Long-Term Impact of the Slave Trade on the Atlantic World - Essay Example

?Long-Term Impact of the Slave Trade on the Atlantic World The Atlantic slave trade began with the exploration of the Portuguese as they voyaged to various part of the world. Their original intention was to trade in items such as gold, spices, and beads from West African states. However, they later found this region to be of essence in terms of agriculture especially growing of sugar. This form of cultivation was labor intensive and they had to seek for slaves to do the work (Rawley & Behrendt, 2005, p.18-20). This marked the start of the Atlantic slave trade otherwise known as the triangular slave trade. It is known as the triangular slave trade as it involved three continents, Africa, America, and Europe. There were two significant parts of this slave trade. The first was the voyage of Europeans from England to Africa with their own goods such as rum for trade with manufactured goods. In West Africa, there existed a form of barter trade where these goods were exchanged with slaves. Consequently, these slaves were gathered together in ships and transported to the new world in West Indies where they were forced to work in sugar plantations. However, most of them died on the way due to diseases, mistreatment, and harsh conditions. After slaves were sold in the region, the profit from the transaction was used to buy sugar, molasses, and other commodities and these were shipped back to England. In this trade Ships were used to carry slaves, rum, sugar, molasses, tobacco, and other type of crops, which maintained this trade (Rawley & Behrendt,2005, p.189-190). This paper seeks to discuss the long-term impact of slave trade on the Atlantic world. The Atlantic slave trade had its impact on the Atlantic region. These regions were Africa, Europe, and America (new world). These long-term effects were either positive or negative. The impact of Atlantic slave trade had detrimental effect on Africa’s demographics. Slave trade involved capture of males between the age of 15-25 most of which were creative, productive, and skilled portion of the population that existed. This left the population vulnerable to insecurity. Moreover, this was the population most likely to produce in future, this significantly caused a shift in marriage organizations, and the number of men declined in the long-run. This caused a decline in population of West African states for a long time such as upper guinea. Population growth stagnated in the first in the second decades of the 19th century. Additionally, social unrest started due to intertribal warfare and capturing of slaves for the new market from the Europeans. This fuelled major disasters such as famine and drought as people shifted their efforts from economic activities to fights and slave trade. This was complicated further as there were fewer people to produce for the society and this led to further decline of the population. Moreover, the continued mix of different people at this time led to spread of diseases and further decline of population especially in the state of Angola (Thornton, 1998, p. 326-329). Additionally, Atlantic trade had an impact on African economy. There was a profound social and political change, which had a significant role in underdevelopment of Africa economy as well as ethnic fictionalization and disruption of effective states. It is worth noting that most of the slaves were taken from weaker states. The trade led to taking away of skilled and strong labor force that could have played a role in the progress of African region. Consequently, the only population that remained in most of these regions was old and could not do anything meaningful in economic development leading to stagnation and regression of the African states. Many communities relocated to other regions far away from the trade routes, which led to decline in their technological and economic development and most of the energy was dedicated to their security. In addition, relations between kingdoms, ethnic groups, and religious functions were changed. Actually, the present religious, ethnic, and political identities in most of African regions that participated in the trade are a true reflection of the Atlantic trade. Moreover, Europeans interfered with the political process of several states and ensured they did not progress and weakened them so that they could face little resistance when colonizing these regions. In addition, the introduction of rum and other form of alcohol led to the few remaining Africans engaging in luxurious activities to the detriment of the economy of their states. Other form of business that existed in this era failed to plan for the future due to economic uncertainties. Business and trade development was also reduced due to infiltration of Europeans goods such as cotton and iron, which were also manufactured in the African states. More workers were lost in exchange of guns and alcohol. Certainly, this did not play any role in the continents economic development but actually worked against it. However, few tribal chiefs benefited from this trade but they did not benefit the whole society, as they were selfish and pocketed all the proceeds from the trade thereby causing inequitable distribution of resources. Consequently, the trade left the African continent underdeveloped, disrupted and susceptible to the next phase of colonialism and had no chance to develop in the next decades (Inikori & Engerman, 1992, p.340-342). Atlantic slave trade provided white people with an opportunity to brand themselves as superior to Africans. Once these traders acquired slaves from Africa they bundled them like cattle and mistreated them sometimes to the point of death. African were viewed as the inferior race and as material things rather than human beings. As centuries passed, the whites became more and more disrespectful of black people. Various ideas were developed as to the black inferiority and justified reasons for Africa colonization. During this trade, Africans lost faith in their institution, culture, and ability to develop on their own. Europeans taking slaves to new world believed they were taking Africans to a better place. Racism that originated from this perception during trade still exists today. Moreover, the Atlantic slave trade saw the rise of African states especially after the abolition of slave trade in European countries. Some of the slaves had to be repatriated back to Africa. Sierra Leone (1787) and Liberia (1820s) were formed as place of resettling ex-slaves (Ade Ajayi, 1998, p. 30-32). Moreover, the influence of Atlantic trade on Europe was of profound magnitude. In 19th century, Europe