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In the late 1700s, England revolutionized the world by creating machines. These machines caused factories to be built which then caused the need for workers. However during this time those workers were not treated well by the factory owners. Kids starting working at sometimes ages as low as 5 years old, and hours were very long. However, these factory workers weren't the only people who were treated bad, about 100 years into the future, 1885 to be exact, the Germans were holding a meeting called the Berlin Conference. This "meeting" discussed rules on basically how the Europeans were going to invade Africa, and what the rules were for doing it. Africans were killed, raped and separated from their tribes. That is why Africans were treated worse …show more content…
What the Europeans did to the Africans was way worse than the factory owners to workers. In the Black Man's Burden, Edward Morel says, "What the partial occupation of his soil by the white man has failed to do... what the Maxim and rifle, the slave gang, labour in the bowels of the earth, and the lash, have failed to do." (Morel, 1) This quote shows some, not even all, of the tactics that the Europeans used to try and drive out the Africans. The Europeans came and claimed land in Africa, they came in with machine guns and rifles and massacred Africans, they took slaves and shipped them overseas, they put them to work in deadly mines, and the Europeans tortured the Africans with whips. All of these strategies were very harsh, and way more severe than what factory workers had to endure. In addition, Europeans didn't even have to be in Africa to cause harmful things. For example, when the Europeans left the territories that they had made in Africa, there was a big gap of power. Now this led to many more problems because the new territories split tribes up, and also made it so that tribes that may have fought in the past were now supposed to be apart of the same piece of land. It's easy to see how this might not work out because if the Europeans give one tribe all their power when they leave, that tribe can go decimate rival …show more content…
However it wasn't nearly as bad as the Africans during European imperialization. First off, because workers had to start at a young age, they were very tired. In fact, in Life in the Mines it says, "It even happens that they lie down on the way home, and are found by their parents late at night asleep on the road." (Engels, 1) This quote shows how kids are so tired on their walks home, that they actually fall asleep on the road. Just take a moment to let that sink in. How tired would someone have to be to fall asleep on the road, and just forget about getting back to a safe house. In addition to falling asleep on the road, this tiredness led to more fatal outcomes. Here is a quote from the short story A memoir of Robert Blincoe, "He saw her whirled round and round with the shaft - he heard the bones of her arms, legs, thighs, etc. successively snap asunder, crushed, seemingly, to atoms, as the machinery whirled her round..." (Brown, 5) As you can see, kids being tired actually led to them dying sometimes because a lack of focus around this dangerous machinery could lead to death. Taking this into consideration some people might say factory workers were treated worse, however they had more of a choice than the Africans
They were packed into ships so tight you could barely turn yourself around. On top of that, many people were dying of disease because they were forced to live among their own filth, and the dead and diseased. It was all just on continuous circle of death and suffering and disease. They were all oxygen deprived and the air below deck was so incredibly rank it was basically impossible to breathe. They were beaten mercilessly, and tortured with the prospect of food and water, but hardly received any of either. As Olaudah said, the white men aboard the ship once caught too many fish for themselves, and instead of feeding them to the Africans, they just tossed them over board. Most of them died along the way, mainly the sick, young, and very old. Those people aboard the ships had to endure the hardships that today, people only read
They were forced to go out to work and make a rapid transition into adulthood. In these work places they, like any other adult, had a limited amount of time to eat. Patience Kershaw, a miner at the age of 17 recalls having cake for dinner- in inadequate dinner- and she does “not stop or rest at any time for the purpose” referring to her inability to eat throughout the day . She of course is not the only one, Elizabeth Bentley who works in the mills was asked whether she had the opportunity to eat in the factory. The 23 year old who began working at the age of 6 replied with a “no” saying how she had little to eat. The human rights were furthermore diminished as I read further on about the consequences there were if a child were to arrive late to work or became drowsy. Clearly the long hours and often times the long travel from home to work would severely tire anyone, to keep the kids under control and alert while working, the over lookers resorted to strapping them “when they became drowsy”. Matthew Crabtree explains the dread that these kids had of getting beaten, due to the fear they had we can infer that the means of physical abuse was prevalent in these factories. In the mines the young girls and women had to adapt to the conditions of their workplace. The vigorous lifting and loading was a strenuous activity done by both sexes, males worked naked to combat heat while females also worked
Slavery started in the early 1600’s and lasted until 1865.l Back in t eday, African Americans was treated like hairrible animaLS. They were not only derived of their freedom, but they were menally,pbysically, ans emotionally abused.”They were not considered human, let alone beautiful”(Zadeah). The African Ameican slaves were beaten, sexually assaulted, and killed by their s...
