Impact of Slavery System on African Continent and Its People - Essay Example

Efforts of Africans in these plantations are what made America and Western countries to be the way they are today (Mentan, 2010). Nevertheless, slave trade, according to Anne Caroline Bailey, had profound effect to the social, political, and economic situations and structure of African continent and its people (Bailey, 2005). Therefore, efforts have to be made in identifying and analyzing the effects of slave trade to African continent and its people. Impact of Slave System to African Continent Slavery gave rise to the Trans-Atlantic trade, which has been identified as the main cause of numerous political, social, and economic malaises that befell the continent of Africa.

Slave system largely transformed the African society, and this transformation persisted into the future of Africa. Walter Rodney argues that Atlantic slave trade did African continent more harms than benefits, a situation that has remained detrimental to the African societies (Leslie and Rucker, 2010). More so, African in post-colonial era continued to writhe from the detrimental effects of slave trade (Leslie and Rucker, 2010). Slave trade system has been associated with under-development in Africa, especially from the detrimental effects it had on population, economy, agriculture, and stability (Leslie and Rucker, 2010).

Inikori and Engerman (1992) argue that slave trade was responsible for the creation of more arbitrary and centralized warrior state, which in turn encouraged social conflict and increased violence. Moreover, the trade led to loss of population, decline in productivity, and increase in exposure to famine (Inikori and Engerman, 1992). At the same time, Becker (1977) asserts that slave trade was responsible to the detrimental effects to the African continent such as the increased wars, state instability and militarization of the society, and lastly, declined food production, which led to more deaths (Inikori and Engerman, 1992).

Sharp and Schomp (2006) on the other hand, are convinced that the primary political impact of transatlantic slave trade was the entry of Western powers into Africa which led to subsequent colonization. The authors observe that the Western nations reaped huge profits from selling African slaves and gained profits from plantations in which slaves worked. As a result, they became powerful over weak African continent, and this situation led to colonization of the continent after the Berlin Conference of 1884 (Sharp and Schomp, 2006).

Of course, the effects of colonialism are well articulated among majority of authors. Colonialism is associated with rampant underdevelopment of the continent, persistence of the culture of corruption and resource stealing, and many more evils the colonialist planted on the continent. On overall, slave system as manifested through transatlantic trade transformed the African continent in such way that its key institutions and stimulus for development and progress were suffocated and stagnated, a situation that has led African continent to lag behind in terms of developments.

Impact of Slave System to the People of Africa Apart from the economic and institutional impact slave