underwent various forms of transformation. The most significant was the rise of industrial revolution. It is undeniable that slave trade affected British economy in myriad ways. The huge plantations and mines were owned by the Europeans and mostly depended on slaves for the cheap workforce. The British cotton mill was the most essential thing in industrial revolution. Most of these industries depended on cheap cotton which acted as a raw material from the new world where slaved were used in the production process. Cotton produced in other parts of the world was expensive. This enabled Europe to reap huge profit that saw it expand greatly in the 19th century. In this trade cheap sugar and other commodities from new world were shipped to Europe that enabled consumers to enjoy relatively cheap commodities. Africa and America acted as a market for these industrially produced good as their economy relied on slavery. This led to rise of wealthy executives in Europe and growth of major ports in Europe that were involved in this trade. Money from the trade also saw a boost in shipping industry, rise of factories and urbanization. This boost of Europe economy enabled them to grow into a commendable empire. This also enabled them to colonize Africa with less resistance and this trade later saw the scramble and portioning of Africa among the European giants (Burnard, 2011, p. 84-90). In addition, Europe gained significantly from African culture. They got insight into African ideas, language, religion, and view on various form of government that existed during this trade. This had a significant role in colonization of Africa. Missionaries who came to Africa to spread Christianity benefited from understanding of African culture. They had prior knowledge of African religion and hence penetration to various African beliefs and culture was easier. Additionally, this trade affected Europe politically through the rise of abolitionist movement in the 18th and 19th century. The aim was to stop enslavement of Africans and bring to an end the Atlantic slave trade. The rise of evangelical Christian and realization about freedom and human rights contributed significantly to agitation for freedom. New laws were created in Europe that recognized slave trade as illegal form of business. Activists such as William Wilberforce were key in establishment of such laws (Ade Ajayi, 1998, p. 27-30). In the new world, the effects of Atlantic trade resulted in significant change of population. The trade resulted in an increase in the black population in the new world as they were transported there to work on sugar plantations. The United States population consists of a large number of African American who are said to be the descendant of Africa slaves. Additionally, this trade caused a spread of African to various parts of new world and of great importance in the West Indies. Even after the abolition of slave trade, there was an increase in racial mix. In the new world, there was increased growth of individuals who were not originally Africans mostly from Europe. This led also to the new world gaining African culture especially ideas, languages, religion music and food. It is because of this trade that saw the rise of famous blacks American such as Booker T. Washington and Martin Luther King (Burnard, 2011, p. 64). Atlantic slave trade greatly influenced the Americas economy. America economy at the time depended on plantation agriculture. They grew most commodities especially sugarcane. These plantations required a huge workforce and the few available at the time were vulnerable to diseases that were rampant in these regions. Atlantic trade provided plantation owners with skilled workers from Africa who could endure the diseases and hot temperature in the region. There were a remarkable rise of black carpenters, masons and inventors in the region. Cheap and this enabled these farmers to reap a huge profit that was channeled to other economic activities. Slaves also provide mining skills learned from Africa and this provide a growth in mining industries. Raw materials produced were sold to Europeans at a huge profit (Inikori & Engerman, 1992, p. 237-240). The Atlantic slave trade also had an influence of America political set up. This trade led to a long period of dissatisfaction of whites in the southern who still advocated for slavery. They were against the Lincoln election in 1860. After his election, there was war in America that came to be known as American civil war. However, the southerner who were advocating for secession were defeated. New laws were created which declared slave trade illegal after rise of abolitionist movement (Inikori & Engerman, 1992, p. 206).This trade also fuelled the fight for human rights for black Americans. Dubois, Marcus Garvey, and Martin Luther were famous black American fighting for the recognition of blacks as equal to the whites. These fights still exist today and were more evident in the 20th century (Inikori & Engerman, 1992, p. 206-210). In conclusion, the long-term impact of the slave trade on the Atlantic world is significant in a number of ways to the countries involved. In Africa, most of the challenges that exist in terms of economic development can be traced to the Atlantic trade. Additionally, the creation of the state of Liberia and Sierra Leone was a significant outcome of Atlantic trade. In the two states there had been various civil war and this can be linked to the effect of slave trade. The economic dominance of Europe and America during the 19th century and time that followed can be linked to this trade. The exploitation that was part of this trade saw America and Europe progress to the detriment of Africa. Africans were exploited for a long time, which affected their social, cultural, political and most importantly economic structures. African tribal chiefs also contributed to the rise of this trade as they benefited from proceeds gotten from selling fellow men. Therefore, the Atlantic trade had a lot of impact to all the stakeholders that were involved in the trade. Works Cited Ade Ajayi, A 1998. General History of Africa: Africa in the Nineteenth Century until the 1880s, University of California Press, New York. Burnard, T 2011, The Routledge History of Slavery, Taylor & Francis, London. Inikori, J & Engerman, S 1992, The Atlantic Slave Trade: Effects on Economies, Societies, and Peoples in Africa, the Americas, and Europe, Duke University Press, New York. Rawley, J & Behrendt, S 2005, The Transatlantic Slave Trade: A History, University of Nebraska Press, New York. Thornton, J 1998, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800. Cambridge University Press, London. . Read More