Implementation of the Atlantic Slave Trade - Assignment Example

Due The principal incentives for the implementation of the Atlantic Slave Trade A forgottencrime against humanity, with a magnitude of suffering that by far surpasses any other tragedy in the annals of the world’s history, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade remains buried with no apologies nor reparations from those that inherited the very same seats of governments that sanction the barbaric trading on human life. Inspired by the 15th century arrival of the Portuguese ships in the shores of the larger African continent, the next four centuries would witness the largest forced exodus of Africans into servitude that inextricably linked four continents. A time in history marking the beginning of mass developments that included wealth creation, the very 15th century marked the beginning of massive explorations funded by the European governments across the globe. With money [wealth] eagerly waiting for investment elsewhere, the massive land acquisitions seized from the Native Americans provided a perfect opportunity actualize Europe’s desire of creating even greater wealth. Accordingly, large plantations of sugar, tobacco and cotton developed into a booming business. Nonetheless, the Black Death and a series of wars left Europe greatly depopulated, significantly raising the cost of labor to near non-sustainable levels. With an ongoing slave trade, where criminals, political detainees, prisoners of war, victims of kidnapping and/or relatives sold to redeem debts had long been bartered between authorities in Africa and Islamic Arab merchants since the year 900, Europe turned to Africa to drive forward their agenda in the new Americas colonies; cheap labor was at hand with easy found social outcast Africans (Schneider and Schneider 1). In 1510, Spain sent its first batch of 200 African captives to its American colonies to work in enslavement. Throughout the 16th century, the Portuguese perfected the trade in enslaved Africans, continually supplying them for the expansion of new economies. Then Spanish Crown soon developed a system of licenses (Asientos) allowing merchants from the larger Europe to supply them with enslaved Africans top cater for their escalating demands in their Americas colonies (Palmié ‎and Scarano 135). A practice that seemed to be on its death bed over time, the institution of slavery changed course in the mid-17th century with the entry of the entire Europe [the British, the French and the Dutch] into a competition of wealth creation in the same continent. To be precise, the implementation of the Atlantic Slave Trade was incentivized by three main factors: the largely unutilized large tracts of land seized from the Native Americans [Expansion into the Americas]; the wealth creation competition among the European powers [the pursuit of profit, Africans authorities inclusive]; and the very cheap labor available in the form of enslaved Africans. 2. How the Atlantic Slave Trade transformed the economic, political, and social patterns of indigenous African communities The Atlantic Slave Trade was not in any way in the interest of Africans from the very beginning. The misery caused was all round, from the family level to the continental. Individuals shipped out of the continent right from the initial contacts of Africa with foreigners were always people with energy to provide [cheap] labor in their new found places of residence. The establishment of Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade as a legitimate form of transnational commerce followed the cues of the long running piecemeal shipping of Africans, forcefully capturing in mass/millions able-bodied individuals and subsequently transporting them for the provision of free labor elsewhere; In effect, destroying/taking away the engine to the continent’s economic development (Jackson and Jackson 58). To be sure, the raids done in efforts to capture slaves and the subsequent forced marches over long distances were in themselves destructive enough; the death tolls as a result of resistance were startlingly high, not to mention the massive economic and environmental destruction left behind. In susceptible regions, not much of economic development could take place, for those left alive devoted their energies to hiding and defending themselves rather than engaging in anything constructive. Social relations were restructured and traditional values subverted at best; the increasingly lucrative slave trade lured authorities, communities and/or individuals into betraying their long held values with at certain instances preying on their peoples to reap the rewards of their prospective sale to the European merchants. Quite a number of communities, families and/or single individuals were forced to take the hard choice of relocating far away from the perceived dangers of forceful migration. The general population of the continent declines declined sharply, with that of men being the worst affected (Klein 129). Accordingly, women acquired the new roles hitherto occupied by their husbands, brothers and/or sons. It is estimated that Africa’s population growth rate severely suppressed that it only found a reprieved after the end of the nineteenth century. On the political front, the slave trade resulted in the development of powerful, predatory regimes that received in exchange of slaves powerful militaristic weaponry used to subdue opponents in warfare aimed at generating great numbers of human captives required by the European merchants. The Yoruba kingdom, the kingdom of Dahomey, the Asante kingdom, just to mention but a few, expanded rapidly due their heavy reliance on exchange of captives with the European made goods (Rodney 115). Although some chiefs and kingdoms became enormously wealthy, their economies and political stability survived at the mercy of the Europeans. With the increased demands of slaves in the Americas, raids and civil wars became commonplace, ultimately weakening the very defenses that buffered by the Europeans. And king Alfonso I of Kongo, in the modern day republic of Congo, would find out, his empire was fast being depopulated by the Portuguese slave merchants without his signature; in the end extending their stay to eventually colonize them. 3. The Commercialization of African Economies after the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and its subsequent effects The Commercialization of African Economies after the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the solidification of European colonization and colonialism did not really get underway until the 1870s. Branded the age of European imperialism, much of the powers that had expanded their wings to the Western Hemisphere had refrained from their earlier aggrandizements regarding the benefits gained from Africa, for it was indeed an expensive preposition, more so owing to the balance of power that was more advanced and lethal. Much of the earlier expansionist efforts into the Americas had petered out; Spain had lost their colonies in the continent; though still sizable, the British influence in its remaining colonies was fast fading off in favor of joint control [commonwealth]; and Portugal’s reign in Brazil and the vast southern lands was no more. To be certain, only the Dutch and the British remained with substantive control over Spice Islands in the Indian Ocean and vast interest in the east respectively. Russia had also expanded considerably as a result of a series of conquests. