Slavery in the Americas:Atlantic Slave Trade sample essay

The Atlantic slave trade refers to the transportation of black Africans from their homelands to the New World. Although the term does not sound violent, the actual notion comprises many different activities including violent capture, tortures, and mass murder of African people. Historians associate Atlantic slave trade with Black Holocaust; and native African Americans call it Maafa, which means immense deaths in English language (Wiki 2005). It is estimated that altogether approximately 12 million Africans have been transported by force from western Africa to Americas (Iliffe 1995). And even though many understood the immorality and the cruelty of slavery itself, very few could afford to renounce it, because slavery was an inseparable part of 17th-18th century world economy.

Atlantic slave trade was very important for 18 century World Economy, because it was one of the three elements of so-called Triangular trade, a three-way exchange between America, Europe, and Africa. European traders would ship textiles, muskets, and manufactured merchandize to Africa and exchange it for slaves. Then they would take slaves to the West to Americas and exchange them for cotton and tobacco, and sail home. On each side of the triangular trade ships made huge profits plus they carried different valuable merchandize from both African continent and the New World. Thus, Atlantic slave trade was vitally important for 18th century sailors (Isichei 1997).

The origin of Atlantic slave trade – and slave trade in general – is mainly associated with the shortage of labor in the developing New World. Contemporary European population in the Americas was not sufficient to support the plans of development. Even criminals that were sentenced to labor ran away, and could easily blend into white masses forever. Native Americans were not efficient as slaves either, because they were not that numerous and did not have immunity for diseases brought to the New World by Europeans (such as mumps and smallpox). In addition, native Americans could easily escape because they knew the land well, their home were close, and they knew how to survive in the adjacent territories (Iliffe 1995). But labor requirements kept growing with the expansion of mining, harvesting, and growing. Thus, Europeans turned to African Continent, Guinea in particular, as a free labor source. Africans were most suitable for labor in the New World, because first, they had immunity for diseases such as measles, smallpox, and mumps (at least those who survived into adult year) (Northrup 1994). The second main reason was that they were unfamiliar with the territories of the New World, and thus could not escape west. They could not return home either, and plus they could be easily recognized because their skin color was different from Europeans as well as from Native Americans.

The first slaves were shipped from Africa to America by Portuguese, who were in need of labor force for their sugar plantations (labor-intensive growing) and mines in Brazil. After the Dutch seized power in South America, they became the dominant slave suppliers to European colonies of the New World. Afterwards, as Britain gained naval power, the kingdom controlled more of the Atlantic by the end of the 17th century, this way controlling more and more trade routes (Caryl 2001). Britain became the dominant trading power by the end of the 17th century. As a result, slave trade became very popular in Britain; many towns engaged and profited from the activity including London, Birmingham, and Liverpool. It is believed that one fourth of Liverpool ships were slave traders (Caryl 2001).

At first, Europeans simply stole Africans; violent clashes demonstrated European superiority, however showed the underestimated strength of native Africans as well. Several boycotts from the African side showed how dependent Europeans are on native peoples, because only Africans could provide food and water for the sailors. This way, it became clear that the best way to obtain African slaves was to exchange them for various goods the Africans wanted (Richardson 2004). Immediately after that a strong commercial relationship formed between Europe and Africa that lasted several centuries; Europeans shipped muskets, fabrics, and manufactured merchandize and took with them black slaves in exchange (Richardson 2004).

Those shipped in Atlantic slave trade were mostly adult males. Not only women were weaker, but also they were valued in Africa as child bearers and agricultural workers. Women slaves, however, did cross the Atlantic too, but about two times fewer black women were shipped, and about ten times fewer African slaves that were under age of ten (Northrup 1994). Since the primary activity of slaves brought to the New World was to work on sugar plantation and other crops, strong men were most desirable. Children could perform less job, and were financially less profitable; women were also no that profitable as men, but they were necessary if slave owners were planning to expand their own slave population.

The economic reason of slavery was so strong that it overwhelmed all unethical, immoral, and Christian contradictions (Wiki 2005). During 17th-18th centuries, the most profitable industries were export of sugar, coffee, cotton, tobacco, and mining. Since producing all of these commodities required much skilled labor, the most productive way out was to engage slaves in the system. Thus, slavery was an inseparable part of one of the most profitable industries, and colonists simply could not afford to lose such profitable resources in distant lands.

But European slave traders not only benefited from cheap labor and profits; the Ocean was also on their side (Isichei 1997). The winds and the currents of the Atlantic were very favorable for triangle traders. North Atlantic Drift and Equatorial Current assisted their way to Southward to Africa; Equatorial Current and Guyana Current assisted voyage from Africa to Latin America. And their way back to Europe lay above the Sargasso Sea; all legs of the triangle were favorable because the routes lay on different parts of the Gulf Stream.

Slaver ships took slaves to specific predetermined harbors; slaves were not distributed either evenly or randomly across the Atlantic. About 40% of all slaves went to Brazil and Caribbean each, and roughly 15 percent went to Spanish America (Caryl 2001). Only 5% of total slave population brought to the New World entered the territories of modern United States. Current population of blacks dwelling in the Americas does not correspond to that of the 17th and 18 century. The main reasons of the population redistribution were the various mortality factors; for example the survival rate was much lower in the Caribbean because of the tropical diseases from which Africans had no immunity (Iliffe 1995). On other regions of the New World Africans also did not live long enough to grow offspring, and so owners had to regularly purchase more young slaves. This phenomenon explains the constant demand for slaves in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The peak of Atlantic slave trade was the end of the 17th century. In 1780s 80,000 African slaves were shipped westward annually (Northrup 1994). The first traces of Atlantic slave trade date 1440s; then there was moderate growth up until the end of the 17th century. In the early 1700s, approximately 25,000 slaves crossed the Atlantic every year. By the middle of the 19th century, the supply declined very quickly (Northrup 1994).

