Register to read the introduction…
Slavery laid at the core of Ghana’s pre-colonial states, whose economy was almost fully dependent on slave labor. Indigenous slavery occurred before the transatlantic slave trade, and coexisted with it from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. During pre-colonial Ghana, slaves were a commodity and their descendants maintained a slave status as well. Since slaves became a part of their masters’ property either through adoption or marriage, they weren’t exactly classified as complete outsiders, yet, they were not treated equal at all. They all performed different work for their masters and were kept inferior for many generations. Ghana was a prime supplier of the transatlantic slave trade. According to statistics, over ten million slaves were traded to the Americas. Out of those millions of slaves, a little over ten percent came from the Gold Coast, which consisted of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. (Lovejoy,
…show more content…
Then they would take the slaves in cargo ships to their “new home” across the Atlantic Ocean to sell them in the West Indies and North America. They would take the slaves on the 'Middle Passage' across the Atlantic to sell in the West Indies and North America. Finally, they would load the ships up with rum and sugar and sail back to New England. This is all demonstrated in Rodney’s triangular trade model (Rodney, 1972). One way in which Ghana was affected by this triangular trade is that hundreds of slaves died in the middle passage. That was another form of diminishing their population. Everyone that was involved in the slave trade benefitted from it except the slaves themselves. For example, Europe benefitted economically. The money that the Europeans gained through this slave trade was used for the industrial revolution, for owning plantations in America and mines in Africa, and it helped their shipping industry through the growth of ports. It also helped them gain world power and since Africa was so weak it was much easier for them to colonize it. Other ways in which Ghana was affected was through racism which was not unique to Ghana because it was occurring in many African countries at the time. Ghanaians as well as other Africans were seen as nothing more than just an inferior race and commodities, not human beings. This is something that unfortunately still exists today in many parts of the world. It is crazy to think that someone could think they are better than someone else. Europeans thought that they were doing something “good” for the Ghanaians by bringing them to a better place and that made it acceptable for
Then they would take the slaves in cargo ships to their “new home” across the Atlantic Ocean to sell them in the West Indies and North America. They would take the slaves on the 'Middle Passage' across the Atlantic to sell in the West Indies and North America. Finally, they would load the ships up with rum and sugar and sail back to New England. This is all demonstrated in Rodney’s triangular trade model (Rodney, 1972). One way in which Ghana was affected by this triangular trade is that hundreds of slaves died in the middle passage. That was another form of diminishing their population. Everyone that was involved in the slave trade benefitted from it except the slaves themselves. For example, Europe benefitted economically. The money that the Europeans gained through this slave trade was used for the industrial revolution, for owning plantations in America and mines in Africa, and it helped their shipping industry through the growth of ports. It also helped them gain world power and since Africa was so weak it was much easier for them to colonize it. Other ways in which Ghana was affected was through racism which was not unique to Ghana because it was occurring in many African countries at the time. Ghanaians as well as other Africans were seen as nothing more than just an inferior race and commodities, not human beings. This is something that unfortunately still exists today in many parts of the world. It is crazy to think that someone could think they are better than someone else. Europeans thought that they were doing something “good” for the Ghanaians by bringing them to a better place and that made it acceptable for