Abstract This paper discusses how history has traditionally taught students that the Atlantic slavetrade was about the capture and torture of African people by Europeans and Americans over a 400-year period. The involvement of the African people in the sale of their own citizens to slave traders has only been explored in the last few decades. The paper further discusses how this is perhaps due to the fact that the realization that a nation would sell its own people in exchange for goods is almost unfathomable; yet, it is a realistic fact of the Atlantic slavetrade. The reasons behind Africa's involvement in this manner include economics, fear and a struggle for power. Although some historians contend that these reasons expressed monumental concerns of the rulers of Africa, it is also apparent that not all rulers of the regions believed that selling their citizens was a just course for the nation.
Abstract The paper explores the historical uncertainty and explains that despite this, researchers and historians have grasped upon incomplete and historically narrow bits of evidence to support claims of the demographic effect (or lack thereof) of the Atlantic slavetrade. This essay examines some of the difficulties associated with the demographic study of the Atlantic slavetrade.
From the Paper "Despite being centuries old, much controversy still surrounds the study of the Atlantic slave trade. The trade occurred between the mid 15th century and the late 19th century (Manning 835). During this period, large numbers of Africans were imported to other parts of the world, particularly the Americas, where they served as a slave labor force in the plantation economies of the region. While study of this period seems to be a straightforward proposition, in reality there are difficulties. From a demographic perspective, it is entirely unclear exactly how many Africans were taken as slaves as part of the trade. It is also uncertain how many slaves made it to their destination alive."
Abstract This paper endeavours to explore the impact of the slavetrade on West Africa. It examines how the historical injustices of the slavetrade have undeniably affected West Africa detrimentally in the political, economic and social arenas. It details the recent discussions by leaders of nations historically involved in the slavetrade as they determine what reparations can be made to the victims of this inhumane practice. It gives an historical overview of the slavetrade in general and specifically in West Africa.
From the Paper "Before embarking on the political, economic and social fallout of the slave trade on West Africa, it is important to give a brief description of this blight in history. From the middle of the 15th century, the Portuguese initiated the slave trade. They were followed by the Spaniards and at a lengthier period (1562) by the British. Then in rapid succession by the Dutch (approximately 1620), the French (approximately 1640), the Swedes, Danes and Prussians, before culminating in its most awful activities in the 18th century (Morel, E.D., 1920, 4). Foreigners conducted wholly unprovoked attacks on African villages and kidnapped the young people who were strong enough to work their sugar and coffee plantations as well as for domestic servitude in their homes. The export of Africans to the New World furnished the workforce for the colonial plantations and mines whose yield (gold, silver and, most importantly, sugar, cocoa, cotton, tobacco and coffee) were the principal components of global commerce (M?Bokolo, E., 1998, 2). The horror of the Africans being torn from their homes and their families is matched only by the horror of the number of Africans who perished in the course of transportation on the slave ships
??. the slaves could not turn around, were wedged immovably, in fact, and chained to the deck by the neck and legs?.not infrequently would go mad before dying of suffocation?.in their frenzy some killed others in the hopes of procuring more room to breathe?.men strangled those next to them, and women drove nails into each others? brains.? (Morel, E.D., 1920, 4)."
Tags:slave, trade, West, Africa, Black, political, social, history
Abstract This paper discusses the personal perspective of the Atlantic slavetrade. The paper discusses how the readers' previous beliefs were significantly altered because the facts that were presented, implicated Africa as a factor in the business of selling human lives. Traditionally students are taught that all citizens of Africa were victims in the slavetrade and that the barbaric treatment that millions of Africans experienced was because of the actions of Europeans and Americans greedy for prosperity at any cost. The paper discusses how this historical ideology may be prevalent throughout society, but it is not completely factual. Additionally, it was difficult to accept the fact that individuals throughout Africa would allow the slavetrade to continue, despite the fact that their fellow countrymen were being adversely affected.
Abstract This paper explores the topic of slavery in the Islamic world with the intention of showing that, contrary to some popular myths, the slavetrade was not a European invention but that there was already a well established industry in this regard prior to European colonization. In this article, the writer relates the contention made in many articles and studies, that the fact of slavery in the Islamic world has not received the same moral criticism and censure as the better known slavery in the European world. Furthermore, the writer notes that scholars also state that not only did Muslim slavery predate European slavery in Africa, but it has also been more resistant to abolition than European slavery; and in some instances the claim is made that the Islamic slavetrade provided the model and motivation for slavery for other cultures and nations.
