The Atlantic Slave Trade

Europeans introduced chattel slavery, primarily involving the forced labor of Africans, which had a profound impact on social structures. The transatlantic slave trade depopulated regions of West Africa and resulted in the enslavement of millions of Africans. Slavery replaced or supplemented existing indigenous labor practices, such as tribute systems or coerced labor. For example, in the Caribbean and Brazil, sugarcane plantations relied heavily on enslaved Africans, leading to the establishment of plantation economies and hierarchical social structures based on race. Slavery and the racial caste system that emerged had long-lasting consequences for social hierarchies and economic development in the Western

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).

The initial labor for sugarcane fell on Native Americans, but by 1600 95% of Native Americans in the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean populations were dead due to disease and labor. Because of the decline in the population of Native Americans, the sugar plantations began to use Africans as slaves for slave that soon led to the African Slave Trade. The product of their labor was sent to a European capital to be sold. During those three centuries, sugar was by far the most important of the overseas products. Sugarcane made trade increase throughout the Canary Islands and South America.

The Gold Coast of Africa during the 1870s was full of social, economic, and political issues.. Politically, in the early 1870s, the British were working to push the Asante and their allies off of the coast to set up colonies. In the graphic novel Abina and the Important Men written by Trevor Getz, we learn that the British were successful in pushing away the Asante around 1873 and that “the British managed to create a system of agreements with local rulers that was formalized in the creation of a colony and a protectorate” (Getz 122). After occupying this region of Africa, the British would quickly learn how big the problem of slavery was. According to Getz, “an appreciable proportion of that Protectorate population was made up of people whom

Starting in the Americas, sugar cane brought over from the Old World became the mainstay in Caribbean and Brazilian economies which, along with rice and cotton production, was the foundation for slavery in the Americas. Columbus also brought over fundamental crops, mainly wheat which was, and still is, a highly

It is stated, “The first half of the eighteenth century…a period of increased purchasing power for laboring people…,” (Mintz, 118). It is this dependency of the English populace to a large influx of sugar which, in line with the supply-demand theory, lowers the price of sugar and makes it more affordable. Where there was not demand, the sugar trade effectively created one. Though not nutritionally beneficial, sugar became a proletarian commodity which helped sustain England’s labor force. However, the increasing dependency reinforced and propelled the enslavement of Africans for the cultivation of the sugar cane in the West Indies.

The diary writing by William Byrd show us how slaves had a major part in the economy of the colonial America and how most of them were treated. Most elites European come to the Americas looking for wealth and power, but they did not have the workforce to accomplish their goals they need people to work their cultivation. Slave Africans became a shipper and easier solution to this problems. (63) “From 1492 to 1820 enslaved African migrants outnumbered Europeans migrants to the new world by nearly five to one”. This incoming slaves Africans did most of the hurt work for this elite Europeans.

To the merchants and the crew of the slave ship, it was always a condition of “profits over people” (Rediker 142). In addition, this explains why African captives would be tightly crammed in the vessel so that they could be delivered in increasingly large quantities to gain profit, as long as the captives were delivered alive. Towards the end of the book, Rediker explains that “the dramas that played out on the decks of a slave ship were made possible, one might even say structured, by the capital and power of people far from the ship” (352). Merchants were highly influential in the constitution and economics the Atlantic slave trade. They funded and supplied countless voyages to other countries.

The New World was built on the backs of slaves who would do different jobs for small rewards or otherwise be punished or sentenced to death. This new territory was inhabited by several different European peoples including the Spanish Empire in Hispaniola and English immigrants at Chesapeake Bay, their roles in slavery differed in terms of who they acquired to work and the type of work they assigned to their help. In the 1500’s, the Spanish people had several sugar mills in the Caribbean land they named Hispaniola. Because of diseases brought over by the Spanish people, the indigenous population of this land was wiping out and therefor they needed to bring over more people to work for them.

The introduction of slavery to the New World was an important aspect that shaped and influenced American culture to what it is today. The introduction of slaves set up the scene for white superiority and domination amongst American society. Slavery started in 1619, when Africans were brought from Africa over to the New World, through a transport system called the “Middle Passage”, to serve as free labor for tobacco production. African slaves became essential to tobacco production and the economy, as the Native Americans that were previously used as slaves, died off from smallpox and other European diseases. With no other option for free laborers, they looked to Africans.

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 beginning of the 17th Century marked the practice of slavery which continued till next 250 years by the colonies and states in America. Slaves, mostly from Africa, worked in the production of tobacco and cotton crops. Later , they were employed or ‘enslaved’ by the whites as for the job of care takers of their houses. The practice of slavery also led the beginning of racism among the people of America. The blacks were restricted for all the basic and legally privileged rights.

Sugar was one of the most demanding goods, thus, the sugar production increased dramatically. Slaves played a huge part in this since they were the ones who help produce sugar. If it was not for the distilled drinks, then the slave trade would not have been so big and caused disputes about slavery. Journal #8.

In the Americas, the main exports were silver and cash crops, both of which required work that was terribly tedious and exhausting. This led to the overwhelming predominance of slavery in the Americas, since the Europeans were not willing to carry out the hard work themselves. When the Europeans found they lacked a workforce, the sought slaves elsewhere. While the people who were called slaves changed, the institution never did. The same mistreatment, torture, and horrible conditions were evident in American slavery until it was abolished centuries later.

Except this time it was through the crop of sugarcane. Slaves just like in the Southern colonies as well were the basis of these sugar fortunes. All colonial regions in the New World run by the British had a great economy which flourished not just only in their own part of the hemisphere but around the world. The colonies were a global economic factory, as they pumped out so much produce. The one thing all of these regions shared was fishing because of the close interaction with the Atlantic Ocean.