Could anyone describe the slave trade?

Question

Could anyone describe the slave trade?

Answer 1

Trans Atlantic Triangle trade of slaves and goods

1502 - 1888

Europeans wanted to colonize the Americas and needed a large workforce to start building an economy. First they brought over European peasants and captured Native Americans into slavery. The downfalls were European peasants were low in number as Europe was just recovering from losing more than halfs ifs population to black death. Also Native Americans were dying in large numbers due to first time exposure to European disease and many could escape as they knew the Americas better than the Europeans.

Europeans now needed a new source of labor and Africa had plenty of people kingdoms which were already trading with Europeans and Arabs  slaves. They were immune to  European disease built strong, didn't know there way around the Americas and were use to tropical climate. So the new source of slaves was in Africa.

The Triangle trade worked like this:

Europe - Africa - New world and back to Europe etc

Europe- Produced the raw materials ie guns and alcahol shipped them to Africa.

Africa - Traded hum captives or gold for the raw materials

New world- Traded slave made goods ie tropical food sugar and cotton for African captives

Europe - Traded the slave made goods for raw materials and then they would do the same cycle again.

European Nations involved bought 32 million Africans

Portugal 35.4%

Britain 23.8%

Spain 22.1%

France 14.1%

Holland  4.4%

Denmark 0.2%

African Nations supply of 32 million captives

Nigeria 22%

Democratic Republic of Congo 20%

Angola:13%

Ghana: 10.3%

Republic of Congo 6.3%

Cameroon: 5%

Senegal: 4%

Benin: 4%

Mozambique 3%

Guinea 2.4%

Togo 2.1%

Equatorial Guinea: 2%

Madagascar: 1.6%

Sierra Leone: 1%

Cote d' Ivoire: 1%

The Gambia: 0.8%

Liberia 0.7%

Gabon: 0.6%

Guinea-Bissau 0.2%

New World Destinations bought 18 million Africans

South & Central America 50.4% (Brazil 35.4% alone)

Caribbean 45.2%

North America (USA) 4.4%

40 million Kidnapped or made captives

32 million survived to African coasts and sold to Europeans

18 million survived to the new world

22 million total death toll

Slave Trade and institutions of slavery beginning & Abolishment timeline

1502 Portugal brought first African captives to New world (Today Brazil)

1600s Britain, Spain, France, Holland and Denmark begin involvement in the Atlantic Slave Trade.

1619 Dutch brought first African captives to North America (today USA)

1807 Britain outlaws the Atlantic Slave Trade

1808 USA outlaws its involvement in the Atlantic Slave Trade

1813 Argentina abolishes its institution of slavery

1823 Chile abolishes its institution of slavery

1824 Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica abolishes its institution of slavery

1829 Mexico abolishes its institution of slaver

1831 Brazil was the last country to outlaw its involvement the Atlantic Slave Trade.

1833 British Empire abolishes its institution of slavery in its colonies

1848

# Denmark abolishes its institution of slavery in its colonies

#  France abolishes its institution of slavery in its colonies

1851 Peru abolishes its institution of slavery

1859 Last recorded ship illegally arrived in the USA with slaves on board.

1863 Holland abolishes its institution of slavery in its colonies

1865 USA abolishes its institution of slavery

1873 Puerto Rico abolishes its institution of slavery

1886 Cuba abolishes its institution of slavery making all Spanish colonies abolished all forms of slavery.

1888

# Brazil abolish its institution of slavery. The last in the Americas

# Last Slave ship crossed the Atlantic illegally to Brazil.

Answer 2

At the end of the 14th century Europeans started to take people from Africa against their will. Initially they were mainly used as servants for the rich. The Europeans justified the taking of slaves by arguing that they were providing an opportunity for Africans to become Christians. By the 17th century the removal of slaves from Africa became a holy cause that had the full support of the Christian Church.

When Spanish and Portuguese sea-captains began to explore the Americas they took their African servants with them. Some of these Africans proved to be excellent explorers. The most important of these was Estevanico, who led the first European expedition to New Mexico and Arizona.

The people living in the Americas resisted the attempt by the Europeans to take over their land. One of he most important struggles took place in Cuba in 1512. The Cubans, led by Chief Hatuey, were eventually defeated by the superior weapons of the Spanish.

