The Impact Of The Slave Trade On African Americans

In the 16th century, European continue to arrive in Africa. Castle was built along the coast of West Africa by seven European nations. The Europeans discovered the wealth in Africa such as plantation and mining. To achieve their goals and to maximize their profits, the Europeans used slave labor. They were unable to use slave labor in Europe so therefore they turned to Africa. During the slave trade it was inhumane and violence, million of African people and children were taken away from their home to work in the new world. The slave trade took away many productive workers from Africa which they are skilled in farming and other establishment.

One of the main themes of Worlds Together Worlds Apart is no matter what culture a group of people is a part of each community has the goal of expanding their wealth through trade. This desire for wealth and exotic goods has led multiple civilizations to carry out atrocities against other people just to satisfy their lust for riches. One of the most common ways dominant civilizations would oppress the unfortunate was through slavery. As populations grew from the late sixteenth to the nineteenth century demand for more goods increased which meant there needed to be more cheap labor. This cheap labor was found in Africa and resulted in the transportation of around 12 million Africans from their home land to the Americas. Often times world history books will include the facts around slavery but lack the first hand experiences of slaves and those who bought, sold,

Exploration to the New World led to greedy rulers wanting more. There were many new resources and opportunities to make money; for example tobacco, sugar, and even minerals. Because of the demand for these crops, the Europeans needed someone to do the work. With the Native American population drastically declining, the Europeans had to find another source of labor so they turned to the African Americans. This began the slave trade where millions of slaves were taken from Africa to other areas as a source of income. The absence of humanitarian concerns greatly influenced the treatment of these slaves. The slaves were treated horribly due to the laziness, the greediness, and the uncaringness of the Europeans.

The Atlantic Slave Trade is remembered as a dark and cruel point in history, in which African Americans were treated as animals by inhuman and cruel men. During this time period the ideal shared by many white men was that of white supremacy, meaning that people with white skin are naturally better than those with dark skin. They also believed that it was their worldly duty to care for people with black skin. However, the majority of these men did not care for those they viewed as their subordinates. These cruel men viewed the black race as inhuman, however, it was those who had white skin that were the real inhumans, they were beasts. These evil men lacked the sympathy and compassion that would make them human and as result they enslaved, broke

From mid-15th century to the end of the 19th century, in order to provide labor, the western colonial countries took a large number of black people from Africa to American colonial plantations and mines. Since the slave trade was mainly carried out on both sides of the Atlantic, the western countries generally call it “the Atlantic slave trade”. Although it brought huge profits to the capitalists of Western Europe, it is the darkest period in African history. We can say that the slavery in the New World was absolutely dehumanizing, and it’s extremely cruel. It has caused billions of Africans lose their lives and has had a very serious impact on the development of Africa.

European conquest during the colonial period greatly affected the indigenous and slave populations, generally decreasing their quality of life while exploiting them for personal gain.

In the early years of the United States, Africans were shipped to America to become hard working slaves. Africans were constantly being taken from their families. Most slave owners treated slaves unfairly and denied them of basic rights. 12.5 million Africans were taken to be sold as slaves in America. 10 million survived the journey across the Atlantic. An injustice in our American History was when Africans were continually taken from their homes, forced to endure cruelty from their owners, other white people, and denied the same rights as other Americans.

While slavery in America was an institution that was started over 400 years ago, the affects were so horrific that it is still felt today by modern day African Americans. Many families had to deal with the constant stress of being sold which made it difficult to have a normal family life. Slaves were sold to pay off debts, an owner dying and his slaves were sold in an estate sale, or when an owner’s children would leave the home to begin a life of their own, they would take slaves with them. Often times, children were not raised by their parents, other family members of someone designated to watch the children because the mother and father had to work long hours and the children were too young to join them.

It had historically been reported that enslaving Africans started in the new continent’s colonies long before it became a legal form of labor. Slavery in British North America dated back to 1619 when “on August 20, African American history began when a Dutch ship delivered “twenty and odd” Africans to the English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, where they were sold by bid as indentured servants.” (Rodriguez 01). These Africans were not considered as slaves at the beginning but as involuntary servants. They were promised to work only from four to seven years and then they will get their freedom and become land owners too. This was never accomplished since they became servants for life and their work conditions became worst. At least this

Very many years ago, slave trade had begun. Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 blacks were compelled to serve the white colonist. (51) That year the Virginians were determined to produce an amount of food to stay alive. The territory occurred annihilate by starvation. They wouldn’t enforce the Native American to put in effort for them, but defenseless African Americans would be suitable. Therefore, the beginning of slaves was established, from West Indies to Jamestown with a few African Americans. There were several written communications dealing with slavery. Three documents of the slave revolts encounter each other. In 1720, the blacks had ambition to damage the Caucasian people. The slaves of Mr. Percivall was the primary crooks. Fourteen slaves

The greatest slave trade stage was enslaved people transportation from West and central Africa to the New World- America. The trans-Atlantic slave trade was the largest forced movement and prior from the 16th through the 19th centuries. The salve trade between Western and Central Africa and the America reached its peak in the middle of 18th century when over 80.000 Africans annually crossed the Atlantic to spend all their rest of lives in chains. “For three centuries the white man seized and enslaved millions of Africans and transported them, with every circumstance of ferocious cruelty, across the seas.” (Morel.1903) Approximately from the 10 to 12 million Africans from the central and western parts of continent were sold by others Africans

To say that “Slavery happened a long time ago” is completely wrong, it hasn’t been long at all. African Americans have been free for 152 years now, that’s only 2-3 generations, your great grandfather lived in that era. People fail to see how cruel slavery really was, yes they didn’t

Over the years from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, slaves were not only transported to just the United States, but to all around the world. They were sold and traded to many different countries which meant that their cultures went with them. As they would grow and multiply in an area, they would repopulate in others. Forced labor migrations contributed to globalization because when slaves of different ethnicities were shipped to other parts of the world, they took their culture and history with them.

Over twelve million Africans were captured and taken against their will by Europeans in the Atlantic slave trade from about 1525-1866. The experience that the slaves endured was horrendous, unsanitary and overall the worst time of their lives. The middle passage was where the slaves were taken from Africa to the Americas via ships. After they arrived in the Americas, they were sold and forced to work for their new owners. Due to strong European force, slaves experienced dehumanization through being captured from their villages and tortured, living with awful conditions on ships, and being sold against their will to Americans.

The Trans-Atlantic slave trade impacted and changed the world by misplacing and separating thousands of individuals from their families and homes. Thousands of people lost their lives when they were abducted and forced into slavery. Many did not survive the ship rides to the Americas. Many were murdered and tortured. Some were thrown of boats and died from diseases caught on the ship. Nonetheless, the Trans-Atlantic trade brought African culture to the Americas and the Caribbean.