Between
1450 and the late 1800's, it is estimated that between 10-15 MILLION
Africans were kidnapped and sold into slavery.
The expanding
European empires in the New World, in North, South, and Central
America, lacked a major resource - workers. At first, the European
colonists attempted to use Native Americans as a work force, but that did
not work very well. Native Americans could slip away, and return
with others to punish those who tried to enslave them.
The early colonists tried to bring people from Europe to work in the New
World, both as indentured servants and as slaves. That did not work well
either, especially in the tropical regions. The Europeans were not used to
a tropical climate. Many died of disease. Some ran away and blended with
other early colonists.
The Portuguese
soon discovered that Africans were excellent workers. They were used to
more tropical climate conditions. The African people did not want to be
slaves. They had to be captured and forced into slavery. A business sprang
up - slavers. These were traders who captured and sold people into
slavery.
Many captured people died on the ships sailing to the New World. Conditions were terrible.
People were packed into the hold of ship without regard to their safety or
their most basic needs. The slaves who made it alive were strong
workers and resistant to disease.
The
Slave Trade was incredibly profitable and incredibly cruel. It ripped
families apart. People would come home from a hunt or from the fields and
find their families missing. In some cases, entire villages were captured.
The people in an entire village were rounded up and traded as slaves.
For
over 300 years, slaves
were captured along the west coast of Africa, often with the active help
of African kings and merchants. Slaves were traded for beads, textiles,
brandy, horses, and guns. Slavery was illegal in the United States after
the Civil War, but slaves continued to be traded in Central and South America
for another 40 years until finally slavery was declared illegal in Central
and South America as well.
Slave Ships
It's
Equiano we're looking for ..
Letters
from the Kingdom of Kongo
Africa
and the Atlantic Slave Trade
Slave
Trade and Slavery
