Slavery: The Evolution Of The Slave Trade

Slavery when through several evolutions from the time it initially started. It slowly transitioned from a small commerce to a huge marketable trade. As colonization spread throughout the west and to islands the need for cheaper labour skyrocketed. Labour intensive jobs such as sugar plantations required cheap cheap and low maintenance labour. This is where slaves stepped in. Slaves were easy to obtain and they often carried a fairly low price. As these demands for slaves grew the slave traders had to come up with new ways to transport and manage the slaves to make sure they could get as much profit as possible. This meant that they needed to be able to transport as many slaves as possible and make sure they had a solid supply of slaves incoming …show more content…
The first trades delivered were smaller deliveries and spaced out. It was not until later that the market started to really pick up. With the market picking up that was when changes started to happen to the slave trade. The most noticeable change right off the bat was that slave traders started to employ the use of bigger ships. To accommodate a higher volume of slaves this was one of the first and easier changes to do. “Despite the shifts in numbers of people shipped...the slave ship itself changed relatively little between 1700 and 1808. Slaving vessels grew somewhat larger in size over time”(Rediker, 8). Increasing the size of the ship allowed the captains to fit even more slaves on at a time. The next step for the slavers was that they would cut down the size of their crew too. With less people on the ship taking up space they could use that to fit more slaves in that space. Over time it is mentioned that the atmosphere as a whole …show more content…
With the start of slavery the market was slower and smaller. They were moving fewer people through at a time and were able to contain and trap their slaves in regular storerooms. As the demand increased this was no longer viable as they need much more space and needed to make sure the slaves were unable to escape. This lead to the creation of an underground prison at Cape Coast Castle (Smallwood, 37). The underground prison allowed them to securely hold their slaves and allowed them to protect themselves from any rebellions they may face. The castle was created in a secure location that was imposing to nonmembers. One problem faced with the castle and its underground prison was that slaves were often held there for several weeks at a time. Due to the length of the trip and the space between ships arriving, the castle often would be holding upwards of a thousand slaves at a time (Smallwood,