Origins of The Transatlantic Trade of Enslaved People

Origins of the transatlantic trade of enslaved people
The transatlantic slave trade was a component of the larger global slave trade that took
place from the 16th to the 19th centuries and involved the transportation of between 10 million
and 12 million enslaved Africans over the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. It was the second of
three stages of the so-called triangular trade, in which sugar and coffee were shipped from the
Americas to Europe, enslaved people were shipped from Africa to the Americas, and weaponry,
textiles, and wine were shipped from Europe to Africa.
As early as the 1480s, Portuguese ships were carrying Africans to be used as enslaved
laborers on sugar plantations on the islands of Cape Verde and Madeira, which are located in the
eastern Atlantic. After 1502, Spanish conquistadors brought Africans who had been enslaved to
the Caribbean. Nonetheless, Portuguese merchants continued to dominate the transatlantic slave
trade for another 150 years, operating from bases in the Congo-Angola region along the west
coast of Africa. During certain periods of the 1600s, the Dutch were the most prominent traders
of enslaved people. However, by the beginning of the 1700s, English and French merchants
controlled approximately half of the transatlantic slave trade.
These traders obtained a significant portion of their human cargo from the region of West
Africa that is located between the Sénégal and Niger rivers. In 1713, Spain and Britain reached
an agreement that provided the British a monopoly on the commerce of enslaved people with the
Spanish colonies. This monopoly was granted as part of the deal. In accordance with the Asiento
de negros, the United Kingdom had the legal right to provide these colonies with 4,800 enslaved
Africans per year for a period of thirty years. The South Sea Company, in which the British
Queen Anne owned around 22.5 percent of the shares, was awarded the contract for providing
these goods and services.
Around a few hundred thousand Africans were brought to the Americas before 1600, at
most. Slave labor was in high demand in the 17th century due to the expansion of sugar cane and
tobacco farms in the Caribbean and the Chesapeake Bay region of North America. Historians
believe that almost three-fifths of the overall volume of the transatlantic slave trade occurred in
the 18th century, when the biggest numbers of enslaved people were carried to the Americas.
The consequences of the slave trade in Africa were terrible. Warlords and tribes were
financially incentivized to engage in the trafficking of slaves, contributing to an already violent
and lawless environment. Many countries in western Africa experienced a population decline
and widespread fear of captivity, making progress in agriculture and industry all but impossible.
Women of reproductive age and young males of marriageable age made up a disproportionate
share of those held hostage. Slaves were often abandoned by Europeans, and those left behind
were often the elderly, crippled, or otherwise unable to contribute to their nations' economic
well-being.
Historians have argued about the nature and amount of European and African
involvement in the actual capture of those who were enslaved, although there is consensus that
both continents were involved in some capacity. Throughout the early years of the transatlantic
slave trade, the Portuguese typically bought Africans who had been enslaved as a result of tribal
battles. This practice continued well into the later years of the trade. As the demand for people to
be enslaved increased, the Portuguese began to enter the interior of Africa in order to forcibly
take captives. When other Europeans became involved in the slave trade, they generally
remained on the coast and purchased captives from Africans who had transported them from the
interior.
As the demand for enslaved people increased, the Portuguese began to enter the interior
of Africa in order to forcibly take captives. Following their abduction, the kidnapped Africans
were led to the coast, a trek that could have spanned up to three hundred kilometers at its longest
point (485 km). In most cases, two captives were chained together at the ankle, and columns of
victims were linked together by ropes that were wrapped over their necks. It is thought that
between 10 and 15 percent of the hostages perished while they were being transported to the
coast.

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