How the trans-Atlantic slave trade transformed Africa & Africans
The trans-Atlantic slave trade decimated the young working population of Africa, warped long-held cultural and religious beliefs and helped militarize many nations’ armies at the expense of their own countrymen; all of these factors together ultimately created a second wave of slave trade in response to its cessation on the trans-Atlantic route. Although there is no way to calculate the exact number of Africans who were placed into slavery between 1650 and the late 1800s, it is believed that as many as twenty-five million were taken from their homes to support the economies of foreign nations. After the year 1650, male slaves on the trans-Atlantic slave trade route were primarily …show more content…
While this diaspora of African people through the trans-Atlantic slave trade was not ideal for many reasons, it is preferable to the loss of those people to another country which will both profit off of them and exploit them to their graves. The loss of these people was felt in the lack of healthy workers in Africa to provide goods for the local economies. In addition to this, future populations were also stunted, as the young working population age group is also the right age to have children. The population of Africa was robbed of its young workers, and also of their children, and every future generation that might have …show more content…
In the Niger Delta, specifically, religion was corrupted by the slave trade and those who profited from it. The oracle of Arochukwu became connected with the slave traders, in exchange for a portion of the wealth resulting from the sales the traders made. If a person was accused of witchcraft and the oracle was passing judgment, it was likely that that person would be sold into slavery, as a mode of execution. This accusation started to occur much more frequently at the oracle, most likely because of pressure for more slave labor. The oracle’s corruption was also used by some people in the community to get rid of others with whom they had issues. The oracle’s betrayal became obvious to the people, and they learned to fear it and the monks who passed judgment in its name. Many innocent people were sent into slavery overseas because of this betrayal of trust that originated in religion.
Religion was not the only ancient tradition suffering due to the slave trade. Prior to the slave trade, families were defined loosely as everyone who was related to another in one village. The family was so important to Africans that ancestor reverence was part of many villages. These ancestors also formed a large portion of their informal judicial system, as ancestors were called on to
The trans-Atlantic slave trade decimated the young working population of Africa, warped long-held cultural and religious beliefs and helped militarize many nations’ armies at the expense of their own countrymen; all of these factors together ultimately created a second wave of slave trade in response to its cessation on the trans-Atlantic route. Although there is no way to calculate the exact number of Africans who were placed into slavery between 1650 and the late 1800s, it is believed that as many as twenty-five million were taken from their homes to support the economies of foreign nations. After the year 1650, male slaves on the trans-Atlantic slave trade route were primarily …show more content…
While this diaspora of African people through the trans-Atlantic slave trade was not ideal for many reasons, it is preferable to the loss of those people to another country which will both profit off of them and exploit them to their graves. The loss of these people was felt in the lack of healthy workers in Africa to provide goods for the local economies. In addition to this, future populations were also stunted, as the young working population age group is also the right age to have children. The population of Africa was robbed of its young workers, and also of their children, and every future generation that might have …show more content…
In the Niger Delta, specifically, religion was corrupted by the slave trade and those who profited from it. The oracle of Arochukwu became connected with the slave traders, in exchange for a portion of the wealth resulting from the sales the traders made. If a person was accused of witchcraft and the oracle was passing judgment, it was likely that that person would be sold into slavery, as a mode of execution. This accusation started to occur much more frequently at the oracle, most likely because of pressure for more slave labor. The oracle’s corruption was also used by some people in the community to get rid of others with whom they had issues. The oracle’s betrayal became obvious to the people, and they learned to fear it and the monks who passed judgment in its name. Many innocent people were sent into slavery overseas because of this betrayal of trust that originated in religion.
Religion was not the only ancient tradition suffering due to the slave trade. Prior to the slave trade, families were defined loosely as everyone who was related to another in one village. The family was so important to Africans that ancestor reverence was part of many villages. These ancestors also formed a large portion of their informal judicial system, as ancestors were called on to