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The slave trade was a big part of the British economy during the 1700~1800’s. In the textbook “Give Me Liberty”, Eric Foner wrote a chapter dedicated to the slave trade and how it helped the economy in the Americas. British ships would sail to Western Africa and trade fine goods for slaves which would then be traded in other parts of Southern and Northern America for items such as sugar, rum, tobacco and cotton. All these things brought a massive increase to the British economy. Many people benefited from the slave trade, many of these people would send items with vessels over to Africa, and then months later would receive many valuable items that came back with that same vessel. The main reason for this trading of slaves and other items was …show more content…
The triangle is described as, “A series of triangular trading routes crisscrossed the Atlantic, carrying British manufactured goods to Africa and the colonies, colonial products including tobacco, indigo, sugar, and rice to Europe, and slaves from Africa to the New World” (Foner, Seagull 4th, 132). One of the first port cities in Britain such as Manchester, Liverpool and Bristol would send vessels full of goods such as guns, gun powder, iron bars and alcohol to Western Africa. The crew from these ships would make very good connections with powerful tribal kings that would trade slaves for those items. Slave traders would walk thousands of African slaves across to port cities where they would be traded off for goods which were considered more important. “The loss every year of tens of thousands of men and women in the prime of their lives to the slave trade weakened and distorted West Africa’s society and economy.” (Foner, Seagull 4th, 134). Over time, the Benin kingdom took over many other parts of African kingdoms, this way expanding its kingdom and making it more profitable for the …show more content…
“Since a slave could be sold in America for twenty to thirty times the price in Africa, men, women, and children were crammed aboard vessels as tightly as possible to maximize profits” (Foner, Seagull 4th, 134). Some ships were capable of carrying more the 600 slaves. Slaves would be squashed in dark, hot and airless holds that were below deck, and would be left there for most of the voyage. One slave trader wrote, “the heights, sometimes, between decks was only eighteen inches, so that the unfortunate human beings could not turn around, or even on their sides… and here they are usually chained to the decks by their necks and legs” (Finer, Seagull 4th, 134). Some of the voyages could last up to several weeks, and not surprisingly, some slaves died on the horrific journey across the Atlantic. When reaching America slaves would be traded off for valuables such as rum, tobacco, cotton and sugar- white gold. These items would then be shipped back to England, where they would be sold for a very profitable price. This is how some of the people and economy of Britain profited from the slave trade. The consequences of these actions were good and bad. The good part was that many people benefited from the profit, but the bad part was that the benefit from profit was from destroying people's lives such as the
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
During the summer of 1984, Calvin Johnson trudges knee deep through a swamp in the wetlands of South Georgia. As snakes brush past his legs, he marches in line with nine other men, each dressed in an orange jumpsuit, swinging a razor sharp bush axe in collective rhythm. His crew entered the swamp at dawn and they will not leave until dusk. Guards, armed with shotguns, and equally violent tempers, ignore the fact that the temperature has risen well above 100 degrees and push the men even harder. Suddenly, an orange blur falls to the ground and a prisoner from Wayne Correctional Institution lies face down in the swampy floor. As guards bark orders at the unconscious, dying man, Johnson realizes "the truth of the situation, and the force of injustice just incapacitates" him. It is then he decides he does not belong in the swamp.
The trans-Atlantic trade of African slaves contributed to maintaining progression of labor systems as well as promoting change in the British North American colonies. The slaves provided labor and helped produce the cash crops that were then exported to Europe where they traded the goods to trade with Africans for more slaves. The Africans enslaved each other and sold more slaves to be sent to the colonies in
An estimated 8 to 15 million Africans reached the Americas between the 16th and 19th century. Only the youngest and healthiest slaves were taken for what was called the middle passage of the triangle trade, partly because they would be worth more in the Americas, and they were also the most likely to reach their destination alive. Conditions aboard the ship were very gruesome; slaves were chained to one anoth...
Self-interest can be seen in many of the writings throughout American history. The mercantile system, as exhibited by the British on the colonies, was an extremely hedonistic approach to gaining wealth for themselves. Mercantilism, as set forth by the Navigation Acts, imposed strict and extremely descriptive laws that would limit and exploit trade in the colonies, allowing Britain to control the wealth and profit of materials and goods in America. These acts were used to keep America from trading with any other countries. As stated in the Navigation Act of 1660, "no goods or commodities whatsoever shall be imported into or exported out of any lands" to his Majesty belonging"in any other ship or ships...as do truly and without fraud belong only to the people of England or Ireland" (Restoration 98). Britain knew that by controlling the colonies in this manner they could take the raw materials out and sell the finished products back, and by doing so they would profit greatly. This mercantile system exemplifies the arrogant minds of the British while America was developing. This system would soon become a failure due to the people's demands to have representation along with taxation, and their desire to separate from England as a free and independent state. Likewise, it was due to self-interest of the greedy planters and the self righteous farmers in the south that slavery was highly used. At that time they needed all the labor they could get, and the cheapest way to obtain it was through the purchase of slaves. Some of the slavery was downplayed by calling it indentured servitude, where servants were essentially slaves for a limited number of years.
