ in the cultural details and agricultural productions.

Africans were involved in slavery many years before the Europeans. They never based their slavery on race, but on strong vs.weak(tribes). A system where Monarchs, Merchants,and Mercenaries was the chain of being. War was a part of everyday life in Africa, so the tribe that won the war would take other tribe members in hostage. Port Loko, a city with Tempnies(collected captives) , would border slaves in ships, send them down the river where they would be sold to the Europeans for profits. Slavery was an ongoing profit before the Europeans had even came around; it was a common business. The slave traders were from guys that were Great Warriors or Chief. In Port Loko, to this day their are still people of ancestors who profited from the trade.

The Atlantic slave trade was viewed differently by very many people. The Europeans and Africans both had different views within their own culture. To the slaves being sold and bought it was a tragedy. In some kingdoms, like the Kongo, they tried to stop slavery before it reached them. Most of these efforts were found in vain and the slave trade ended up hurting them more in the end because the kingdoms would go into a panic trying to keep power. There merchants were making enough money and had enough support from kings that they kept the slave trade going. The slaves had essentially turned into a product that was to trade rather than the human beings they were.

The African Slave Trade was the largest forced migration in human history. Why did the Atlantic Slave Trade develop as it did? What was the role of the Trans-Saharan trade on the development of the Atlantic Slave Trade? If some of the African kingdoms were better organized than the European, why did they not halt the trade? Finally, was the impact of the slave trade tied to the failure of Africa to develop economically or was that an internal factor?

There are only a few history-changing events that rocked history on to a much different route. One of these such events was when Columbus landed in America. This one event had many lasting effects, including the spread of diseases to the new world, enslavement of Africans for labor, and economic opportunity with the massive increase in silver.

The enlightenment also known as the age of reason was an influential and philosophical movement that took place in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The enlightenment term means the belief that human knowledge can improve society. Furthermore, the Enlightenment had its underlying foundations in a few regions,

Culture, an assortment of human activities and principles, leads a group of people with common beliefs and values; but after it was taken away by the Europeans, all they felt was lost and with no identity. (Arowolo 2010, 4) Colonialism caused an abrupt decline of culture and tradition in the colonies because the Europeans imposed a new culture on the African’s traditional one. Due to Africa’s subjugation and it being controlled by the Europeans, Western civilization and life style began shaping the colonies. (2) One can say that European culture is characterized by a Christian worldview and individualism. (7) Consequently, imperialism caused African cultural heritage to become replaced by a prosperous European-based one. Moreover, Western civilization became the ideal civilization, and became way superior to African “civilization.” As a consequence, African tradition became perceived as primitive, outmoded, and sadly not welcomed by the rest of the world. Unfortunately, a lot of Africans experienced a trend of a dying out culture. (2) It can be implied that even the Africans’ self-perception dropped because the only lifestyle they knew was suddenly taken away from them and they were taught that it was substandard. Therefore, the indigenous inhabitants of the colonies, the Africans, had to adapt to a new, “superlative” culture and view it as more sophisticated than theirs. The Atlantic slave trade was what greatly enabled the flow of European culture and values to the