Triangular slave trade free essay sample

Causes and effects of the Triangular Trade on Africa Citizens around the world know little history regarding slavery and slave trade despite the fact that slaves were African Americans who not only worked for free but were treated terribly, many individuals lack the knowledge of how slavery was originated and greatly impacted regions of the world. The Triangular trade was a trading method established by the Europeans hundreds of years ago. Its referred to as the Triangular Trade because it consists of trade with Africa, America, and Europe creating a triangular route of trade. This system was developed to fulfill the needs of each coo entry and to become industrialized. The Triangular Trade caused extreme complication and effected Africa in numerous ways. On the first leg Of the trip European merchants went to Africa to trade their household goods in return for a desired number of slaves, Then shipped the slaves to America on what was known was the Middle Passage where they were sold for cash and bought tobacco, rum, sugar and cotton back to Europe where these products were sold for outstanding profits. We will write a custom essay sample on Triangular slave trade or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This trading method was very successful because African Americans already practiced slavery in Africa and America was in high demand for laborers to work the sugar cane plantations and make profit trading the finished product to Europe. The Middle Passage was the stage of the triangular trade in which millions of people from Africa were shipped to the New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade (Middle Passage,Wisped). This was often considered the first leg of the journey. European merchants sailed to Africa with manufactured goods to trade in return for a ship full of slaves. As time went on slave traders became more and more greedy they came to realize that the more slaves hey can squeeze on board the larger their profits will be. With no regards to the slaves who were often seen as property, they were forced to be tightly packed on a ship where they were sent to America as if they were cargo or a product. They suffered severely from poor nutrition and horrible conditions throughout their long journey to America. Diseases, sicknesses and poor conditions were the main contributors of the fairly large mortality rates of African Americans on these ships. The total number of African deaths directly attributable to the Middle Passage voyage is estimated at up to two million; a reader look at Africans deaths directly attributable to the institution of slavery from 1500 to 1900 suggests up to four million African deaths (Middle Passage,Wisped). About half of the deaths of Africans during the years of slavery occurred on the voyage. The amount of deaths and the amount of Africans who were sent to America resulted in a massive decrease in Africans population. As the slave trade continued violence began to grow rapidly throughout Africa. Violence was caused mainly due to the high demand of labor needed in America. Although they already practiced slavery among their own people, Africans never thought twice about how they were going to supply such large quantities of slaves to the Americas in the long run. Sure enough as time went on Africans began running out of prisoners of war and began creating war among tribes in order to make money. Inter-Communal wars waged to procure slaves were intensely destructive of human lives (Oversimplifications). The thought of the Africans at the time was that if they didnt sell enough slaves they would not make money and benefit from trade considering the amount of time which passed before it had been abolished. This was seemingly all they knew at the time and didnt think together as a whole about how they could more efficiently trade and profit without the use of slaves. You could only imagine the corruption that went on among Africans at the time.The constant fear that ran through their minds on a day to day basis wondering if they would remain free or even make it to see tomorrow. These African slave trade wars impacted Africans social, cultural, and economic development from many different aspects. Instead of trying to work as a country to become more sophisticated and developed hey became side tracked by the slave trade in fact they did the exact opposite and provided their own people as laborers for American plantations.This was one essential reason that led to the under development of African society is still considered an issue today even after several generations have passed. Racism has been a wide spread issue in a number of areas around the world and forever changed the image of specific races. It is generally known as the belief where a superior race dominantly controls or rules an inferior race. The slave trade bartered millions of slaves to America and is significantly expansible for the prejudice view of African Americans in American society. As systems of bondage differed widely, so did the degree of freedom granted former slaves (Nice Slate). Even after the slave trade came to an end, former slaves still endured rights on what they can and cannot do. America faced a long period of segregation in later years. Black and white neighborhoods were separated as well as medical services, educational opportunity, employment opportunities, and transportation services all because of the idea that they are considered the minority.Blacks just wanted to be