The Effects of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

1
The Effects of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
2
The Effects of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

• The Transatlantic Slave Trade effected Africa,
  Europe, and the Americas in very different and
  significant ways. Those effects are not
  necessarily all located in the past, however.
  The current status of Africa, Europe, and the
  Americas global political positions and their
  economies are deeply linked to this terrible part
  of history.

3
Effects on Africa
4
1. Depopulation

• Considering the kind of work enslave people were
  often required to do, what segment of the African
  population do you think was MOST effected by the
  slave trade, and why?

• Males, ages 15-25, were targeted by slave traders

5
Depopulation

• What happens if you take away a communitys
  strong, young men?

• You take away some of the most creative,
  productive, skilled segment of the population
• You weaken a communitys ability to protect
  itself
• You take away that communitys future these men
  would have been fathers

6
Depopulation

• African communities also experienced wars and
  raiding, which causing death
• African coastal communities were especially
  depopulated as people migrated to the interior to
  escape slave traders and warring
• Slave trade caused cultural damage to communities

7
2. Violence

• What are some of the ways people avoided becoming
  slaves themselves that involve violence?

• Wars between communities broke out to avoid
  slavery
• This caused lasting divisions/conflict between
  tribes that still exist today

8
3. Economics

• If some communities were fighting with each other
  to escape slavery, what would have happened to
  the trade relationships that had existed before?

• Trade stopped between certain groups, making
  African communities more dependent on the
  European traders.

9
Economics

• How would the loss of a communitys young men
  effect its economy? Think about what African
  economies would have been based on at that time.

• The loss of strong, young men mean the loss of
  workers. These men were sometimes exchanged for
  guns, alcohol, and luxury goods which did not
  help the continents economic development.

10
Economics

• Europeans came with goods not found in Africa
  previously, or at least not readily available,
  but they also came with some items that WERE
  available. Some African communities chose to
  trade and do business with the Europeans, further
  hurting local businesses and the the future of
  those communities economy.

11
Economics

• African communities were undergoing rapid and
  extreme changes due to the Transatlantic Slave
  Trade, many businesses did not plan for the
  future, since it was uncertain.

12
4. Racism

• Africans were thought of as an inferior race.
  They were thought of as objects commodities
  not human beings
• Eurocentric justification that they were bringing
  Africans to a better place
• Racism stemming from the slave trade can still be
  felt today

13
5. Sierra Leone (1787) Liberia (1820s)

• These two African countries were formed as
  settlements for ex-slaves.

• The capital of Sierra Leone is Freetown

14
Effects on Europe
15
1. Economics

• Europeans were running the slave trade, they
  owned plantations in the Americas, and mines in
  Africa what does this mean for European
  economies?

• They made HUGE profits off the slave trade

16
Economics

• The Transatlantic Slave Trade meant an increase
  in the number of ports. How would this effect
  the economy?

• Boosted shipping industry
• More ships
• More crew
• More nets
• More timber

17
Economics

• Money from the slave trade contributed to the
  Industrial Revolution (factories, urbanization,
  etc.)

• European countries received new raw materials
• Cotton
• Tobacco
• Sugar cane
• Raw materials were turned into products which
  were sold for more

18
2. World Power

• European empires were able to grow due to strong
  economies. They remain the major world powers
  today.

• The weakened status of African communities and
  the strength and money of European ones, allowed
  the Europeans to colonize Africa easier.

19
3. Culture

• Gained African culture
• Ideas
• Language
• Religion
• Views on govt
• Music
• Food
• Art
• Technology

20
4. Politics

• New laws created laws that governed the slave
  trade and that put an end to it.

• Abolition movement a movement seeking to abolish
  slavery, through various means.

21
Effects on the Americas
22
1. Culture

• Just as Europe gained African culture, so did the
  Americas

• Ideas
• Language
• Religion
• Views on govt
• Music
• Food
• Art
• Technology

23
Culture

• Many famous Black Americans musicians,
  artists, writers, thinkers, politicians,
  athletes, etc. are descended from Africans
  brought over as slaves.

24
2. Economics

• How would the slave trade have helped the
  American economy?

• Plantations were very successful and made a lot
  of money which went into the larger economy.

25
Economics

• Plantations were so successful in part because
• Free labourers who could work in hot temps.
• Labourers with agricultural and mining skills

• Also
• Enslaved Blacks became talented, free carpenters,
  masons, mechanics, miners, and inventors
• White Americans made money selling raw materials
  to Europeans in exchange for slaves

26
3. Politics

• Political effects were both good and bad

• Contributed to the cause of Civil War
• New laws created
• Abolition movement

27
Conclusion

• Would the world be all that different if the
  Transatlantic Slave Trade had never existed?
  Probably. But who knows. A better question is,
  now that you know about the effects the Slave
  Trade had on Europe, the Americas, and Africa,
  are you able to critically understand how history
  can still touch lives today?