THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE AND ITS ABOLITIONShow drafts

The Transatlantic Slave Trade: A Dark Chapter in Human History

The transatlantic slave trade was a horrific period in human history that involved the forced transportation of millions of Africans to the Americas and the Caribbean to serve as slaves. This trade was fueled by the demand for labor in colonial plantations, particularly in the production of sugar, tobacco, and cotton.
The slave trade began in the 15th century and continued for over 400 years, until it was finally abolished in the early 19th century. During this time, an estimated 12 to 15 million Africans were forcibly removed from their homes and transported across the Atlantic Ocean in overcrowded and inhumane conditions. Millions of Africans died during the journey, a voyage known as the Middle Passage.
The slave trade had a devastating impact on Africa, leading to the destruction of entire societies, the loss of countless lives, and the exploitation of natural resources. In the Americas, slavery contributed to the development of a racial caste system that would have lasting consequences for centuries to come.

Abolition of the Slave Trade

The abolition of the slave trade was a gradual process that took place over several decades. The first country to abolish slavery was Britain in 1807, followed by the United States in 1808. However, it was not until the 1860s that slavery was completely abolished in the United States with the end of the Civil War.
The abolition of the slave trade was a major victory for human rights, but it did not end the suffering of enslaved people. Many enslaved individuals continued to live in bondage for decades after the trade was outlawed. It would take decades more for the legacy of slavery to be fully addressed and for racial equality to be achieved.

Key points about the transatlantic slave trade:

• Duration: 15th century to early 19th century
• Involved parties: European powers, African kingdoms, and the Americas
• Forced labor: Enslavement of millions of Africans
• Impact: Devastating consequences for Africa, the Americas, and the world
• Abolition: Gradual process, with Britain and the United States leading the way

Would you like to know more about a specific aspect of the transatlantic slave trade, such as the Middle Passage, the conditions of slavery in the Americas, or the abolition movement?