treated equal and fulfill the dream of being free to do whatever it is that they choose but always seem to come up short of these opportunities. In the nineteen century an amendment was created stating that all men and women are created equal which didnt seem all that believable because of the segregation of races. Although this did help somewhat to restore order and put an end to the occurrence of racial crimes and abuses toward the people of Africa. Americans used rather indirect ways to keep Africans from attaining social rights by imposing literacy tests for those who wanted to vote.Knowing blacks were rather illiterate the American legislature followed up with the idea to keep backs from having a say in government. Racism has been passed down hundreds of years due to the slave trade and still exists to this day. Africa was affected economically, politically, and socially by different influences but one more particular was known as the triangular slave. Europe designed the idea of the slave trade which in turn prevented Africa from pursuing in the development in those few precise areas which had negative results on the industrialization in Africa. Triangular Slave Trade free essay sample The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade began around the mid-fifteenth century when Portuguese interests in Africa moved away from the fabled deposits of gold to a much more readily available commodity slaves. By the seventeenth century the trade was in full swing, reaching a peak towards the end of the eighteenth century. It was a trade which was especially fruitful, since every stage of the journey could be profitable for merchants the infamous triangular trade. Why did the Trade Begin?Expanding European empires in the New World lacked one major resource a work force. In most cases the indigenous peoples had proved unreliable (most of them were dying from diseases brought over from Europe), and Europeans were unsuited to the climate and suffered under tropical diseases. Africans, on the other hand, were excellent workers: they often had experience Of agriculture and keeping cattle, they were used to a tropical climate, resistant to tropical diseases, and they could be worked very hard on p lantations or in mines. We will write a custom essay sample on Triangular Slave Trade or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Was Slavery New to Africa?Africans had been traded as slaves for centuries -? reaching Europe via the Islamic-run, trans-Sahara, trade routes. Slaves obtained from the Muslim dominated North African coast however proved to be too well educated to be trusted and had a tendency to rebellion. See The Role of Islam in African Slavery for more about Slavery in Africa before the Trans-Atlantic Trade began. Slavery was also a traditional part of African society various states and kingdoms in Africa operated one or more of the following: chattel slavery, debt bondage, forced labor, and serfdom.See Types of Slavery in Africa for more on this topic. What was the Triangular Trade? [pica]llama: @ Alistair Body-Evans. Licensed to About. Com, Inc. All three takes of the Triangular Trade (named for the rough shape it makes on a map) proved lucrative for merchants. The first stage of the Triangular Trade involved taking manufactured goods from Europe to Africa: cloth, spirit, tobacco, beads, cowries shells, metal goods, and guns. The guns were used to help expand empires and obtain more slaves (until they were finally used against European colon seizers).These goods were exchanged for African slaves. The second stage of the Triangular Trade (the middle passage) involved shipping the slaves to the Americas. The third, and final, stage of the Triangular Trade involved the return to Europe with the produce from the slave-labor plantations: cotton, sugar, tobacco, molasses and rum. Origin of African Slaves Sold in the Triangular Trade [pica]llama: O Alistair Body-Evans. Licensed to About. Com, Inc. Slaves for the Trans-Atlantic slave trade were initially sourced in Sexagenarian and the Windward Coast.Around 1 650 the trade moved to west-central Africa (the Kingdom of the Kong and neighboring Angola). The transport of slaves from Africa to the Americas forms the middle passage of the triangular trade. Several distinct regions can be identified along the est. African coast, these are distinguished by the particular European countries who visited the slave ports, the peoples who were enslaved, and the dominant African society(s) who provided the slaves. For more on the regions where slaves were sourced see this map.Who Started the Triangular Trade? For two hundred years, 1440-1640, Portugal had a monopoly on the export of slaves from Africa. It is notable that they were also the last European country to abolish the institution although, like France, it still continued to work former slaves as contract laborers, which they called liberties or engages ; amps. It is estimated that during the 4 1/2 centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Portugal was responsible for transporting over 4. Million Africans (roughly 40% of the total). How Did the Europeans Obtain the Slaves? Between 1450 and the end of the nineteenth century, slaves were obtained from along the west coast of Africa with the full and active co-operation of African kings and merchants. (There were occasional military campaigns organized by Europeans to capture slaves, especially by the Portuguese in what is now Angola, but this accounts for only a small percentage of the total. )