Slavery Trading in Africa - Essay Example

Introduction Slavery trading started in the fifteenth century in Africa as a result of European colonialism. Slaves were transported to European colonies for production of crops to meet the demand of the market. The Atlantic slave trade was the largest trading of slaves across the world. The primary reason for transportation of slaves to Europe was, supplying labour to European agricultural sector because of lack of workforce across the country. Slavery was beneficial for the European colony as well as the local people of Africa who dealt in kidnapping people to make them slaves. This tradition that took action in the fifteenth century was an unsocial activity and people were made slaves against their will. Slave trade slowly and gradually rose from one purpose to several other purposes. Men, women and children were mostly kidnapped and transported to European colonies from Africa because the Europeans could get people to work for them at very cheap rates. Without the participation of local people in Africa the slavery trading would not have gone so far. This essay spotlights the important facts behind the origin of slavery trading and the description consists of some arguments proving that without participation of local people it would not have been successful. Description To understand African slave trade and its origin it is first required to understand slavery as an institution. The term slavery was into picture from old times, as old as human society itself. It is very much known fact that many people have been slaves in the human society in every culture and community. Even the people of Europe who actually started the Atlantic slave trade were once slaves of each other. So it is very much clear that the human society has been in the practice of keeping slaves from a long period of time. The period of Atlantic slave trade is just an evil face of humans in the society. In the beginning of the era after 1600 slavery was legally accepted in the society. Slavery trading in Africa started after the interest of British and American colony in African tribal. The tribal people were initially hired for agricultural works in the British colonies and they were wage labours. Later on there was a rise in demand of products in the British Colonies and production costs needed to be lowered in order to optimum production of food, clothes and other items to meet the demand of market. In order to lower the production cost the people of British Empire needed labours that could be paid less and can be used for multi purposes. Not only this during off seasons, the labours were sold to other land owners to meet their purposes. This was the time when slavery trading took its shape in the western society. Initially African slaves were made to compromise in their social lives and wages after they were taken to European colonies. After few years the need of slaves in market grew up because of timely production of agricultural crops. Hence the rich merchants of western society offered the African people jobs everywhere and proposed them to join their work so that everyone could be benefited. Africans were transported abroad with families and from there they were sold to different owners. This practice continued over years and many Africans were made to suffer for the betterment of the empire. Later on the demand started growing because many slaves died because of ill treatment with them by their owners. Very soon the merchants that were in the transportation business, started to kidnap people and made them slaves forcefully as they disagreed on the actions. The slavery trading then took worst shape when kidnapping of people happened in Africa (Fox 41). The black merchants stayed in the coastal areas and the natives were asked to fetch people to coastal areas. After bringing people to the ships they were sold by checking their health. These slaves were transported to Southern part of America mostly because of more production. Slaves were also sent to North America but a lesser number of people were sent there for work. Once they were transported they were cleaned up and given palm oil so that they can be sold to their owners. The owners who used to buy the slaves checked them thoroughly. Their strength, health and physic were checked before they were bought. There used to be market where slaves were kept for display. All kind of slaves including men, women and children were brought so that they could be useful for various kinds of works. The price of slaves also differed from one another. The slaves with more capacity to do work were sold at a high rate compared to the slaves with less strength. Women were mostly bought for prostitution purposes and they were enslaved their entire life for the cause. The slaves with any kind of defect were rejected on the spot by the owners of the land (Vickery 86). This was a jest of the slave trading in Africa. The life of the slaves became miserable once they were sent to these lands of owners. With the discussion it is clear that slave trading in Africa happened because there was requirement of workforce and lack of people to work. The slavery trading was actually started by the Portuguese, but it was very soon dominated by the English empire. The English empire started the sale and exploitation of slaves in Africa and it was carried over the Atlantic Ocean. However there is an argument that proves that only the capitalists and the land owners were not responsible. Slave trading was entertained by people of Africa as well. After 1780 the slave trading was one of the most important businesses for the economy of Europe, America and Africa. People were brought from Africa forcefully and sold out against their will to work in foreign lands without being paid properly and with limited rights. The slaves brought to America and Europe was referred as Negroes. Because of demand of slaves in the Western market the local merchants had an opportunity to make money. The local merchants were the person who used to kid name people and sell them to the transportation merchants as slaves. The local people of Africa who were involved in this business went inside the tribal areas of Africa to get perfect slaves who could be sold out at high