Assess the impact of the atlantic slave trade on w. africa up to the 1800 [recovered]

 “…Coffee, chocolate and tea- All had a
naturally bitter taste. What made them
palatable to Europeans was the addition
of sugar. Without (Slavery) there would
have been no sugar…”
James Walvin

 Africa was affected Socially, Politically
and Economically during the Atlantic
Slave Trade.

 Increased insecurity, distrust and high level
of conflicts among African groups accured
as the Africans were capturing and selling
their own people into slavery to meet the
Europeans demand for slaves.
 Language: the language of many African
tribes were mixed with European language
thereby forming new languages. One such
language is the Swahili.(Warshaw, 1986)

 Cultural Erasure: the loss of their cultural
beliefs or practices over a period of time.
(Mohammad 2004)
 Cultural Diversity:

 Cultural Retention:

 Culture Renewal:
 Hybridization:

 Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade contributed to
the instability as well as the expansion of
politics in Africa.
 There was the distribution of ammunition in
Central and West Africa which helped
with the military and political supremacy
of tribes in Africa.
 Political Alliances were betrayed between
slave traders and African leaders. These
Alliances enabled the rulers to establish
authority over their counterparts.

 Some kings prospered, and entire
kingdoms developed around the Slave
Trade.

 The trade had a negative impact on the economic
development, as Africa was being robbed of its most
important resource: Human Resource, which was being
exploited. This trade destroyed the labor force creating
insecurity and instability in the economy of Africa.
 It affected Agriculture and mining in that the remaining
people had no veal to revive the economy any more.
Also, it must be known that the Trans-Atlantis Slave Trade
strained Africa of her most productive man power ( ages
15-35).
 Structural transformation: Shift in Economy from
Agricultural Economy to Industrial Economy. (Inikori, )
 Increased dependency on European goods. As
European demand grew for products such as sugar,
tobacco, rice, indigo, and cotton, and as more New
World lands became available for European use, the
need for plantation labor increased.

 They were familiar with hardship or hard
labour.
 They were accustomed to the system of
slavery since there was already the
existence of slavery in Africa.
 They were strong and able to resist
diseases. Also, they were accustomed to
the hot weather or climate conditions
and the diseases brought about by these
conditions.

 The were skilled men and women. Also,
they were familiar with farming and
agriculture.
 They pointed to scriptural backup to why
they were enslaving the blacks.

 The original capturing of slaves were
almost always violent.
 As the Europeans demand grew, African
Chieftains prepared raids against sister
tribes.
 Others launched wars specifically for the
purpose of capturing slaves.

Arguments are based on 3 issues:
1. The social Cost in Africa of forced
migration.
2. Atlantic slavery, the rise of the Western
world.
3. Atlantic slavery, the world of the slaves,
and their enduring legacies

 Rodney tells us in his article that Europe
owned a “great majority of the world’s
sea going vessels, and controlled the
financing of the trade between four
continents”. He goes on to say that
Africa was clueless of the tri-continental
trade links between other powers.

 Africa helped to develop Western
Europe, while at the same time Europe
helped to under-develop Africa. We are
told by scholars that towns like Liverpool,
Manchester, Hamburg, Bristol rose from
relative poverty to industrial towns
 European goods that were traded to
Africa was already being manufactured
or produced in Africa.

 Europeans took advantage of Africa by
dumping their unwanted products in
Africa. Walter states that they unloaded,
“old sheets, cast-off uniforms,
technologically outdated fire arms, and
lots of odds and ends found guaranteed
markets in Africa”.
 Some European countries colonized
places in Africa, e.g. Portugal

 The Europeans lured the tribes to trade
with then even though several tribes and
kingdoms stood against them, but it did
not last. Rodney tells of Queen Nzinga(of
Matamba) who tried to resist trade with
the Portuguese in Angola. However,
Portugal had the upper hand in 1648
and this left Matamba isolated.
Therefore, the queen was forced to start
human trafficing with the Portuguese in

 Rodney also speaks about the “gold
rush’ of some Europeans, especially the
Portuguese who searched the West and
Central Africa for gold.
 Kings turned against their people
because of greed for wealth which was
promised to them by the Europeans.
Walter enlightens us about two kings:
one of Congo and the other of Benin
which were persuaded to sell their

 Some scholars like Inikori referred the
total number of slaves traded to be 15.4
million, while some say 12 million.
 African population began to decrease
significantly. E.g. 1650’s – 30%, 1800’s (
roughly 10%)
 Female exporting ratio turned out to be
over 35%

 From the point of view of this study, it is
thus clear that Western Europe and
North America were the ones who
gained in the Atlantis Slave Trade, while
the African traders though some making
small profits lost in the long-run.

 Michael L. Conniff and Thomas J. Davis, Africans in the Americas(New York,
1994)
 Steven Warshaw, HBJ Social Studies; The World Past and Present, (California
1986)
 Jennnifer Mohammad, Cape Caribbean Studies, ( 2004)
 Eric
 Nadine G. Atkinson
 David V.C. Browne, Atlantic Interactions
 Professor Rex Nettleford.
 Joseph E. Inikori, The slave trade and Atlantic Economies 1451-1870.
 Rodney Walter, How Europe became the dominant section of a World-wide
Trade System.
 Joseph E. Inikori, Stanley L. Engerman, The Atlantic Slave Trade: Effects on
Economies, Societies and Peoples in Africa, the Americas, and Europe.
 Klein A. Martin, The impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on the societies of the
Western Sudan.
 Hogendorn Jan, Lovejoy E. Paul, Keeping Slaves in Place: The Secret Debate
on the Slavery question in Northern Nigeria, 1900-1904.

Assess the impact of the atlantic slave trade on w. africa up to the 1800 [recovered]

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