The world economy played a large role in the shaping of racial circumstances in Africa and the Western world. The African world went from barely any contact with any nations outside of Africa pre-1400, to vast trade with European nations and the West by the 1800s. The major change in communication and trade affected the way in which the economy flourished and countries evolved. The introduction of African slaves to the Western world through trade because of disenclavement and the emergence of capitalism are the two main events that influenced the racial circumstances in Africa and the Western world. European navigation and exploration broke the isolation between many countries and introduced vast trade routes. Historian Pierre Chaunu …show more content…
Europe had many goods to trade with the African nations, but the African nations were not as well off with a surplus of fine goods. The African nations turned to selling slaves as their main export because slaves were very abundant in central Africa. The abundance of slaves that were traded to the Western nations meant that slaves in the West now had a different skin color. Since the slaves in the West were now predominantly black, it became normal to accept any black person as a slave. The exporting of the slaves to Europe raised the question of if slavery was moral. In Africa, slavery was legal and it was the European equivalent of owning land. This was not how slavery was practiced in Europe, but the idea of slavery being legal made it acceptable for European nations to take the slaves of the African nations. Europeans had now found a way to obtain slaves through a legal manner. In a racial circumstance, it was not good for those that were black because they were now always going to be seen as slaves to the people of the Western world. Even when they were free, they would not ever be truly free of being associated as a slave because of their skin color. The economy had introduced the Africans as slaves and nothing more, which would make them a slave forever in the eyes of those that believed they were superior. One example of the worlds changing economics influencing racial
The slaves were needed for more tabacco production and the whites were eager for jobs.The colonist then turned to african slavery because it was cheaper for the owner of the slave and the slaves were not going to be paid.
In America, the lives of Africans did not get any easier. Once the demand for labor began increasing dramatically, more and more Africans were imported to America. Originally, white people and black people worked together in the plantations. As a result of the increase in Africans in these British colonies, less white people took jobs on plantations. Eventually, enslavement became based on race. Numerous slave codes were developed, which included denying slaves the right to be out past sunset and denying slaves the right to meet in groups of three or more. These Africans forced to live enslaved in America were treated as if they were inferior to white people. It is discouraging to think about the fact that this country, though it was long ago, once accepted this kind of social injustice.
Between 1500 and 1800, Europeans nations traded for slaves, gold, and ivory along the west coast of Africa. In the 1800s European explorers pushed away into the interiors of western and central Africa. By the 1800s Africa was under full assault as European nations competed with one another for control of the continent.
The first Africans brought in more or less as an experiment. Africans tended to share the same resistance to diseases that Europeans did, they were familiar with the types of farming and crops, and they tolerated the hot conditions well. Originally, it was a matter of a ship going to western Africa and attempting to capture or trade for enough slaves to fill their holds. As the trade increased, it was impossible for the Europeans to capture enough slaves on their own. They began to work with African agents, that tribal leaders captured prisoners from other tribes to sell to the Europeans. This became a big and efficient business, carrying millions to the west. These goods from Europe were carried to Africa and traded for slaves. When England decided to abolish slavery, this cut into the trade but did not end it. Other, European nations were still deriving profits, and had no interest in stopping. Changing technology, damaged ecosystems, increase of 'home grown' slaves all cut down on the demand
Africa had been the target of colonialism and slavery for many years. The colonies that European’s developed during fifteenth and sixteenth century were the main reason that started slave trade in Africa.
Slaves were an economic positive but a social negative in history. They helped the economics of the country thrive and grow, but it was also a insult of a race. Africans also had a history that they should have been proud to have. Instead, they were denied their heritage and were made to be ashamed of the people that they were. The development of slavery was the white slave owners ' way to maintain control of the growing population of Africans, socially and industrially. If the slaves were confined to the fields of the plantations for supervision, the whites would remain dominant race and maintain their theory of "white supremacy." It also freed the slave owners from the worries of labor
The world wars had hit the Europeans so hard that they seriously and urgently needed a source of labor that would help in the rebuilding of their cities and mine their minerals such as coal, gold, and silver among others. They decide to turn to Africa for this labor and therefore, slave trade was born in the middle of the 15th century on the continent. The first batch of slaves was imported to Cuba.
Before Europeans joined the African slave trade, slavery was widespread throughout Africa, and slaves served to pay off debts, sold by their kin in exchange for goods during famine, or as war captives. The slaves were central to the trans-Saharan trade, and on occasion the slaves would be freed from servitude. Once the Europeans began to exploit the slave trade, they created a forced migration of African slaves into the
Africa had an abundant amount of raw materials when the Industrial Era was occuring, which caused many European nations to colonize Africa. The belief of superior races was one of the factors that lead to imperialism. European imperialism caused changes with African governing. Imperialism helped the slave trade flourish, and by 1870, millions of Africans slaves had been transported by Europeans, to the Americas and Europe. The imperialism also caused conflict within Africa, because Africans viewed imperialist European nations differently.
Social Upheaval and Low Self Worth was another one of the major impacts of the European commercial activities on West Africa. As a result of the slave trade through raids and trade, there is no doubt concerning the social ills that plagued Western Africa. Many Africans were betrayed by their own political leaders
Undoubtedly, the exploitation of African slaves have a profound effect in the New World. It
Slavery in the atlantic world become associated with Africans because the demand for strong African slaves to work on sugar plantations increased after the Native American population dwindled due to European diseases. Slavery was already a traditional part of the African society so trading with the Europeans was not a new concept.
The extensive use of slave labor led to Africans rebelling and refusing to work. The harsh treatments led to them wanting freedom and to become a part of our society. They wanted an education, a pay, better homes, better food, and better living conditions for them and their family. By the 18th century many places has abolished the use of slave labor and many more places were to continue abolishing slave
As European desire grew for products including sugar, cotton and rice, the demand for plantation labor also increased. African slave labor was cheap among European standards, leading to the influx of such a large number of African slaves in the New World. European and American slave-traders acquired roughly 12 million slaves from West and west central Africa.
I think this is one of the most important points in the section dedicated to the Slave Trade in Racial Domination, Racial Progress the Sociology of Race in America. The reason why I stand strongly with this idea is because in my opinion, slavery like mentioned above, depleted the African continent from its population; population that if perhaps remained during this time, could’ve positioned Africa in many ways to be perhaps a world power in today’s time. Thirdly, the participation of some of these societies in the Slave Trade left the African continent known as how Matthew Desmond and Mustafa Emirbayer describe it as an exploited land; still visible to this day, we can see how many African countries are suffering in terms of sociological resources. In my opinion, the social challenges that are affecting many African countries can be traced back to the slave trade. The last point, in terms of how the participation of some of these communities in the Slave Trade created a long- term effect, is what we witnessed during the 1960s, and what we are still seeing signs of today. In conclusion, one of the most detrimental effects is that the participation in the Slave Trade created Africans as an inferior