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.
Starting in the 15th century, exploration gained momentum throughout the European countries because of the massive amount of resources that the land in the New World provided. In order to make use of these resources, there would have to be a large amount of laborers to do the work. The Europeans refused to do the labor, and the Native American population had decreased due to diseases and war. However, Europeans knew of another approach for cheap labor, the African Slave Trade, which gained demand through the middle of the 15th century. Between 1450 and 1870 over ten million humans were captured and taken from Africa to become slaves. The African slave trade was influenced negatively by the absence of humanitarian concerns because of the need for labor, the increased importance of gaining profit, and assertion of
European countries were far superior than African tribes and when the Europeans came to get the slaves there was never a lot of fighting. Europeans had weapons, like muskets and cannons, that were overpowering and seemed very intimidating to the Africans. On the other hand Africans, had extremely inferior bows, arrows, and spears. Some of the African tribes didn’t even attempt to put up a fight. The Europeans did not directly get the slaves, they had a middle man. They used this middle man to get the slaves and eventually to take over the villages and people of Africa.
Most of them were forced to do hard labor in mines, while others were taken to large homes and they worked as servants. They were fed and housed poorly. There were many slaves who tried to resist slavery and run away. Sometimes the enslaved Africans would rebel. In order to prevent retaliation, the Spanish government passed slave codes and laws in order to regulate the treatment of the slaves. Some of the laws tried to soften harsh conditions the slaves had to face, however most of them were created to punish them and keep them in bondage. Over time, Europeans had associated slavery with black Africans. Having a dark skin tone eventually became a sign of inferiority to many Europeans. Slavery which was originally created in order to prove labor force, led to racism. The slave trade lasted for about 400 years. From as early as the 1500’s to the mid 1800’s. This contact between the Americas and Africa had also formed part of the Columbian Exchange . Africans suffered tremendously in slavery, being separated from their families, whipped, and
The English deemed Africans barbaric people fit to work as slaves. Social interaction between the two further allowed Europeans to assume their culture was greater than all others. Such reasoning, became a social cause for enslavement. Long before the forced arrival of Africans, Europeans considered themselves superior to the Irish and Native Americans (Txbk). They reasoned that if some didn’t conform to their English laws, customs, and culture, they were uncivilized. Since Africans had fought, dressed, and lived differently, settlers placed themselves on a higher pedestal, perhaps even feeling they have the right to enslave them due to the cultural difference (Zinn). In the long run, the English saw colored people as “savages.” One slave trader, John Newton described Africans in Sierra Leone as “wild barbarous people” (Zinn). Because Europeans assumed other cultures were inferior, hence barbaric; many deemed Africans as not even “men” (Zinn). This made enslavement much easier to achieve. Ultimately, they were considered different from white servants and so weren’t treated the same, for white settlers did not believe slavery was immoral when profit and wealth blinded them. This social, but negative interaction between whites and Africans grew into racism and helped contribute to the eventual development of
In conclusion, racism is a recently developed term, whereas slavery has been part of the history for hundreds of years. Europeans weren’t chosen as slaves not because of their race, but because they were in short supply and were less immune to native diseases. On the other hand, African slavery was the outcome of different economic factors, followed by series of historical events. Europeans opportunists and entrepreneurs saw “Africans” as the key to generate surplus wealth, and to establish modern capitalism. On top of that, historical events such as Trans-Atlantic slave trade, Bacon Rebellion also strengthened the position of Africans as potential slaves. In short, conditions developed from gradual technological, historical, and economic change in Africa, New World, and Great Britain led to the institution of African slavery.