Outline:
Introduction
Evidence of the Pre-Colonial Islamic SlaveTrade The Characteristics of Slavery in Islam
Conclusion
Works Cited
From the Paper "The fact of Islamic slavery is further substantiated by the attitude towards slavery from the tenets of the Islamic faith. In Islam and the Koran there is a general acceptance of slavery as part of social life. However this fact should come as no surprise, as slavery is one of human societies most endemic and ancient institutions; and a defense of slavery can, for example, be found in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible as a basic feature of human civilization. Neither were the Islamic nations the first to enslave Africans. Before them the Egyptians enslaved Africans on a large and systematic scale."
Abstract This paper examines the historical facts of the slavetrade in West Africa and its impact on the degradation of its society today. The paper illustrates how the European colonial slavetrade affects current political, economic and social issues of the region.
From the Paper "According to recent studies, approximately 24 million Africans were abducted forcibly from West Africa alone and enslaved (Centre for Black & African Arts & Civilisation, 2002, 1). This paper endeavours to explore the ?impact of the slave trade on West Africa.? The historical injustices of the slave trade have undeniably affected West Africa detrimentally in the political, economic and social arenas. The gravity of such a negative impact is what leaders of nations historically involved in the slave trade are discussing as they determine what reparations can be made to the victims of this inhumane practice."
Abstract This paper offers an in-depth study of Cape Verde's role in African slavetrade. It discusses the history behind the migration of Cape Verde's people to the United States.
From the Paper "The Impact of the American Slave Trade upon Cape Verde and its people. Pope John Paul II made the journey to West Africa and Cape Verde in order to personally apologize for the slave trade as it existed prior to this was a fitting location ..."
Abstract The West African slavetrade to the New World-North and South America-is not by any means the first example of slavery. In fact, the use of slaves for domestic and/or agricultural work has been part of every civilization and complex society from the earliest recorded times. However, when it comes to the scope and organization of the slavetrade, nothing in recorded history matches what took place between the 16th and 19th centuries along the Western coast of Africa.
Abstract This paper describes the effect of slavery on West Africa and the African civilization. The paper explores the general effect of slavery on future African civilizations?
Abstract This paper examines the development of slavery and the slavetrade in the New World. It points out when and why it developed, why slaves were particularly used as a labor force along with why Africans were used. Finally the paper explains if there was any possibility of resistance.
From the Paper "Slavery can be defined as a condition in which human beings are owned by others as chattels. Slavery existed from the earliest times. In ancient Greece and Rome captives from conquered lands were the chief source of slaves who often had special skills, were well treated and could also be freed. The condition of slaves in later Roman times greatly worsened until the deteriorating economy led to the virtual disappearance of slaves and the emergence of serfs in Middle Ages. Slaving became a lucrative business in the sixteenth century when the European traders began to transport thousands of Africans to the Americas."
Abstract The slavetrade carried Africans far from their homeland, but the problem of slavery began in Africa as warring tribes captured members of other tribes and sold them into slavery. The paper shows that the slavetrade in West Africa served the labor requirements of the New World and other areas for more than three centuries. The slavetrade in West Africa began with the Portuguese in the fifteenth century and increased until it was a major trade linking Africa with Europe and North and South America. The paper examines how slave ships, heading for the New World, would stop at sites along the West African coast to pick up their human cargo, often purchasing members of one tribe from another. The Spanish and English would also become involved in the slavetrade over the next two centuries and slavery in the New World in particular would be a matter of economic need because of an agricultural system that needed a large labor force for as little economic outlay as possible. The paper shows that when the Native American population did not prove viable as a labor force, the various European settlers turned to Africa and the slavetrade to solve their labor problems.
From the Paper "The entry of the Portuguese into Africa came at the same time as the Turkish Ottoman conquest of Africa's Mediterranean and Red Sea areas. Portugal at that time expanded into Africa's Atlantic and Indian Ocean coasts and introduced new weapons and new demands for war captives throughout the continent. Different communities and different kingdoms adapted in different ways to this new supply of guns and new demands for war captives, and at the same time, Spanish, Dutch, British, French, German, Scandinavian, and Arab armed ships joined the Portuguese in demanding increasing numbers of young Africans for the international slave trade. This was during Africa's "early modern" period from 1600 to 1800, at which time the gold, sugar, tobacco, and cotton produced by African slaves in the New World contributed toward making more capital available for the "commercial revolution" taking place in Europe in banking, corporate stock arrangements, insurance, and investment houses. This trade then helped fund European expansion in overseas trade, colonization, and the scientific and industrial revolutions (Khapoya 92)."
