African History And African Slaves

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It’s sad to realize that such a large part of African history relates to the African slave trade. This was the unfortunate era during which African men, women and children were ripped from their homes and sold to serve as slaves in other regions of the world.

The transatlantic slave trade period began when it became clear that Europe’s burgeoning New World colonies would require a large workforce. The European colonists soon discovered that large numbers of African slaves would be perfect. Familiar with agricultural principals as well as cattle management, the Africans brought over were also accustomed to working in tropical climates. From the 15th century on, African people were captured and brought to the Americas to work in the mines or on the large farms and plantations that were being established there.

It might surprise you to know that African slavery was not actually new to Africa, and had actually been going on for centuries by that time nor was it the sole brainchild of evil Europeans. In fact, from about fourteen fifty to the end of nineteenth century, African kings and merchants actually were fully cooperative with slave traders and were willing participants in the slave trade process.

The transatlantic slave trade was unique in that it was specifically engaged in as a part of what was called the “Triangular Trade.” This profitable practice involved several stages. The first stage involved manufactured goods such as guns, beads, tobacco and cloth being taken from Europe to Africa. Guns were included because they helped the Europeans expand their empires, but they also helped them capture more slaves. This practice later backfired, when the guns were turned against the Europeans. But nevertheless, the goods that were brought to Africa were traded for African slaves.

The slaves were then shipped to the Americas as the second part of the Triangular Trade. The third and final stage of the trade was that a return to Europe was made with products from plantations run by slave labor, such as molasses, tobacco, cotton and sugar. When transatlantic slave trade began, slaves were first taken from Senegambia and the Windward Coast, and then moved to West Central Africa in Angola and the Congo in the 1650s.

Portugal was the first European country to export African slaves, and it was the only country engaging in the slave trade between -1440 and about 1640. That same country was the last in Europe to abolish slavery, but even after the slave trade was ended, Portugal continued to use slaves as contract laborers. Britain was the largest slave-exporting country during the peak of the transatlantic slave trade. That country alone was responsible for 2.5 million out of the roughly 6 million African slaves that were transported during this difficult period in African history.

African slaves were under terrible conditions during forced marches along the coast and during the beginning of the transport; it’s estimated that fully -13% of them died before ever reaching their destinations. Most African slaves were shipped to the Caribbean, the Spanish Empire, and Brazil, with less than 5% traveling to North America.

Slavery’s effects continue to be felt today, and not just because descendents of African slaves remain scattered throughout the world through their ancestors’ forced slavery and not because of choice. African American author and activist Maulana Karenga called the effects of the African slave trade “the morally monstrous destruction of human possibility involved redefining African humanity to the world, poisoning past, present and future relations with others who only know us through this stereotyping and thus damaging the truly human relations among people of today.” He has said, in fact, that African slavery destroyed not just the people of that time but in fact the language, the culture, the religion — and the very essence of “human possibility.

You can learn more about African history and African slaves by watching the African Side movie. Visit the African Side website today by clicking on any of the links above to see the movie trailer.

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