Transatlantic Slave Trade | The Triangular Slave Trade History
The transatlantic slave trade is one of the most horrifying and violent periods in world history. This period saw enslaved people ripped away from their homes, families, and familiar surroundings, and sold to slave traders. These resilient people then fought to survive in an unfamiliar New World whose survival depended on their labor.
The transatlantic slave trade had a high mortality rate, mostly due to overcrowding, dehydration, and disease. The deaths of the 3.4 million Africans transported by British ships averaged 20 percent. By the early nineteenth century, the mortality rate dropped to ten percent. And by the end of the trade, it dropped to just five percent.
The transatlantic slave trade was an international affair, and there were few people on the continent who weren't involved in it. Many slave ships were decked out with the flags of the countries that sold them. They also bore banners of the merchant companies, which controlled the human capital trade. Often, up to thirty slave ships would anchor off the coast of an African country to wait for their human cargo to be loaded onto the ships. During the Middle Passage, captive Africans were subjected to brutality and deprivation. Additionally, they were prone to communicable diseases and traumatic stress.
Britain was the most prominent slave-trading nation. Between 1640 and 1807, Britain transported around three million Africans to the Americas. By the 18th century, over four million Africans had been enslaved in Brazil. Other northern European powers followed the British and Portuguese in the transatlantic slave trade.
As colonial expansion in Europe continued, the demand for slaves increased, making the transatlantic slave trade profitable. As a result, many African states sold their people as slaves, hoping to bolster their treasuries.
While the slave trade was an evil that affected many people, it also benefited many European people in many occupations and industries. Priests, popes, and shipbuilders all profited from it. The trade also benefited bankers and textile manufacturers. With the money that slaves brought to Europe, the Transatlantic slave trade created jobs for many.
Abolition of the slave trade was a crucial part of American history. The continued slave trade would have brought hundreds of thousands of slaves into the United States. This would have made the South even more powerful and politically dominant in the country. The trade would also have spread to other countries, such as Cuba, the Caribbean, and Mexico, thus turning the United States into a slave empire. This would have been a horrible fate for the United States.
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