The Middle Passage, that is the voyage from Africa to America, was one of the most difficult sea passages for both traders and slaves. The 2,000 miles voyage took away lives of roughly 15 percent of slaves shipped, plus many more slaves got sick very badly (Wiki 2005). The voyages lasted on general for no more than two months, but experienced sailors could handle the ocean route with the help of favorable winds within a month (Richardson 2004). Slaves were kept in horrible conditions during the voyage; they had two times less space allotted for others, sailors or soldiers for example. Of course they were kept shackled at all times, especially men. Women and children were allowed freer. They were typically fed two times a day, but the meals were very simple, a pint of water with rice, or dried beans, or yams depending on the recent purchases ashore (Iliffe 1995). Although captain and the crew encourages hygiene and sanitary on the ship, mortality rates remained high because of primitive hygiene and insufficient sanitary facilities. Most of the food perished by the end of the voyage, and many slaves got sick. Many diseases spread very quickly among the slave population despite the attempts to keep the sick ones separately (Iliffe 1995). In the mid-1700s, dysentery was the greatest enemy of slave traders, since it was the primary cause of deaths.

Once the lucky ones set foot on the New World, the conditions and the attitudes did not change much. Most slaves were taken to work in sugar plantations, a very labor-intensive growing, others were toiling on other crops, or mining. In any case, slaves’ routines were heavy manual labor, lack of medical care, and poor living conditions (Isichei 1997). Mortality rates remained very high – about 10% in the Caribbean – because of the reasons listed above, and also because the native dwellers of African continent drank different water, and ate different food there; also, the environment in general was completely different (including the diseases and venomous creatures) (Caryl 2001).

In the beginning of the 19th century, the more and more people opposed Atlantic lave trade (and slave trade in general). The first official protesters were Quakers (Religious Society of Friends) and Evangelicals (Richardson 2004). Haitian Slavery Revolt in 1791 on St. Domingue island also backed the ideals of abolition of slave trade (Wiki 2005). In 1807, Britain and the United States banned slave trade and importation respectively, and huge fines were imposed for any ship with a slave aboard. Denmark also banned slave trade in 1803 despite its prominent activity in the triangular trade, and slave trade in particular (Iliffe 1995). Soon after that, the British Royal Navy discouraged slave trade in the Atlantic, and controlled the seas to catch anyone attempting to fill Britain’s place. Britain was very serious about their intentions and publicly declared that slave trade could be punished by death since it was equal or worse than piracy (Iliffe 1995).

However, slave trade continued despite the official bans. Although it was gradually declining, it continued throughout most of the 19th century (Richardson 2004). It only ended when slavery was officially banned in European and American countries. By 1888, when Cuba outlawed slavery Atlantic Slave Trade was completely over (Richardson 2004).

Surely abolition of slave trade was probably on of the most humane and virtuous spots in world history, however from a financial and economic point of view it was completely inappropriate. Britain, Spain, France, Denmark, Portugal and other countries lost immense profits as the flow of African blacks stopped (Iliffe 1995). By the end of the 18th century, British colonies in total had about half a million slaves, and French colonies had even more. Other colonialists also had huge quantities of laves toiling in the New World. However, because of the high mortality, there was always a demand for slaves. Why then did the abolition occur anyway, if it was so profitable?

The abolition of slave trade was not that rapid as it may sound; rather it was a long process that required a change in economies. It is important to mention that at those times economies of major European countries were shifting from agricultural sectors to industry. This is one of the possible reasons, the other one is that the population of slaves was ample for reproduction, because over years they adapted to the new environment, and learned to survive (Northrup 1994). The British scholars have another point of view; they state that the only reason for abolition of slave trade was the virtue of European peoples. Yet another historian from the West Indies asserted that colonies became less profitable and less important in the 19th century, that is why Britain was no in need of slave trade any longer (Northrup 1994). This version, however, is very questionable, British version resembling truth the most.

The effects of Atlantic slave trade on Africa remain debatable. On one side of the spectrum, historians claim that slave trade and the transportation of millions of native Africans caused long term population troubles for African continent. Another consequences of slave trade are warfare and corruption, along with declined morality and creativity of Africans (Wiki 2005). These, in turn, have caused the retarded technological development. Also, due to slave trade a special elite class of potentates has formed, that now rules the territories. This version also suggests that slave trade was the beginning of the dependency relationship with European world (Wiki 2005).

On the other side of the spectrum, however, historians state that it was the warfare that caused slave trade, and that the vast quantities of African slaves leaving their homelands in the 18th century (peak) did not affect African population at large (Isichei 1997). They also suggest that slave trade has nothing to do with current relationship with Europe, and that African technological advancement has only benefited from the communication with the Europeans (Isichei 1997).

Surprisingly, but there were negative effects of abolition of slave trade for Africans as well. Groups of native traders made their profits on the exchange of commodities brought by the European and slaves (Caryl 2001). As Atlantic slave trade was abolished, there began economic hardship for these groups, and for their suppliers and customers.

Atlantic slave trade was an inseparable part of 17th-18th Atlantic economy, and was part of very profitable industries. But at the same time it so immoral that all countries admitted it and renounced slave trade and slavery forever.

Bibliography

1. Caryl, Phillips. The Atlantic Sound. New York: Vintage International, 2001.

2. Iliffe, John. Africans: the History of the Continent. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

3. Isichei, Elizabeth. A History of African Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

4. Northrup, David. The Atlantic Slave Trade. Lexington, Mass: D.C. Health, 1994.

5. Richardson, David. Black Experience and the Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

6. Atlantic Slave Trade. Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, 2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_slave_trade
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