Abstract The Portuguese arrival on the Gold Coast of Africa in 1439 brought the beginnings of the Atlantic SlaveTrade, subjecting the continent to four centuries of depredation. The paper argues that the intensity of the suffering endured by the African people should be described nothing short of a Holocaust. By examining tragic facts in the form of tables, this paper analyzes the Atlantic SlaveTrade from an Afrocentric point of view rather than from either a Eurocentric or even Africanist perspective. In other words, this paper makes little or no apology for presenting material from an African perspective or for identifying emotionally with African history. Instead the paper "presents an insider's perspective which more overtly embraces an African identity."
Paper Outline:
From Harmony to Holocaust
Africanist vs. Afrocentric Point of View
The Effect of the Atlantic SlaveTrade on African Culture (in General)
The Effect of the Atlantic SlaveTrade on Specific African Cultures
African Complicity?
The Problem Remains the Same
From the Paper "The observations made by Tunde Obadina above are echoed in "The Maafa: A Holocaust of Greed." In this reading, the situation on the African continent resulting from the slave trade is described as one of pure chaos. Kingdoms would rise and fall depending on how well they filled the individual "slave-quotas" dictated by the Europeans. Cultural continuity was almost a contradiction in terms as established groups would pass from the scene in quick succession, one after the other. So to ask if the African cultures were affected by the slave trade is go about understanding this situation in completely the wrong way. The effect was a given. Better to ask exactly how much damage was done to African culture as a result of the trade in Africans. This much is clear, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was "an event which destroyed peoples and whole cultures, an event which would destabilize a continent, changing it forever.""
Abstract This paper discusses the rise and fall of the transatlantic slavetrade between Europe and the Americas. It discusses the reasons behind the beginnings of the slavetrade and the chain of events, from the first explorers, that was involved in its establishment. The paper then looks at the events leading to the rise of the abolitionist movement and its success.
From the Paper "It is almost hard to believe that this time in human history ever existed. Looking back, it seems easy to recognize the points where the slave system became perverted and escalated to phenomenal heights. It has been argued, by Europeans, that the reason Europeans went on a conquest to rule the world was due to some superiority and higher calling. Through the study of more recent historians, it has been said that the most evil of all human sins is to desire complete control over another person. Historians have discovered that a possible reason, that Africans did not cause competition for the exploration and colonization of the uncharted world, is not because of industrial inferiority, but a result of cultural contentment with effective ways and means of life (Davidson, 43). The Africans did not seek to conquer because their world worked. The Slave Trade disrupted that world and caused the most devastating crime against humanity. The abolitionist movement, and slave rebellion, started the same year the first ship of African captives sailed for the West Indies. It is a sorrowful shame that no one listened then, but, thankfully, the abolitionists did not surrender until all British slaves were set free."
Abstract This paper will discuss the issue of African Americans and indigenous peoples in colonial and the slavery of the South. By understanding the certain principles of slave behavior, economic factors, and the roles of slaves in these periods of history, we can assemble an analysis of earlyAmerica in this way.
This paper studies the reign of two African rulers, King Afonso I and Queen Njinga Mbande, showing that all the slavetrade began with the consent of African rulers.
2,228 words (approx. 8.9 pages), 7 sources, 2002, $ 69.95
Abstract The writer asserts that the slavetrade from Africa to Europe was not possible without the aid of African leaders. The paper looks to prove that African leaders clearly participated voluntarily in the slavetrade and that it wasn?t until the reign of and King Garcia II that the slavetrade became an illegal trade in Africa.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Slaves and Social Structure
King Afonso
Queen Njinga Mbande
King Garcia II
Conclusion
From the Paper "The slave structure that was in existence when Alfonso opened his country to Portugal was a transformation of an established social class. The jonya system which existed in the Western portion of Africa established a class of people in society that was part of a lineage and socio-political category that was part of the ruling class. In essence, they were captives belonging to the royal and were not transferable. Eventually, with the outside influence of Muslims and Christians, this system was replaces with the slave system in which the individual's ownership was transferable (Ogot 15-16)."