price. The business was so much well connected that everyone was profited starting from the Owners of the slaves to the merchants who used to keep slaves for display to the transportation merchants and the local peddlers as well. From the sixteenth century to the nineteenth century huge number of slaves were transported across the western society through the Atlantic Ocean. The slaves were sold by West Africans to West Europeans for multiple purposes and the people of Africa were much more involved in this trading compared to the Europeans. There are many facts described by many theorists about this trade. Dr Alexander Falconbridge was a surgeon and he used to serve slaves so that they can reach healthy to their destinations during 1700. He pointed out many topics in his book. He also mentioned that, Western African people were interested in kidnapping tribal people and selling them out. Sometimes the local merchants themselves became the target. He was appointed as a Governor of the colony for his actions against anti-slavery. He tried to reduce the slavery trading in numerous ways because it was an inhuman behaviour of people involved. According to reports published it has been found that between 1530 and 1750 about 1.25 million slaves were sold to Europeans for slavery. This business had taken the worst shape and the tribal people of Africa had to go through tough times. From the above discussion it is clear that the reason for African slave trading was not only because of powerful enforcement colonialism but also because of benefit of local African merchants. There are certain other facts which help to reveal the real facts about the African slavery trading. During the eighteenth century the kings of Africa used to sell out their prisoners and captives mentioning that once a prisoner is sold out he can not commit any crime in a particular area. However the real purpose was different. They used to earn profit through the people of the colonies and they had less chance to avoid war situations. The prisoners sold out to Europeans were mostly the people of native places. This was a common law enforced in Africa. However free men were also spotted by merchants of Africa and they were used for their interests against the law (Klooster 216). The laws followed during the eighteenth century in Africa was very vulnerable because each and every order came from the colonies and the king and the governing bodies had to perform the tasks given to them for European market’s interest. This was the main reason why slavery trading happened at a high rate in Africa. Undoubtedly the practice took a very bad shape until the nineteenth century. After this period slave trading started to decrease because there were disputes among people regarding this issue. There were many reforms and there were strict laws given to stop the slavery business (Equiano 59). The period when the slave trading had almost stopped was a golden period in history for the Africans. The English society had taken many advantages out of the slave trading and so did some of the black merchants of Africa. Because of slave trading the local people of Africa were profited equally. The slave trade happened in Africa because it was profitable for some traders during the seventeenth century. The profits that were made out of slave exploitations had a direct impact on the British economy along with colonies of America. The slaves were sent to mines for hazardous works and they were not shown any kind of mercy. They were less paid and sometimes not paid. They were not treated as human beings; actually they were treated as some kind of animals. Since the economy of the Western society was growing with the exploitation of slaves hence during the seventeenth century it was legalized in the entire society. Slaves were sold from one man to other for more and more profits. The above discussion brings out the important features, reasons and impacts of slave trading in the society. It also proves that the slavery trading was not just a result of British colonial movements but there were several other factors that helped slave trading develop in the society. Hence it can be said that the African slave trading was an evil face of humans in the society and it was occurred just for interest of western colonies and local traders of Africa in order to make substantial profits by buying and selling of humans just like them. Conclusion From the above discussion it is clear that the slavery trading in Africa emerged as a result of workforce in the American and English colonies. There is also substantial arguments that proves that the local traders of Africa were profited with the slave trading hence the Atlantic slave trade is known as one of the largest slave trading business in the history of the world. There are sufficient documentations that prove that the African slave trade was the largest slave trading consisting transportation of more than 1 million slaves from Western and Central Africa to the new world. The main purpose of the colonists was to exploit the African slaves for mining and agricultural works because of lack of cheap labour in the Western society. The slave trading initially started with transportation of prisoners and captives of a state and later on it happened with common people of Africa and freemen as well. African labours were used as commodities and taken special care while transportation because loss of life was not their policy. The traders involved in transportation would be profited only if they returned with required number of slaves from Africa. This was a kind of target that was set for their business hence it led to kidnapping of people and social violence in Africa. Undoubtedly the African slavery trading was a black mark in the history of world and the reason for this trading was only to get substantial profit. Works Cited Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. New York: Wilder Publications, 2008. Print. Fox, Paula. The Slave Dancer. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008. Print. Klooster, Wim. Migration, Trade and Slavery in an Expanding World. New York: Brill, 2009. Print. Vickery, Paul. Bartolomé de Las Casas: Great Prophet of the Americas. New York: Paulist Press, 2006. Print. Read More