Chase Puryear
Seth Armstrong
HI 201
12 September 2018
The Atlantic Slave Trade Argument
At the beginning of the colonization of the New World, many traders were looking for labor workers other than the natives to increase production. This was the driving force behind the idea that this could be accomplished by using slaves as a means of cheap labor. This idea led to the process of taking slaves from Africa and bringing them to the New World which later became known as The Atlantic Slave Trade. Many researchers still argue over the theory that it was initiated from a racist viewpoint, while others insist it was created only for profit. Other scholars take both viewpoints of racism and profit. Therefore, I am choosing the argument of profit and explain how the traders were driven by the incentive of revenue from these voyages.
Slave trade was in high demand because of the generous profits that could be earned by increasing production. The Indians were not able to satisfy the production needs so they had to force African slaves to make up for the lack of laborers. Many other countries joined the slave trade movement as they realized the opportunities to increase profit could be accomplished in all areas of the economy. The demand came from sugar and other large-scale production of cash crops. Cash crops such as tobacco, coffee, and cotton were highest in demand. This led to a greater need for cheap labor which was accomplished by bringing more slaves over from Africa. “The coastal areas couldn’t feed the Europeans demand for slave labor.”(Rose 3, par. 8) The demand for slaves was so high that most Europeans were having to push into the heart of Africa just to capture more slaves.
During the Atlantic Slave Trade, the privateers realized the more slaves they had on the ship the more profit they made from each voyage. “The commodification of African captives was realized in the sale of their bodies for profit.” (Jacobs, pg. 3) This means that the American Slave Market sold each slave individually not by groups, which led to privateers finding new ways to increase the number of slaves on each ship. They started to enchain slaves and cram them below the deck until it was so crowded that no one else could fit. The slaves were forced to defecate on themselves. The traders perfected the transportation of slaves allowing the privateers to make more money. The number of laborers is the only thing that mattered to the privateers because more slaves equal a bigger payload. “The methods by which trades turned people into property that could move easily, smoothly through the channels of saltwater slavery took the form of both physical and social violence” (Smallwood, pg. 35). The route for slaves to board the ships were long and difficult as well as the voyage to the New World. At times, the slaves were forced to walk hundreds of miles just to reach the ships at the coastline. Most of the slaves were taken from these six regions: Upper Guinea, West-Central Africa, the Gold Coast, Bight of Benin, southeastern Africa, and the Bight of Biafra. “The Bight of Benin and the Bight of Biafra accounted for a further 28 percent of embarkations on slave ships” (Capture S, pg. 1, par. 3). These two regions accounted for the majority of slaves that were taken and made a huge impact on the slave trade population. The trips that the slaves took was treacherous, and the men and women were tied together by chains or ropes. The African traders took their captives from villages, kingdoms, and towns. They were subjected to violence and weapons to capture the slaves and then auctioned to the arriving European traders. Many people benefited from the capture of slaves such as the African traders. The traders received a generous amount of money and supplies from the Europeans. The sailors made their profit from transporting the slaves to and from the New World.
The European economy prospered during the time of the Atlantic Slave Trade because they were in total control of the slave market and all of the profit surrounding it. “Atlantic in the sense that it drew on all European branches of this traffic, and captives from all African regions engaged in this traffic landed in at least one of the many Spanish colonies” (Wheat, pg. 435). David Wheat points out that the Europeans controlled the slave traffic and the number of captives on board each ship. The Europeans built an empire from the slave trade and their economy and government prospered from it. “Throughout this process, their economy underwent major structural change and, of course, continued to expand strongly” (Eltis). According to David Eltis, “Before this period 70 percent of the traffic was European; after 1820 over 90 percent was based in the Americas” (Etlis, pg. 47). The Europeans controlled the traffic on the slave trade and the market value behind it. The Americas which was still controlled by the Europeans contracted more than 90 percent of the slave trade. Atlantic Slave Trade played a large role in how the economy prospered, but the country of Africa suffered many setbacks. The biggest setback came from the considerable decline in population. The Atlantic Slave traders were taking large numbers of Africans out of the country for decades. “If we add to this 46,000 for the years a er 1808, then the total in ow into what became the U.S. amounts to 503,000 captives.”
(Etlis, pg. 353) The loss of the population was substantial and the numbers were increasing over time because of the popularity of the slave trade.
The Atlantic Slave Trade movement allowed many improvements to the economy from the increased production that the slaves provided. The biggest controversy from this movement that is still debated is the aspect of racism. Throughout my research of this topic, I felt that the driving force of profit outweighed the racism aspect because traders were more focused on themselves and the greed of money rather than punishing the Africans. Sadly, the Africans were used in a inhumane way and the traders let their greed take away their humanity. Atlantic Slave Trade is known for being one of the largest movements of people in history in order to achieve the lust for riches and profit without any regard to humanity.
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