Atlantic Slave Trade Vs Colonization

The Atlantic Slave Trade vs. the Colonization of the New World In the 16th through 19th centuries, the slave trade was one of the world’s biggest industries, with 12.5 million slaves circulating in the Atlantic slave trade alone. Another important part of history was the colonization of the New World, over 16 million square miles of land waiting to be explored. However, the Atlantic slave trade was more important than the colonization of the New World due to its essential role in improving the trade, economies, and profits of many countries around the world. For trade, slave labor stimulated a new network of trade spanning across three continents of the Atlantic Ocean. For economies, the growth of the slave trade allowed for an increase in agricultural and manufacturing capacities. For profits, the almost free and expansive workforce allowed large profit margins unlike ever before to be made on many kinds of products. Because of this, …show more content…
During the slave trade, southern agriculture was linked to northern manufacturing; American raw materials were sold to European factories; manufactured goods from Europe were exchanged with African kings; African slaves were bought by American farmers, creating the triangular trade system (Transatlantic). This system generated and increased trade between the three main superpowers of the Atlantic: the Americas, Europe, and Africa, which in turn benefitted all three of them. Back in the United States, the economy of the South heavily depended on slaves to increase export supply for future trade and consumption with both Europe and Africa. (Bodenner). Because of the South’s use of slave labor, it expanded its exports to trade with other countries, which would not have been possible without the employment of the Atlantic slave trade. Based on these reasons, the slave trade was crucial to the trade that occurred in the Atlantic area of the