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The Slave Trade

Christopher Columbus discovered the New World in 1492 and found gold in the islands he explored. This led to the establishment of plantations and mines requiring large amounts of cheap labor. As the native inhabitants were unsuited to the hard labor and died in large numbers, African slaves were brought over beginning in 1518 to work the plantations and mines, initiating the transatlantic slave trade. The slave traders used guns and violent capture techniques learned in the Caribbean to hunt slaves along the west coast of Africa, with England joining the lucrative slave trade in 1556. Over time, rebellions and abolition acts in various countries led to the official end of the slave trade.

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38 views3 pages

The Slave Trade

Christopher Columbus discovered the New World in 1492 and found gold in the islands he explored. This led to the establishment of plantations and mines requiring large amounts of cheap labor. As the native inhabitants were unsuited to the hard labor and died in large numbers, African slaves were brought over beginning in 1518 to work the plantations and mines, initiating the transatlantic slave trade. The slave traders used guns and violent capture techniques learned in the Caribbean to hunt slaves along the west coast of Africa, with England joining the lucrative slave trade in 1556. Over time, rebellions and abolition acts in various countries led to the official end of the slave trade.

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bhagyalakshmipranjan
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© © All Rights Reserved
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The Slave Trade

The ambition or the desire to know and to find wealth in other areas of the world
led Christopher Columbus to discover the New World I 1492. Columbus landed on
the island of San Salvador and sailed towards the south until he came to the
island he called Hispaniola. Christopher Columbus later found gold in the islands.
When Columbus realized that there was gold in the islands then he needed the
work force to mine the gold. The workforce were invariably the inhabitants of the
island. Unfortunately, the inhabitants were not used to hard work but they were
forced to do the hardwork in the mines.Columbus and team recruited the men to
the mines and women and children into domestic and agricultural labour. The
condition of the hard labour made a lot of inhabitants to lose their lives and they
died rapidly in large numbers.

The population of Hispaniola and the surrounding islands which was estimated to
be one million when Columbus discovered the islad dropped to 60,000 after 25
years and after forty years dropped to only about two hundred. Columbus literally
destroyed the inhabitants culture and wipe out the whole population. It was
rather too lat to stop the alarming death rate when a Dominican priest Lass Cass
came to the aid of the Indian inhabitants. Las Cass complained in Spain on behalf
of the native inhabitants that Columbus and his team should stop the ill
treatment and the killing of native inhabitants.

Las Cassas suggested that the inhabitants shouldnot be forced to work in the
mines because they were not used to such deadly work. Priest Las Cass suggested
that labour force should be found somewhere else. Therefore, it was decided that
labour force should brought from Africa. Thus the discovery of New World by
Columbus initiated the American Slave Trade.

In 1518 the first cargo of Slaves left West Africa for Caribea islands. The Spanish
people established plantations in New World. The Plantations of the New World
produced sugar, Tobacco and cotton which required large scale production and
plenty of hard and cheap labou in order to make a lot of Profit. As a result the
European settlers turned to slave labour.
Spain and Portugal were the pioneer countries who entered Africa and
America.Both countries were Roman Catholic. Hence the dispute between the
both the final word that of Pope.Followed them the other Euopeans also rushed
to America and plundered them. The Indians described the Europeans as ‘People
from Heaven who were tough,cruel and rapacious.’

Circumstances in Africa

Truly like any other areas in the world some form of slavery did exist in west
AAfrica before the arrival of the European Slave trade. The so called slaves are
part of their society. No trade with human beings in west Africa before the
Europeans started trade in the 16th century. The slaves were very few and they
could only be found in places of the traditional rulers, sometimes may three or at
most six. The slaves had a duel role, for they acted as the bodyguards for the
traditional rulers and as domestic servants. The slaves in Africa could marry and
raised up children like anybody in the society. They could buy their freedom and
there by became free. For instance, if somebody became a debtor and could not
pay such a debt his debt could be converted to service in which case he became a
slave. But once he was able to pay he would be free.

The Battle to Capture the African Slaves

The settler’s that is the Spainards had learnt the techniques and had acquired a
lot of experience to capture and deal with the captured Slaves in Caribean islands.
The settlers then took their acquired techniques and experience in full force to
the west coast of Africa to hunt for slaves. In 1518 first cargo of captured slaves
from the Guinea Coast in west Africa arrived in West Indies. That was the
beginning of Slave Trade.

The Role of Gun

The main weapon using the slave trade was gun. The slave traders came to West
Africa with the guns to hunt for the slaves. Unfortunately the African victims had
no guns or had access to the guns. The Europeans captured them, chained them
to one another.
England Joined Spain and Portugal to Capture Slaves

Spain and Portugal had engaged the slave trade almost forty year. In 1556
England also started to took part in the Slave trade. In 1556 the first English
expedition to Africa for slaves hunting under the leadership of John Hawkins who
later became Sir John Hawkins.

In 1578 , 7000 slaves out of 15000 brought to St. Dominique escaped into the
mountain there established their own homes and lived in the lives they were used
back in Africa. These escaped slaves were referred as Maroons. These Slaves
started rebellions in 1791 to abolish slavery. St. Dominique was a flourishing
French Colony eventually obtained freedom. French Revolution also changed the
course. In 1803 The National convention declares slavery abolished in all the
colonies. America banned slavery in 1863 during the time of Abraham Lincoln. In
1807 Britain passed the Abolition Act. After the abolition of slavery the plantation
owners reluctant to make free as it affect .The owners let their former slaves go
to the British Govt proposed the Apprenticeship scheme .

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