Ever since there has been humanity, slavery has been a mechanism used by people in order to subjugate and dehumanize other individuals. Abina and the Important Men is a book that illustrates how slavery was still able to manifest, even after it had been abolished within British society. By enslaving young women under the false pretense that the individuals were wards, powerful African leaders and British rulers were able to maintain a social hierarchy where African women occupied the lowest rung. The trafficking of Africans through the Transatlantic Slave Trade, brought wealth to European and other western nations as well as African leaders who were willing to cooperate. Europeans, such as the Portuguese, British, and French, first began arriving to Africa in the 16th century since they were drawn by the valuable resources that could be found in coastal, African societies.
During the late 19th century and the early 20th century many of the European nations began their scramble for Africa which caused Many Africans to suffer from violence like wars, slavery and inequality. Although the Europeans felt power as though they were doing a great cause in the African continent during the Scramble for Africa; Africans had many reactions and actions including factors as rebellion for freedom, against the white settlers and violent resistance.
West Africa was greatly impacted by the Atlantic Slave Trade. Though there were countless negative effects, some short-term positive effects did occur. First off, the slave trade directly correlated with the number of wars in Africa. As demand for slaves increased, so did the quantity of wars to capture them. African kingdoms would wage war and go on raids in order to supply prisoners of war to sell. This was a start of a domino effect, in which kingdoms and tribes would capture slaves, trade them for guns to become more powerful, and then use said power to enslave even more people. A vicious cycle was created in Africa as a result of the slave trade. In spite of these negative effects, it is arguable that it was slightly beneficial for a
The combination of individual and national power and the need to find a safe route to the trade markets of the Indian Ocean led the Europeans to the continent of Africa in the late 1400’s. They would soon discover the abundance of its natural resources and in the next four centuries would systematically trigger the breakdown African societies. These acts would lead the Africans to be integrated into an exploited and racially dominated labor structures that would spread throughout the world.
For decades, African Americans have been on a racial discrimination and extremely deadly roller coaster ride for justice and equality. In this new day and age, racial tendencies and prejudice has improved since the 1700-1800s,however, they are slowly going back to certain old ways with voting laws and restaurants having the option to serve blacks or not. It all began with the start of slavery around 1619. The start of the New World, the settlers needed resources England and other countries had, which started the Triangle Trade. The New England settlers manufactured and shipped rum to West Africa; West Africa traded slaves to the West Indies for molasses and money . From the very beginning, they treated African Americans like an object or animals instead of another human being with feelings and emotions. Women that were pregnant gave birth to children already classified as slaves. After the American Revolution, people in the north started to realize the oppression and treatment of blacks to how the British was treating them. In 1787, the Northwest Territory made slavery illegal and the US Constitution states that congress could no longer ban the trade of slaves until 1808 (Brunner). However, since the invention of the cotton gin, the increase for labor on the field increased the demand for slave workers. Soon the South went thru an economic crisis with the soil, tobacco, and cash crops with dropped the prices of slaves and increased slave labor even more. To ensure that the slaves do not start a rebellion, congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act in 1793 that made it a federal crime to assist a slave in escaping (Black History Milestones). This is the first of many Acts that is applied to only African-Americans and the start of many ...
In the 18th century lots of the black slaves in Britain thought they were being unfairly treated and asked to be treated like ordinary human beings. Most of them even demanded to be paid a wage. Some of the other slaves decided to run away, or simply refuse to work. This caused some chaos in the industries.