Student Question
How did the European Slave Trade impact Africans?
Quick answer:
The European Slave Trade profoundly impacted Africans by forcibly removing an estimated 11 million people from their homes, with around 1.5 million not surviving the journey. It stunted Africa's population growth between 1500-1900 and devastated families, leaving lasting trauma. While coastal African rulers profited by trading with Europeans, inland societies suffered economically and socially as large numbers of people were taken. Despite resistance efforts, many Africans faced a life of servitude far from home.
The European Slave Trade had a devastating effect on Africa. It is estimated that around 11 million Africans were forcibly removed from their homes. Of these 11 million, approximately 1.5 million didn't survive long enough to begin their lives of servitude in Europe. Due to the European Slave Trade and slavery in other parts of the world, historians estimate that Africa saw no growth in the years between 1500-1900.
In most instances, Africans had few options for avoiding capture. They did not have the same weapons that their European captors possessed. There were occasions when African tribes launched counter-offensives, but were not successful in driving out their captors. Even after they were captured, Africans often continued to seek freedom. Estimates show that there were rebellions on about 1 of every 5 slave ships.
Slavery tore apart families and left centuries of angst and heartbreak.
References
How did the Atlantic slave trade affect Africans?
Of course, the major impact of the slave trade was...
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on the individual Africans who were caught up in it. They were taken and sold into slavery where the best they could hope for was a decent owner in a land thousands of miles from their families and everything they had ever known.
On a larger scale, the Atlantic slave trade affected African societies. It helped to enrich the rulers of the states that existed along the coast of West Africa (north of the Congo River and south of the Sahara). It did this because the Europeans paid these rulers for permission to set up trading posts and/or for slaves that the rulers captured.
The inland societies were the ones who were hurt the most by this trade. The coastal societies went inland to get slaves from the tribes that lived there. Those tribes and states were affected by having large numbers of people in the prime of life taken away from them. This harmed them economically, socially, and culturally.
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