The Slave Trade and Its Effects on Early America Slavery played an important role in the development of the American colonies. It was introduced to the colonies in 1619, and spanned until the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The trading of slaves in America in the seventeenth century was a large industry. Slaves were captured from their homes in Africa, shipped to America under extremely poor conditions, and then sold to the highest bidder, put to work, and forced to live with the new conditions of America. There was no mercy for the slaves and their families as they were captured from their homes and forced onto slave ships. Most of the Africans who were captured lived in small villages in West Africa. A typical village takeover would occur early in the morning. An enemy tribe would raid the village, and then burn the huts to the ground. Most of the people who were taken by surprise were killed or captured; few escaped. The captured Africans were now on their way to the slave ships. “Bound together two by two with heavy wooden yokes fastened around their necks, a long line of black men and women plodded down a well-worn path through the dense forest. Most of the men were burdened with huge elephants' tusks. Others, and many of the women too, bore baskets or bales of food. Little boys and girls trudged along beside their parents, eyes wide in fear and wonder” (McCague, 14). After they were marched often hundreds of miles, it was time for them to be shipped off to sea, so that they could be sold as cheap labor to help harvest the new world. But before they were shipped off, they had to pass through a slave-trading station. The slave trade, which was first controlled by Portugal, was now controlled by other European nations. In the late 1600's, Spain, Holland, England, France and Denmark were all sending ships to West Africa. The slave trade was becoming big business (Goodman, 7). Selection of the slaves by the traders was a painstaking process. Ships from England would pull up on the coast of Africa, and the captains would set off towards the coast on small ships. “If the slave trader was a black chief, there always had to be a certain amount of palaver, or talk, before getting down to business. As a rule, the chief would expect some pr... ... middle of paper ... ...m for slave owners, because they wanted the most efficiency out of their slaves as possible. In some places doctors were called in to treat blacks as well as whites. The slave trade played an important role in the growth of the American colonies. Without the trading of slaves in the seventeenth century, American plantations would not have prospered into the export empire that they were. Works Cited Buckmaster, Henrietta. Let My People Go. Boston: Beacon Press, 1941. Davis, David Brion. Slavery and Human Progress. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. DuBois, William Edward Burghardt. The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America. New York: Schocken Books, 1969. Goodman, Walter. Black Bondage: the Life of Slaves in the South. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1969. Howard, Richard. Black Cargo. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1972. McCague, James. The Long Bondage 1441-1815. Illinois: Garrard Publishing Company, 1972. Stampp, Kenneth M. The Peculiar Institution. New York: Borzoi Books, 1982.
Sticking them into small places with very little to no food at all, then selling them to white merchants who not once thought of them at real people. Equiano’s story is amazing because it showed that not all slave owners were cruel and treated their slaves wrongfully. For him the only cruel ones were the white men who couldn’t care less about all the African Americans on the ship. Many died of dieses, some starved, others suffocated, and some took their own lives so they wouldn’t have to spend the rest of their lives being someone else’s property; but the white slave traders didn’t care. They made money either
Western influences came from more than just trade, however. The recapture of blacks from slaving ships by British patrols, and subsequent assistance in the creation of free colonie...
“The slave ship was startlingly violent vehicle for a massive international movement of humanity, peopling swathes of America with Africans. Those same
A large portion of the people who were eliminated were normally dispatched to one of the twelve concentration camps. Families would be separated, then divided into two groups the healthy and strong men and occasionally
Though the Atlantic Slave Trade began in 1441, it wasn’t until nearly a century later that Europeans actually became interested in slave trading on the West African coast. “With no interest in conquering the interior, they concentrated their efforts to obtain human cargo along the West African coast. During the 1590s, the Dutch challenged the Portuguese monopoly to become the main slave trading nation (“Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade”, NA). Besides the trading of slaves, it was also during this time that political changes were being made. The Europe...
Slavery was a practice in many countries in the 17th and 18th centuries, but its effects in human history was unique to the United States. Many factors played a part in the existence of slavery in colonial America; the most noticeable was the effect that it had on the personal and financial growth of the people and the nation. Capitalism, individualism and racism were the utmost noticeable factors during this most controversial period in American history. Other factors, although less discussed throughout history, also contributed to the economic rise of early American economy, such as, plantationism and urbanization. Individually, these factors led to an enormous economic growth for the early American colonies, but collectively, it left a social gap that we are still trying to bridge today.
“They bribed their way though Russia, Austria, France, Belgium, and England. Five months later, they arrived in New York City.”
Marcus Rediker is the author of “The Slave Ship”. Marcus earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in History from Virginia Commonwealth University. He taught at Georgetown for 12 years and right now he is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. Marcus has also written and co-written nine other books. He has been a part of creating other novels that are similar to the topic of “The Slave Ship”, so his degrees and experience with this makes him more than qualified to write on this subject.
The first arrivals of Africans in America were treated similarly to the indentured servants in Europe. Black servants were treated differently from the white servants and by 1740 the slavery system in colonial America was fully developed.
...h it and into America ("Ellis Island"). You can currently visit the immigration museum located there to view artifacts, photos, and many other items left behind by the immigrants ("Ellis Island Immigration"). Also, in the near future, there are plans to add on another branch to the museum that will include more information about immigration today ("Ellis Island").
fire, on a nearby island they quickly sailed to shore to help put out the
slave, gain entrance to a plantation and then aid in the guidance of the northward runaways.
The voyage from Africa to South Carolina was traumatic one, “each man might have a floor space measuring 16 inches by 6 feet (women got 5ft, 10 in)” When they arrived in south Carolina mainly in the summer time because of demand for crops, they were sold for about 30 sterling, most plantation owners would buy in groups of a dozen.
conditions aboard ship were dreadful. The maximum number of slaves was jammed into the hull, chained to forestall revolts or suicides by drowning. Food, ventilation, light, and sanitatio...