What impact did the Atlantic slave trade have on the nations of the West African interior - Essay Example

The Atlantic slave trade had many negative effects on the West African nations. These negative effects were not limited to the personal lives of the people of these nations, but affected the family, communal and economic aspects of their lives as well. The raids that the slave traders made resulted in the killing of many, and at the same time it caused immense damage to the environment. The slave traders often destroyed the crops that were being grown at the places they raided, which, consequently, resulted in those who were left behind to starve and/or become destitute.

As the slave traders only left the old and the young behind, with the young and able bodied Africans all captured to be sold later, therefore it was very hard for those who were left behind to revive the economy and make a living for themselves, resulting, often, in starvation and more deaths. Those who were captured were transported by forced marches across the continent, further causing deaths. Moreover, not all who were captured were transported to other continents, which resulted in their displacement within the continent, which caused adverse affects to the region they were left in.

There was massive relocation on the part of many communities, as they did not want to be within short distance of the slave traders’ route, which caused them to lose all advancements they had made in their present areas. Not only that, as these communities were more focused on saving themselves and trying to hide from the slave traders, they had little or no economic and technological development. As the Europeans were involved completely in the slave trade, they did not want the African states to centralize due to the adverse affects of this centralization to the slave trade.

Due to this reason, the European powers did not allow much political progress to be made in the region. This also resulted in despotic rulers or elders, often if not always funded by Europeans, being placed over the people, who did not allow much interaction between the states, and who often, suppressed their own people and allowed the slave trade to go on. All of this caused the continent to be pushed back in time with little or no progress being made at any level. The African people were often disorganized with the whole continent lagging far behind in its economic, political and social growth.

The slave trade was the first step, therefore one can say, in leaving the doors open for European colonialism in the African continent, which was a further cause for the problems of the African continent.