Cotton, spices, silk, and tea from Asia mingled in European markets with ivory, gold, and palm oil from Africa; furs, fish, and timber from North America; and cotton, sugar, and tobacco from both North and South America. The lucra¬tive trade in enslaved human beings provided cheap labor where it was lacking. The profits accrued in Europe, increasingly in France and Britain as the Portuguese, Spanish, and then Dutch declined in relative power. It was a global network, made possible by the advancing tech¬nology of the colonialists.
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...
STUDY GUIDE ----- The Anthem Chapter 1 1.a. What is the difference between a and a? The society that is represented in the novel is futuristic in terms of the actual date, yet incredibly underdeveloped to what we experience today. The political structure obviously works, because there doesn't seem to be much discontent among the citizens.
In the “Interpretive Essay”, Kenneth Banks discuses the consequences of the Atlantic slave trade. The negative effects on the Africans due to the Atlantic slave trade range from the influence on Africans societies and warfare, inhumane and atrocious living and working conditions, decrease of their population, and the long-term impact of bigotry. During the Atlantic save trade’s peak, the movement to abolish slavery started because it went against certain religious beliefs, several thinkers saw it as inefficient, and was unethical.
The slave trade into the United States began in 1620 with the sale of nineteen Africans to a colony called “Virginia”. These slaves were brought to America on a Dutch ship and were sold as indentured slaves. An Indentured slave is a person who has an agreement to serve for a specific amount of time and will no longer be a servant once that time has passed, they would be “free”. Some indentured slaves were not only Africans but poor or imprisoned whites from England. The price of their freedom did not come free.
On the second leg of this trade slaves were transported to the West Indies, this leg was called the middle passage. This part was horrible for the slaves. About 50% of all the slaves on one ship would not make it to the West Indies because of disease or brutal mistreatment. Hundreds of men, women and children were cramped together for most of the journey, occasionally able to move an almost decent amount. On the third leg of the journey slaves were traded for sugar, molasses and other products.
The Cheap labour provided by Slaves from the 14th to the 17th century was crucial to the prosperity and advances made, during The Age of Exploration. The only costs associated with slavery was the purchase, transport and upkeep of slaves, and in most cases, the slaves themselves provided their own food. This made slavery extremely cheap, which was especially needed in a time where a large portion of a countries’ GDP was being used to fund their empire and conquests and little was left to build and maintain the buildings of home and their colonies. Moreover, in the case of the Americas, the cheap labour slaves provided was crucial. For instance, when settlers first arrive they must clear land, build houses and of course, farm the land. All of which requires a lot of labour which in the only recently settled America’s is not only hard to find, but also expensive and investment which was also scarce. Therefore, with the addition of slaves, farmers were able to run a farm for almost nothing, but export there produce, such as tobacco for a high price, increasing prosperity in both Europe, and the Americas. Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman supported this statement heavily in their book “Time on the Cross”...
The British had a triangle of trade with Africa. They would go to Africa trade finished goods and bring them to
Most history books has recorded that between the years 1701-1760, millions of Africans were literally stolen away from their native lands leaving behind their families, work, heritage, and everything that was familiar to them. Robbed of their independence and ‘humanness’; they were reduced to cargo. This was what ‘the Middle Passage’ also known, as the ‘Slave Triangle’ was all about; the trading of goods and commodities among continents including the trading of black men, women and children who were treated like property.
The Middle Passage (or Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade) was a voyage that took slaves from Africa to the Americas via tightly packed ships. The trade started around the early 1500s, and by 1654 about 8,000-10,000 slaves were being imported from Africa to the Americas every year. This number continued to grow, and by 1750 that figure had climbed to about 60,000-70,000 slaves a year. Because of the lack of necessary documents, it is hard to tell the exact number of Africans taken from their homeland. But based on available clues and data, an estimated 9-15 million were taken on the Middle Passage, and of that about 3-5 million died. While the whole idea seems sick and wrong, many intelligent people and ideas went in to making the slave trade economically successful.