It is estimated that over a million people lived in Cuba before the arrival of the Europeans. Twenty-five years later there were only 2,000 left. Large numbers had been killed, while others died of starvation, disease, committed suicide or had died from the consequences of being forced to work long hours in the gold mines.

After the arrival of the Europeans there was a sharp decline in the local population of most of the islands in the Caribbean Sea. This created a problem for the Europeans as they needed labour to exploit the natural resources of these islands. Eventually the Europeans came up with a solution: the importation of slaves from Africa. By 1540, an estimated 10,000 slaves a year were being brought from Africa to replace the diminishing local populations.

British merchants became involved in the trade and eventually dominated the market. They built coastal forts in Africa where they kept the captured Africans until the arrival of the slave-ships. The merchants obtained the slaves from African chiefs by giving them goods from Europe. At first, these slaves were often the captured soldiers from tribal wars. However, the demand for slaves become so great that raiding parties were organised to obtain young Africans.





Here are some testimonials from slaves & slave owners who account their stories ,which are real.

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(1) Ottobah Cugoano, Narrative of the Enslavement of a Native of Africa (1787)

I was early snatched away from my native country, with about eighteen or twenty more boys and girls, as we were playing in a field. We lived but a few days' journey from the coast where we were kidnapped, and consigned to Grenada. Some of us attempted, in vain, to run away, but pistols and cutlasses were soon introduced, threatening, that if we offered to stir, we should all lie dead on the spot.

We were soon led out of the way which we knew, and towards evening, as we came in sight of a town. I was soon conducted to a prison, for three days, where I heard the groans and cries of many, and saw some of my fellow-captives. But when a vessel arrived to conduct us away to the ship, it was a most horrible scene; there was nothing to be heard but the rattling of chains, smacking of whips, and the groans and cries of our fellow-men. Some would not stir from the ground, when they were lashed and beat in the most horrible manner.



(2) Olaudah Equiano, was captured and sold as a slave in the kingdom of Benin in Africa. He wrote about his experiences in The Life of Olaudah Equiano the African (1789)

Generally, when the grown people in the neighbourhood were gone far in the fields to labour, the children assembled together in some of the neighborhood's premises to play; and commonly some of us used to get up a tree to look out for any assailant, or kidnapper, that might come upon us; for they sometimes took those opportunities of our parents' absence, to attack and carry off as many as they could seize.

One day, when all our people were gone out to their works as usual, and only I and my dear sister were left to mind the house, two men and a woman got over our walls, and in a moment seized us both; and, without giving us time to cry out, or make resistance, they stopped our mouths, and ran off with us into the nearest wood. Here they tied our hands, and continued to carry us as far as they could, till night came on, when we reached a small house, where the robbers halted for refreshment, and spent the night. We were then unbound; but were unable to take any food; and, being quite overpowered by fatigue and grief, our only relief was some sleep, which allayed our misfortune for a short time. he first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast, was the sea, and a slave ship, which was then riding at anchor, and waiting for its cargo. These filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror, when I was carried on board. I was i

Answer 3

European colonists initially practiced systems of both bonded labor and Indian slavery, enslaving many of the natives of the New World. For a variety of reasons, Africans replaced Indians as the main population of slaves in the Americas. In some cases, such as on some of the Caribbean Islands, warfare and diseases such as smallpox eliminated the natives completely. In other cases, such as in South Carolina, Virginia, and New England, the need for alliances with native tribes coupled with the availability of African slaves at affordable prices (beginning in the early 18th century for these colonies) resulted in a shift away from Indian slavery.



"The Slave Trade" by Auguste Francois Biard, 1840A burial ground in Campeche, Mexico, suggests slaves had been brought there not long after Hernán Cortés completed the subjugation of Aztec and Mayan Mexico. The graveyard had been in use from about 1550 to the late 1600s [16].

The first side of the triangle was the export of goods from Europe to Africa. A number of African kings and merchants took part in the trading of slaves from 1440 to about 1900. For each captive, the African rulers would receive a variety of goods from Europe. The second leg of the triangle exported enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to South America, the Caribbean Islands, and North America. The third and final part of the triangle was the return of goods to Europe from the Americas. The goods were the products of slave-labor plantations and included cotton, sugar, tobacco, molasses and rum.However, Brazil (the main importer of slaves) manufactured these goods in South America and directly traded with African ports, thus not taking part in a triangular trade.