SlaveTrade

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade started around the mid-fifteenth century when the Portuguese lost the interest towards gold and began to see people as the main source of wealth. By the seventeenth century, slave trade flourished and reached its peak at the end of the eighteenth century. The main reason that slave trade began is that Europeans conquering the New World needed a workforce that could be used for agriculture. Since many native people were dying from diseases that came from Europe and European people could not adapt to the tropical climate, the best workers could be only Africans. They made themselves comfortable in American conditions, and many of them had experience in plant cultivation and the raising of farm animals.
The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was represented by the Triangular Trade and was very profitable for the European since all the merchants that were involved got some benefits from every stage of trade. The first stage of the Triangular trade was presented by exports of products that were produced in Europe to Africa. The most important goods that were involved in this route were beads, cloth, spirit, tobacco, metal goods and guns. The guns were used for the obtainment of new slaves. All the imported products were bartered for African slaves. The second stage of the Triangular Trade began when the slaves from Africa were shipped to America. Usually, they were sold to rich landowners who wanted to increase their profitability by the use of African people in their farms. The third stage of the Triangular Trade was when products such as tobacco, sugar, rum, and cotton that were produced in America were shipped to Europe.
At the same time slave trade had a destructive impact on African economy, society, and culture. It became a significant barrier in the development of capitalism and industrialism in Africa. As many European goods were cheaper and more attractive than African ones, a lot of native Africans were consuming products that were imported from Europe. This led to the decrease of profitability or to the close of existing manufacturing activities. For example, cheap and nice textiles from Europe prevented the development of local cloth production. Slave trade contributed many inter-communal wars, cruelty and murders and was intensively destructive for the Africans. That challenged uncertainty in everyone’s lives and influenced the meaning humans gave to the world and their role in it. People thought that only God and their strong beliefs could save them from misfortune and allow them to be alive.
Slave trade was led to the growth of wealth of European people and to strengthening of their superiority in the world. On the other hand, it was harmful to the growth of Africa and incensed the difference in the development of Africa and other world.