References

1. ^ Diffie, Bailey (1963). Prelude to Empire: Portugal Overseas Before Henry the Navigator. University of Nebraska Press. p. 58.
2. ^ Jump up to:
3. a b c d Gates, Henry Louis Jr. (22 April 2010). "Opinion – How to End the Slavery Blame-Game". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 26 April 2010.
4. ^ Jump up to:
5. a b Thornton 1998, p. 112.
6. ^ "The transatlantic slave trade". BBC. Archived from the original on 16 July 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2021. * Some of those enslaved were captured directly by the European slave traders. Enslavers ambushed and captured local people in Africa. Most slave ships used European "factors", men who lived full-time in Africa and bought enslaved people from local leaders.
7. ^ "Exchanging People for Trade Goods". African American Heritage and Ethnography. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 15 December 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
8. ^ "Implications of the slave trade for African societies". London: BBC. Archived from the original on 17 July 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
9. ^ "West Africa – National Museums Liverpool". Liverpool: International Slavery Museum. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
10. ^ "The capture and sale of enslaved Africans". National Museums Liverpool. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
11. ^ Jump up to:
12. a b Cohen, William (1983). "Malaria and French Imperialism". The Journal of African History. 24 (1): 23–36. doi:10.1017/S0021853700021502. JSTOR 181856. Archived from the original on 29 April 2024. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
13. ^ Jump up to:
14. a b "Confronting the Legacy of the African Slave Trade". PBS. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
15. ^ "White Man's Grave". Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
16. ^ "The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade". Lowcountry Digital History Initiative. College of Charleston. Archived from the original on 27 June 2024. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
17. ^ "The Rise and Fall of King Sugar" (PDF). National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 June 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
18. ^ "Sugar Plantations". National Museums Liverpool. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
19. ^ Jump up to:
20. a b Mannix, Daniel (1962). Black Cargoes. The Viking Press. pp. Introduction–1–5.
21. ^ Ives Bortolot, Alexander. "The Transatlantic Slave Trade". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University. Archived from the original on 17 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
22. ^ Weber, Greta (5 June 2015). "Shipwreck Shines Light on Historic Shift in Slave Trade". National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 7 June 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
23. ^ Covey, Herbert C.; Eisnach, Dwight, eds. (2009). "Slave Cooking and Meals – Arrival in the Americas". What the Slaves Ate: Recollections of African American Foods and Foodways from the Slave Narratives. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood Press. pp. 49–72. ISBN 978-0-313-37497-5. LCCN 2009003907.
24. ^ Berlin, Ira (9 April 2012). "The Discovery of the Americas and the Transatlantic Slave Trade". The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Archived from the original on 17 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
25. ^ Klein, Herbert S.; Klein, Jacob (1999). The Atlantic Slave Trade. Cambridge University Press. pp. 103–139.
26. ^ Segal, Ronald (1995). The Black Diaspora: Five Centuries of the Black Experience Outside Africa. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 4. ISBN 0-374-11396-3. It is now estimated that 11,863,000 slaves were shipped across the Atlantic, citing Lovejoy, Paul E. (1989). "The Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on Africa: A Review of the Literature". Journal of African History. 30 (3): 368. doi:10.1017/S0021853700024439.
27. ^ Meredith 2014, p. 194.
28. ^ Jump up to:
29. a b Manning, Patrick (1992). "The Slave Trade: The Formal Demographics of a Global System". In Inikori, Joseph E.; Engerman, Stanley L. (eds.). The Atlantic Slave Trade: Effects on Economies, Societies and Peoples in Africa, the Americas, and Europe. Duke University Press. pp. 119–120. ISBN 0-8223-8237-7.
30. ^ Jump up to:
31. a b c Stannard, David (1993). American Holocaust. Oxford University Press.
32. ^ Eltis, David; Richardson, David (2002). "The Numbers Game". In Northrup, David (ed.). The Atlantic Slave Trade (2nd ed.). Houghton Mifflin. p. 95.
33. ^ Davidson, Basil. The African Slave Trade.[full citation needed]
34. ^ Jump up to:
35. a b Alberge, Dalya (4 January 2024). "Transatlantic slavery continued for years after 1867, historian finds". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 June 2024.
36. ^ Thornton 1998, pp. 15–17.
37. ^ Christopher 2006, p. 127.
38. ^ Thornton 1998, p. 13.
39. ^ Chaunu, Pierre (1969). Conquête et exploitation des nouveaux mondes (xvie siècles) [Conquest and exploitation of new worlds (16th centuries)] (in French). Presses Universitaires de France. pp. 54–58.
40. ^ "Launching the Portuguese Slave Trade in Africa". Lowcountry History Digital Initiative. Lowcountry Digital Library at the College of Charleston. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
41. ^ Thornton 1998, p. 24.
42. ^ Thornton 1998, pp. 24–26.
43. ^ "Caravel". World History Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 5 July 2024. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
44. ^ Thornton 1998, p. 27.
45. ^ McNeill, J. R.; Sampaolo, Marco; Wallenfeldt, Jeff (30 September 2019) [28 September 2019]. "Columbian Exchange". Encyclopædia Britannica. Edinburgh: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archived from the original on 21 April 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
46. ^ Hahn, Barbara (31 July 2019) [27 August 2018]. "Tobacco - Atlantic History". oxfordbibliographies.com. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/obo/9780199730414-0141. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
47. ^ Escudero, Antonio Gutiérrez (2014). "Hispaniola's Turn to Tobacco: Products from Santo Domingo in Atlantic Commerce". In Aram, Bethany; Yun-Casalilla, Bartolomé (eds.). Global Goods and the Spanish Empire, 1492–1824: Circulation, Resistance, and Diversity. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 216–229. doi:10.1057/9781137324054_12. ISBN 978-1-137-32405-4.
48. ^ Knight, Frederick C. (2010). "Cultivating Knowledge: African Tobacco and Cotton Workers in Colonial British America". Working the Diaspora: The Impact of African Labor on the Anglo-American World, 1650–1850. New York and London: New York University Press. pp. 65–85. doi:10.18574/nyu/9780814748183.003.0004. ISBN 978-0-8147-4818-3. LCCN 2009026860.
49. ^ Nater, Laura (2006). "Colonial Tobacco: Key Commodity of the Spanish Empire, 1500–1800". In Topik, Steven; Marichal, Carlos; Frank, Zephyr (eds.). From Silver to Cocaine: Latin American Commodity Chains and the Building of the World Economy, 1500–2000. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. pp. 93–117. doi:10.1215/9780822388029-005. ISBN 978-0-8223-3753-9. Archived from the original on 26 July 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2021.