August 1st 1883. The Slavery Abolition Act is passed. But what about previous centuries? Slavery had been in communities for so long that depriving a society of its presence was not even of the question. From Greeks to the New World colonies, slavery had gained omnipresence as time went on, up to a point where it became part of their trading commodities. In the same course of ideas, what prompted Westerners to turn to Africa for slaves? How and when did this take its course? These questions will be answered through the exploration of various slave societies and their evolution through time.
First of all, Athens and Sparta. As customs change from one culture to another, the same goes for slave societies. These two cities, both at their prime …show more content…
What mainly prompted Westerners to turn to Africa for slaves was the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire in 1453. This conquest led to a diminishment of the trades between the western Europe and eastern Mediterranean. Along with this situation, the Iberian Reconquista made the slave trade practically stop. This forced the Mediterranean Europe to seek new places to find slaves elsewhere, which they did throughout their voyages. Also, this explains the new arrivals of black slaves in the picture given that previous slaves had been white. The first ship of slaves came back from Lisbon, Portugal, in 1444 (McKay et al. 433) and after that numerous boats filled with slaves came one after the other. The new slaves helped the economy in a way that sugar was in very high demand at that time and slaves were expected to grow these crops, which help in the ongoing rolling of the economic system and trading communities. However, as time went on and the triangle trade grew stronger, Slaves were the ones who were doing a lot of the agricultural work and this work was a big aspect that contributed to the amplification of slave trading. In 1518 (McKay et al. 434) the transatlantic slave trade began and the passage conditions became even more horrible than they already were. Given the sources (McKay et al. 435), from 10 million African slaves that were traded across the Atlantic by European trades only 8.5 million survived, starting in 1518 and ending in 1800. Above all, living conditions during the passage were horrible and at a certain point, the ships we so jam-packed that the slaves had no choice but to lie on one another (Falconbridge 4). Economically, America, Europe and Africa were tied together by their exchange of goods and slave (McKay et al.
First of all, Athens and Sparta. As customs change from one culture to another, the same goes for slave societies. These two cities, both at their prime …show more content…
What mainly prompted Westerners to turn to Africa for slaves was the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire in 1453. This conquest led to a diminishment of the trades between the western Europe and eastern Mediterranean. Along with this situation, the Iberian Reconquista made the slave trade practically stop. This forced the Mediterranean Europe to seek new places to find slaves elsewhere, which they did throughout their voyages. Also, this explains the new arrivals of black slaves in the picture given that previous slaves had been white. The first ship of slaves came back from Lisbon, Portugal, in 1444 (McKay et al. 433) and after that numerous boats filled with slaves came one after the other. The new slaves helped the economy in a way that sugar was in very high demand at that time and slaves were expected to grow these crops, which help in the ongoing rolling of the economic system and trading communities. However, as time went on and the triangle trade grew stronger, Slaves were the ones who were doing a lot of the agricultural work and this work was a big aspect that contributed to the amplification of slave trading. In 1518 (McKay et al. 434) the transatlantic slave trade began and the passage conditions became even more horrible than they already were. Given the sources (McKay et al. 435), from 10 million African slaves that were traded across the Atlantic by European trades only 8.5 million survived, starting in 1518 and ending in 1800. Above all, living conditions during the passage were horrible and at a certain point, the ships we so jam-packed that the slaves had no choice but to lie on one another (Falconbridge 4). Economically, America, Europe and Africa were tied together by their exchange of goods and slave (McKay et al.