Trade in African Slave Labor

This paper examines the effects that the expansion of overseas trade from Europe and the increasing social stratification of some societies in Africa had on the development of the buying and selling of human beings for use as slave labor between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. As Europeans expanded their borders, and especially as they began to colonize the Americas, a demand for inexpensive mass labor developed. European traders, mastering new navigational techniques and sailing enormous cargo ships, sought to trade local goods for exotic treasures from foreign ports. In Africa, one of the most exotic treasures available was the human slave. While some traders organized their own collection processes, most bartered with local chieftains for their cargo, and entire economies rose from the sale of African natives, until the trade was finally halted by public opposition to the entire concept of slavery.

In 1861, Elias Peissner wrote, "Slavery, irrespective of its being right or wrong, is a historical fact, and depends as such, in its rise, growth, and decay, on the various circumstances of time and place which surround it, and have surrounded it, in different nations and periods." While slavery has flourished at various times throughout history, most notably in Greek and Roman societies, in ancient Egypt, and in parts of Asia during antiquity, the trade in African slaves that was in effect from approximately 1450 to 1870 stands as the most notorious and recent

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rld, which flatters the senses of the savage. The savage chief, in his turn, arranges a man-hunt, catches as many descendents of his race as he can get, and give sthose who are alive and well to the trader in fulfillment of his bargain. In Duncan's view, the slave trade "depended not only on wicked Western merchants who were prepared to buy their fellow-men, but also on African merchants who were prepared to sell them." In some parts of African, slavery never existed. Duncan observes, "In other cases, however, societies not only possessed forms of chattel slavery, but an ability and willingness to adapt these forms to supply Europeans with the manpower they wanted." Traders explored new ports for available merchandise, evaluating what they might be able to make a profit from in other ports. Slaves were a profitable commodity for a substantial period of time. Otherwise, the trade would not have continued. The trade also depended to a substantial extent on the participation of residents in keeping the traders stocked with merchandise. Duncan points out, "It is a mistake to assume that in the sixteenth century the merchants and rulers of the Guinea Coast and its hinterland were duped by cunning Europeans, against thei

Category: History - T