Atlantic Slave Trade Essay

The origins of the Atlantic knuckle down Trade were products of westerly europiums expansion of power that began at the beginning of the 1500s through the 1900s. The briny contributing European countries to the Atlantic Slave Trade were Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, France, and England. Portugal lead the move manpowert during the 1400s and landd in Western Africa in hopes to control Christian in every(prenominal)ies to spread Christianity against the Muslims of blue Africa. But they soon became more kindle in craft (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011).Slavery, however, has existed in all cultures for thousands of years. For example, Arab merchants and West African Kings imported smock European break ones backs. At first, the buckle down backup foc utilize on women and children who would serve as domestic servants. But later the disdain switched to focusing on young men for agricultural force in the the Statess. The Lusitanian quite a littled primarily for gold, ivory, pepper, as well as buckle downs. later a a couple of(prenominal) decades, the had captured hundreds of strivers (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011).Its misleading to say all slaves were captured by raiders, because in legion(predicate) cases they were bought from African traders. capital of Ohios voyages completely changed the slave trade. at a cartridge h quondam(a) colonies in the Americas were established, many of the Native Americans who were enslaved died of unsoundness and oerwork causing a contain for more African slaves. During the 1600s, sugar plantations, gold and silver mines produced an enormous demand for labor. currently aft(prenominal)wards, markets for coffee, tobacco and rice cultivation and again increased the demand for African slaves (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011).By the early 1700s, the English henpecked the Slave Trade, carrying or so 20,000 slaves per year from Africa to the Americas. By the end of the century, oer 50,000 slaves were world transported per year. After 1700, the importation of firearms heightened the intensity of many of the wars and resulted in a great increase in the numbers of enslaved peoples. European forces 2 ?intervened in some of the localized fighting and in warf ar all along the Atlantic sliding board. They sought to obtain captives directly in battle or as semipolitical rewards for having backed the winning gradient (The transatlantic slave, ).The enormous measure of slave labor and its incredibly low cost passing contributed to the advancements of the Industrial Revolution. Also during this age, many courteous wars throughout Africa produced captives which were sold as slaves in Western Africa. Raiders often tied the captives together with ropes and secured them with wooden yokes around their necks. many captives died of aridity and exhaustion before even being put on ships. Other slave captives decided to kill themselves rather than be forced into slavery (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011).Once the cap tives reached the coast of Western Africa, the captives were kept in factories, which were headquarters of the slave traders. These factories contained warehouses with supplies and dungeons to keep the captives in. In these factories, the slavers would tell families up to decrease the possibility of a rebellion happening. After a few weeks in these factories, the slave holders would brand the turn back slaves bearing the symbol of that particular job company (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011).European brutalization of the captives was an lead in charge to destroy the Africans grit of self-identity. The voyage from Africa to the first stop in the Caribbean generally lasted between two and triplesome months. As the demand for slaves increased, so did piracy. Many opposing nations would fight and attempt to slue each others slave ships seeing how valuable slaves were at the time (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). Other natural causes that contributed to the destruction of slave ships we re hurricanes as well as doldrums, which are long extremitys of time with no veer gusts to propel the ships. ?The ships themselves were designed to maximize the amount of slaves to be carried. The cargo space where the slaves kept were only intimately five feet tall. And slaves were arrange together in pairs to minimize the find oneself of a rebellion. Many times, especially during storms, the slavers neglect to feed the slaves or change the tubs and buckets used for toilets, as well removing dead bodies (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). sanitation was also a major ratifier to death and disease. Only about three or four toilet tubs were provided for all of the slaves.Mortality rates were exceptionally full(prenominal) on the ships, averaging around 15%. Overall, about one third of all slaves died during the hale process of moving them from Africa to the Americas. The main causes of fatality rate on the ships were diseases such as down in the mouth pox, malaria, dysentery, yel low fever and measles (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). in that location was however serene rebellions from the captive slaves on board the ships. Rebellions usually occurred when the ship was getting instal to set sail or when they ships were still within sight of the Africa land mass, when at that place as still hope for the slaves to extradite home. Often times slaves would actually crave themselves intentionally or try to jump-start off the ship to drown. But to scrap this, the slavers would sometimes put nets on the side of the ship to stop jumpers and to deal with those who would recall to eat, the slavers would use hot coals to force man-to-mans mouths open to eat (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). The women aboard the slave ships were treated very hard as well. They were often raped and sexually abused.Many times, all of the women were kept in separate rooms to use up it easier for the slavers to take advantage of them. The slave ships would generally arrive at islands in the Caribbean for rest to rile them more healthy and appealing for buyers. The side preferred the island of Barbados for this 4 ?resting period. Barbados experienced a jump in its slave macrocosm from 1,000 to 20,000 in the first decade after sugar cultivation was introduced around 1640 (Smallwood, 2007).This resting period in the Caribbean came to be termed seasoning and on these islands the slavers divided into a few opposite categories of slaves depending on how acculturated the slaves were to the New Worlds culture and lifestyle. These categories were those who were born in the Americas, those who had lived in the Americas for a long period of time, and the novel slaves from Africa (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). During seasoning, the slavers would attempt to modify the behavior of the slaves to make them effective laborers.The new slaves were also cause new names and were attempted to be taught English so they could heed commands (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). The planter s in the Caribbean would often rely on the already acculturated slaves to train the new slaves because it was easier that way. The physical condition of the arriving slaves to buyers would many times be a disappointment to the buyers. Although the slavers would shave and wash them, the trick of health would not always overwhelm the truth to the buyers. Also, many times the cargoes include too many women, children, or older people.This was also a disappointment to the buyers and the geometrical regularity of these outcomes were soon considered normal (Smallwood, 2007). The planters then assessed the flourishing seasoning of slaves by three criteria first off if they survived the journey, secondly if the could adapt to the new mode and new foods, and lastly if they were able to consider a new language to obey commands. However, as many as half of the slaves ended up dying within the first three years after arriving at the Americas (Smallwood, 2007).Of the estimated ten million men, women, and children who survived the mediate Passage, approximately 450,000 Africans disembarked on North Americas shores. They thus 5 ? stand for only a fraction 5 percent of those transported during the 350-year history of the international slave trade. Brazil and the Caribbean each received about nine times as many Africans (The transatlantic slave, ). The Atlantic Slave trade began to diminish in the late 1700s by both humanitarian efforts as well as declining need for slaves in the modernized industrial economy.The lasting effect of the diminishing of the slave trade turn out to be negative for Africa. Many of the Western African societies had become dependent on the slave trade (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). Looking at the statistics of the slave trade, from 1501-1525 it is estimated that around 13,000 slaves were transported to the Americas (The trans-atlantic slave, 2008). By 1601-1625, over 350,000 slaves were estimated to have been brought to the Americas. At the t urn of the eighteenth century, from 1701-1725, over 1,000,000 slaves were transported from Africa to the Americas.The Atlantic slave trade peaked from 1776-1800 with over 2,000,000 slaves being transported during that time period. The Slave Trade holistically contributed to the enslavement and migration of over 12,500,000 slaves from 1500-1866 (The trans-atlantic slave, 2008). The Atlantic Slave Trade was a horrible series of events that should have neer happened. At least we can be optimistic about mankinds ability to learn from our mistakes and improve our actions.