The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

One of the most influential events that shaped West Africa was the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Rather than indulging in slaves, Africa was mostly responsible for selling and distributing them. Africans would occasionally have slaves of their own, however during the slave trade, Africa was more or less a slave vendor. Their role as sellers had an astronomical impact on West Africa as a whole. The social, economic and political implications of West Africa completely changed and evolved as a result of the slave trade. African society radically changed during the slave trade. First off, the number of wars rose as the demand for slaves grew. The more outside countries wanted slaves, the more Africa would need to supply. As owning slaves became …show more content…
Indeed, Africa did overall gain an increase in resources like guns, goods, and materials. However, they lost their most valuable resource: human resources. So many africans, especially those in their prime, were deported, that the amount of labor left in Africa was almost laughable. Many people, mostly men and young fit boys were taken captive to trade. The most fit Africans gave the most profitable revenue and as a result, the majority of slaves were the healthy males. The population of Africa dropped and all that were left were the elderly, women, and children too young to work. This is as much of a economic aspect as it is social. The labor force of Africa was completely destroyed by the slave trade, leading to an instability in Africa’s economy. With no one fit or able-bodied enough to meet the demands of labor in Africa, their economy basically fell apart. As the agricultural economy no longer became a viable option due to no work force, reliance on European goods to supply their needs grew. This led to a larger demand for European goods like sugar, On the other hand, Europeans began to require even more workers to be able to pump out the goods to meet those demands. This was another terrible cycle created by the slave trade. Africans traded slaves for goods, lost their own economy, required more European goods, and ultimately caused the Europeans to need even more slaves for labor to produce said …show more content…
Socially, the population was riddled with fear and distrust. Beliefs were long forgotten and innocents were betrayed by the greedy searching for wealth. Politically, the slave trade caused Africa to become a hierarchy of deadly and treacherous tribes that still war to this very day. Economically, Africa lost its entire workforce and stopped advancing technologically, becoming overly dependent on the goods of outside continents. The present day Africa bears many obvious scars of the slave trade. There are constantly civil wars between the countless tribes. Africa is depicted as primitive, undeveloped continent that doesn’t function as well as the rest of the modern world. In the end, the Transatlantic slave trade undoubtedly left Africa a damaged and impaired