Chapter 14 Part 2

Commerce in people: The Atlantic Slave trade

Between 1500 and 1866 the Atlantic slave trade took about 12.5 million people from African societies. The slave trade benefitted and enriched European and Euro-American societies while destroying the slaves lives.

The Slave Trade in Context

The slave trade was closely tied to both warfare and capture. Before 1500 Mediterranean and Indian ocean was the main slave trade, with most slaves being imported from southern Russia. Many regions had different needs for male, female, and different age groups. Slavery in America however, was different then anywhere else. In America we mostly had plantations for the slaves to work on, but the conditions were so terrible many described it as dehumanizing to these slaves. When slaves were cut off by the Ottoman Turks, the Portuguese turned to western Africa for their slaves. Africa soon became the go to for slaves working in plantations. They were sought after because of their skill with farming, immunity to diseases, not Christians, and they were "close".

The slave trade in practice

Europeans would not intrude on some African societies because of the African societies ability to protect themselves as well as the harmful diseases that were most dangerous to the Euros then it was to the African society. Instead, they waited for the slaves to be brought to them, they waited on their own ships or their settlements to be safe from the disease. In exchange for slaves, African sellers sought Euro and Indian textiles, such as cowrie shells and firearms/gunpowder. Slaves would be treated so poorly that many would rather jump off the boat and drown themselves before the boats could come rescue them. Africans did not sell their own people into slavery, they sold prisoners of war, criminals, and debtors. They captured and sold outsiders for short term economic and political gain.

Consequences: the impact of slave trade in Africa

Slave trade had a huge impact on African population. In the 1600, Africans population was at 18%, by the 1900, Africans population took a drastic fall to only 6%. Slave trade had terrible consequences socially and economically on Africa. Lemba Officials were brought together to try to counter the disruptive impact. Because mostly men were sent to be slaves, more men were able to marry multiple women. A small number of women were able to accumulate wealth and power from the fur trade, hiring their own slaves.

Economic globalization: Then and Now

The three centuries before us have similarities. Some of these similarities were global circulation of goods, an international currency, production for world market, and private enterprises. The main differences are the scale and speed of the market, by 2000 there was substantially more goods in circulation.