What are the negative and positive effects of the slave trade on Africa?

You would be hard pressed to find any positive outcomes concerning the slave trade in Africa. The western portion of the continent was ravaged by Europeans eager to find a labor force that would assist them in acquiring more wealth and resources. The effects were far-reaching and devastating.

The male population of Africa was hit the hardest. Statistics claim that two-thirds of the slaves brought to the New World were male. This forced removal of such a large number of males created a demographic disaster.  The population of Africa would remain stagnant until the 1800s as a result of this forced migration.

Without the expected growth and advance of civilization, the African continent was devoid of progress in areas such as technology and medicine throughout the slave era. Many cultural traditions and norms were no longer sustainable and the continent fell into a period of stagnation, if not outright regression.

Slavery was big business for Europeans and Africans alike. It is estimated as many as 8 million slaves remained in Africa to serve at the pleasure of African slave masters. As rival groups sought to control areas in which to capture slaves, conflict ensued which further aided in the destruction of any cultural progress on the continent. 

Without advancements militarily and with a significant loss of the male population, the continent of Africa lay open to the colonizing forces of Europe. Those forces would later pillage much of the resources Africa harbored, further setting the continent back in its quest to modernize and remain independent.

As for positive outcomes, that is a very difficult thing to find. Obviously some of the more powerful African tribes became even more powerful through the slave trade, as Europeans were often willing to pay a high price for captured Africans. It is difficult for me to say that one group benefiting at the expense of another is a positive, however. Without question the African Slave Trade was evil and served to keep the continent several steps behind Europe technologically, socially and militarily.

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What effects did the slave trade have on Africa?

The slave trade had many effects on Africa. Most of them were, of course, negative, though we can argue that the slave trade was beneficial for some African states in the short term.

One negative about the slave trade was that it tended to increase the amount of war that occurred in West Africa. The reason for this is that European (and American) slave traders did not simply go out into the African countryside and kidnap their own slaves. Instead, they bought slaves from the coastal kingdoms. Those kingdoms generally got slaves to sell through war and through raids against inland tribes. Because the slave traders wanted more slaves, the coastal kingdoms were encouraged to wage more wars and conduct more raids against their neighbors. In addition, those kingdoms were provided with things like guns in exchange for slaves. This helped those kingdoms have a greater capacity for waging war.

This brings us to the one (short-term) benefit of the slave trade: it initially helped the coastal kingdoms. Those kingdoms became richer and more powerful because they were able to get guns, money, and other things in exchange for the slaves.

However, even these kingdoms were hurt in the long term. This is because the slave trade hurt all of West Africa. First, the slave trade took away millions of Africans (men more than women) in the prime of their lives. This badly disrupted both the cultures and the economies of the African nations. Because they were disrupted, they were less able to progress. The link below argues that the slave trade made it harder for Africa to enjoy an agrarian revolution and, in turn, an industrial revolution. This is because the men and women who could have helped make these revolutions were being taken into slavery. Because the African nations did not develop economically and because their societies were weakened, they were unable to effectively resist the Europeans when the Europeans started to colonize Africa.

Thus, we can say that Africa was badly harmed by the slave trade. The trade made war more common, harmed the economies and societies of the nations from which the slaves came, and eventually made it easier for Africa to be colonized by the Europeans.