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, provoked by Otto von Bismarck (the Prussian chancellor) would soon ignite another round of supremacy battles, wiring in other European powers to flex their muscles at home and abroad; Africa, the source of vast minerals, and already weakened by the trans-Atlantic trade, became a target once more. Like the trans-Atlantic trade, several factors combined to inform the commercialization of the continent and the subsequent colonization. First, the triangular trade had inspired Industrial Revolution throughout Europe; Africa was, therefore, still a source of cheap raw materials and ready market for excess goods in Europe (Rodney 141). Charles Darwin’s theory of society led many Europeans to believe that they destined to rule and/or civilize other indigenous populations considered backward; from religion to other forms of civilization, they began to expand to Africa to accomplish their mission to enhance the lives of Africans [humanitarian grounds]. More importantly, colonies overseas was much more than the earlier aggrandizement; perhaps a demonstrative palpable national vitality/superiority [prestige]. In any case, such colonies would provide buffer support against rival imperial powers in case of a war [strategic positioning]. The imposition of Europeans control on Africans forever altered the history of the continent. The haphazard redrawing of boundaries controlled by each power remains a source of tension in the continent. African thoughts, political structures, patterns of cultural development, and the general ways of life were relegated to the periphery, in some instances completely destroyed. In every instance, the imposition of new forms of social organization meant the disruption of indigenous civilization. Seeds of discord were planted between hitherto peaceful communities living together harmoniously (Rodney 254-256); tension between the Tutsis and Hutus even after the despicable massacre remains. The undemocratic nature of control of the continent lives long after independence. The brutal exploitation of the continent’s resources entrenched a skewed system of trade that remains to favor the west (Rodney 255); the risks of Congo basin minerals exploitation have no solutions in sight, yet the exploitation continues at the expense of the natives’ blood. 4. Early abolition movement, issues of supporters and dissenters, the European and American attitudes, the involvement of Africans, and the he establishment of free colonies The history of abolitionism begins right from the resistance waged by blacks against the captors during the 15th century, with the victims taking it upon themselves to prevent the extreme dehumanization by either seeking to kill the merchants or themselves before being taken captive. In the West, voices against slavery started streaming in as early as the late 17th century; French philosophers Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Montesquieu, among many more writers disapproved the Atlantic slave trade in their writings (De La Torre and Floyd-Thomas 68). James Ramsey — a doctor aboard a slave ship and Granville Sharp — upon meeting an injured slave left to die, both expressed their opposition to slavery in different ways, with the former taking the legal course while the latter taking on the pulpit to voice their opinion over slavery; both questioned over the legality of the institution in England, arguing that removing Africans from their countries against their will was illegal and more so against the moral principles that had come light since the beginning of the era of enlightenment (Hinks, et al.71). Motivated by religious beliefs, the Quakers — religious dissenters seen/regarded as dangerous fanatics of religion due to their belief in equality of humankind — joined the individual voices in demanding the end to slavery. With the return of the British citizens into Europe with slaves from the Americas after the American Revolution brought more awareness to the plight of slaves, kick-starting serious abolitionism in earnest. Though such voices were loud enough, those in the business, particularly in the Americas resisted the efforts, for their economic prosperity was tied to the continuation of slavery. Working the large plantations in the Americas cheap labor, that could only come from Africa given the Africans resistance to most of diseases that Native Americans and peoples from Europe could not. Additionally, slaveholders feared for their own safety should the oppressed slaves be freed; a large number of Africans had been shipped to the Americas as slaves, and the fear of retaliation was always a widespread concern. By the eighteenth-century, the institution was viewed as an outmoded tradition in need of urgent repair both in Europe and in the United states. With a successful revolt in French colony of Saint-Domingue in 1791, heads started rolling, with Denmark being the first country in Europe to burn slavery with an enactment in 1792 (Falola and Warnock 133). The influence of abolitionist grew in strength the early 1800s, drawing blacks in the Americas on board as soon as it dawned on Americans, particularly the fast, industrializing North, that the practice was but a moral mistake. Accordingly, slavery was abolished in the North, heralding an era of hatred between the North and the agriculture-dependent South America; hatred that exploded with a civil war, releasing the last salvos to end an institution that brought much anguish to Africans. Work cited De La Torre, Miguel, and Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas. Beyond the Pale: Reading Ethics from the Margins. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011. Print. Falola, Toyin and Amanda Warnock. Encyclopedia of the Middle Passage. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007. Print. Hinks, Peter P., ‎John R. McKivigan, ‎and Owen Williams. Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. Print. Leslie, LaVonne Jackson. Introduction to Afro-American Studies. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Pub, 2005. Print. Klein, Herbert S. The Atlantic Slave Trade. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print. Palmié, Stephan and ‎Francisco A. Scarano. The Caribbean: A History of the Region and Its Peoples. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2013. Print. Rodney, Walter. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Cape Town/Dakar /Nairobi & Oxford: Pambazuka Press, 2012. Print. Schneider, Dorothy and Carl J. Schneider. Slavery in America. New York: Checkmark Books, 2007. Print. Read More