Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Theory

To this day African nations remain economically undeveloped in contrast to the wealth of natural and human resources available within the continent. Historians have diverse theoretical explanations which account for the economic inadequacies which date back to the establishment of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. These theories vary from the monarchies abuse of power to disunity of the numerous African nations. Walter Rodney, who earned his PhD in African History at School of Oriental and African Studies in London, England, was a Marxist historian. His research supported the idea that “European capitalism was the primary agent in Africa’s underdevelopment.” ¹ Rodney believed that Africa was in a vulnerable position during the first Euro-African …show more content…
Ivanna Elbl discusses the effects of the volume of slaves traded throughout the first century during the Atlantic triangular slave trade. Elbl is a professor at Trent University and a contributor to the Journal of African History. Her research foci is the study of feudalistic Portugal and the developmental effects on overseas economies. In a recent article published in the Journal of African History, Elbl provides data which supports her theory that privately traded slaves far outnumbered the amount of slaves traded by monarchies. Elbl discusses the implications of the rapid increase, which tripled in the first 50 years and then doubled again in the beginning years of the 16th century. Elbl argues that these numbers are only based on known sources of data for the early periods which are few and far between, and which can be very difficult to generate accurate estimates due to the fragmented data. ³ This theoretical analysis contradicts Mattavous-Bly’s examination of How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Marxist historian Walter …show more content…
The institution of slavery was inevitable in the African society though the cause and affect theory remains open to interpretation. J.D. Fage, the founder of the Centre of West African Studies at the University of Birmingham, discusses an alternate opinion that the underdevelopment of the African economy was not caused by a single event but that multiple circumstances contributed to the resulting condition. The idea that people were parallel to natural resources and viewed as a commodity throughout the period ca. 1650 to ca. 1850 led to the rapid development of the West African slave trade. Combined with the rapidly emergent demand in the New World and the vast exportation of imprisoned West African natives hindered the social and moral development of African