A comparison of European and African motivation for the Occidental slave trade The Occidental slave trade made a profound impact on every country involved with it, and still affects societies worldwide today. Although it is a complex topic, with many moving parts, there is one motivation for the slave trade that has proven to come before all others: greed. Unsurprisingly, traders made exorbitant amounts of money, especially through the well-established European economic practise of mercantilism
the innocent blood of African slaves. The captives of the transatlantic slave trade were merely used to power the development of commercial sugar cultivation and thus were branded as self-augmenting capital. These slaves were imprisoned in a society that was consumed by the ideology of discrimination and racism. The slaveholders possessed the right to torture and main, the right to kill, the right to rape, the right to alienate, and the right to own offspring of the slaves. Consequently,
It is suggested that by slowing African population growth, African societies had such a low population density that it limited their ability to engage in widespread trade, construct cities or engage in other activities that would have promoted economic development. It appears that as many as 24 million young Africans were removed from Africa as a result of the Atlantic trade and possibly another 12 million in the Middle-eastern slave trade. In addition, little of productive value was
Olaudah Equiano was born in Igbo, a providence of Africa, in the year 1745. Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the name that was given to him by his first master, told his experiences throughout his book, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. He explains that grew up fairly happily in the very beginning of his life, but unfortunately was kidnapped along with his sister when he was quite young to be forced into slavery. He found himself being sent to various places in the world to carry
the colonies, most of the slaves were of African origins that were brought in to carry out different activities for their white masters. This paper discusses the reasons as why the act of slavery became such an important activity within the American continent making it highly regarded by various persons. The slave industry and practices dates back to the days of revolutionary war in the United States. During this time, various abolitionist laws were instituted though slave trade still grew dramatically
history, a very cruel event involving the forced shipping of live human beings began to take place. Many of these people, known as slaves, were kidnapped from their homes in West Africa and then shipped with other slaves to Europe or the Americas to be used for labor. Africans were shipped on a long, horrendous journey which became known as the "Middle Passage". One such African that traveled along the middle passage was Olaudah Equiano. Olaudah tells of his hardships and the countless others abroad the
“Accordingly he signed the manumission that day; so that, before night, I who had been a slave in the morning, trembling at the will of another was became my own master, and completely free. I thought this was the happiest day I had ever experienced.” (Equiano, 136-37) Olaudah Equiano was an African American whom fell into slavery with many other African Americans who were all forced during the 17th and 18th century. This narrative, written by Equiano himself, gives full descriptions of every obstacles
opinions and facts about his life as an African American during slavery. As a young boy at the age of eleven he was kidnapped along with his sister. For most of his life he consisted of a just another slave, although he eventually brought his freedom and helped influence the abolishment of slavery. Later writing this novel to help others comprehend what happened on his side of history. Throughout this novel Equinao writes about the brutality towards slaves, brutalizing effects upon enslaves, religion
Indies and United States. He was born in a little village in the east of Africa, where he lived until he turned 10 years old. Having no idea of what happened outside his village, he was kidnapped and became a slave. Equiano from this day on lives a life around slavery, either being a slave or working to abolish slavery. There are different topics to comment and discuss about Equiano’s life. This paper is going to discuss about the differences between slavery in Africa and the New World according
slavery. The slave trade occurred from the 16th to the 19th centuries, during which Equiano was captured and then sold multiple times. The slave trade was a gruesome and terrible experience for many slaves, but there were also some slaves that were not treated as harshly as others. Equiano’s life on the slave ship was horrific, but while on land in Africa his owners treated him very nicely and you would never know that he was a slave in the slave trade. Slaves in the Atlantic Slave Trade were treated