CARIBBEAN HISTORY SCHOOL BASED ASSESSMENT Research Question: Is it true to say that the Trans -Atlantic Slave Trade had a purely negative impact on the West African Society in the 17th Century? Name: Arrielle Shirley, Britnie Ashley, Andre Mckenzie, Phillecia Clarke Teacher: Ms Wright School: Glenmuir High School Territory: Jamaica Proficiency: General Year of Examination: 2021 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, the members would like to thank the almighty God who gave us the strength and knowledge that was necessary in order to start and complete this School Based Assessment. Secondly we would like to thank our parents for their encouragement, support and all the necessities needed to complete this SBA. The researchers of this paper would also like to thank all the group members who participated and contributed in the making of this SBA. Lastly the members would like to thank our History teacher Ms. Wright for her guidance and constructive criticism contributed to the completion this assignment, for it helped us to become better researchers and writers. To everyone we are truly grateful. Rationale Slave trading is the procuring, transporting, and selling of human beings as slaves. The transatlantic slave trade is perhaps the best known, this involved the oceanic trading of African men women, and children by slave traders to the Americas which started around the mid-16thcentury until the 1860s, The massive increase in demand for cheap labour in the new world was the driving force behind the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the means by which slaves were obtained was brutal, to say the least, Africans were kidnapped by Europeans during raids and warfare on coastal towns and some 12 million slaves was said to forcibly transported into the Americas. The researchers selected this topic in the greatest effort to properly analyze and interpret the effects of the trade. The Trans-Atlantic slave was said to have led to long term damage to the West African societies. However, the trade-in reality was really a business where there is no wrong or right only profit and loss. Unfortunately, there were Africans who were willing to betray their country to benefit greatly. The Slave Trade had various effects on the African society and it is unclear if whether they were all purely negative. The true question the researchers seek to answer is whether the negative effects outweighed the positive effects. The completion of this research will vastly improve our research skills as we will have to find suitable sources and properly analyze the information and also to ameliorate our vocabulary and strengthen our critical thinking skills. As you approach the end of this research it would’ve already outlined if there was a purely negative impact on the West African society. Introduction The Transatlantic slave trade was an oceanic trade in African men and women and children which lasted from the mid sixteenth century until the 1860’s. The slave trade is still seen to- day as one of the most impactful as radically impaired Africa's potential to develop economically and maintain its social and political stability. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and its middle passage. This journey involved shipping goods from Britain to West Africa to be exchanged for slaves in Africa, these slaves then being shipped to the West Indies in exchange for rum, sugar, and other commodities which were in time, shipped back to Europe. It has been estimated that over 12 million Africans were forcibly removed from Africa through methods such as kidnapping, raids, and warfare. The size of the slave trade dramatically impacted African society. The exploitative commerce impacted the African society collectively in four ways namely socially, culturally politically, and also economically in which we will delve deeper into throughout this research. We will analyze how the transportation of firearms ensued in constant warfare, how the trade led to the country’s most precious resource being extracted, the people that is, how the slave led to the destruction of a society because families were separated lastly how it disrupted cultural practices. By analyzing these areas we seek to establish if the Transatlantic Slave Trade had a purely negative impact than positive and to what magnitude. As we know, this trade had undoubtedly impacted West Africa, in some ways if not all. The Transatlantic Slave Trade had a purely negative impact on the West African society. Sources Secondary Sources 1. https://books.google.com.jm/books? id=_QiGQbD7m7EC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false 2. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://slaveryandremembrance.org/articles/article/%3Fid%3DA0002&ved=2ahUKEwjX1teT-frsAhVPi1kKHVZjCqoQFjAQegQIHBAB&usg=AOvVaw2yPskEAAGukbp5bYsBlpvr 3.https://www.google.com/url? sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zxt3gk7/revision/1%23:~:t ext%3DThe%2520size%2520of%2520the%2520Atlantic,kinships%252C%2520kingdoms %2520and%2520in %2520society.&ved=2ahUKEwjmy8zy84ntAhUIJt8KHZiwCkQQFjABegQIARAE&usg=AOvV aw2Sq9BMaOXfz0KZK5a8vGZI THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE The Transatlantic Slave Trade significantly marred West Africans potential to blossom, functionally that is. The arrival of Europeans on the West African coast radically robbed West Africa of its human resources, commodities and natural resources to an extent. Some 12 million enslaved Africans were forcibly taken away during the 16 th to 19th centuries to the Americas. On the other hand, this greatly benefitted the Europeans since it allowed them to amass resources that fed the Industrial Revolution. The rearmost of a country’s most important resource, the people that is, contributed to prolonged issues. Africa’s economy was destroyed. Cultural practices were disrupted and they were constantly at war. This essay examines these reasons as to why it is believed that the Transatlantic Slave Trade had a purely negative impact. It will outline how Africa was left economically unstable, how the constant warfare adjusted the political structure, how cultural practices were disrupted and how the society in Africa was completely rearranged due to capturing of slaves. These four points will be further expounded. West Africa’s most valuable resource, people became an export as men, women and children were now used as money. With the loss of the majority of the craftsmen, gold miners and farmers, which were the major factors to the economic sector, the extraction of these resources left the society deteriorated. Over the years, West Africa’s rich soil funded the agriculture sector as majority of the men and women were domesticating wild animals and planting crops. Unfortunately, due to the constant raids and warfare caused by greedy rulers who wanted to reap all the rewards of the slave trade such as guns and ammunitions etc., Africa’s economy was put on hold. Similarly, gold mining, which as an important economic sector was also disturbed as the men to complete these activities were forcibly transported out of the country, and moreover the remaining of the craftsmen were put out of business due to the importation of cheap, low quality European goods such as pots, cloths etc., leaving them with the task of manufacturing lower quality traditional art. Even though a new class of merchants who knew how to barter with Europeans was developed, the negative effects outweighed the good. By the mid -18th century, human resource was Africa’s main export. In exchange for people, the Europeans traded cloth, potter, horses, guns and other valuables. By providing firearms amongst the traded goods, Europeans subverted political instability in Africa. The trade of weaponry increased tribal warfare as professional armies would’ve now been created. The mass introduction of firearms was the single most significant technological innovation brought to West Africa by the Europeans. In the second half of the 18 th century, approximately 12 million guns were imported to Africa. Guns were exchanged for captives. The rulers were constantly competing and so the accretion of firearms provided them with an advantage over their rivals. This increased their drive to capture and sell slaves. The mass importation of guns for slaves altered the conduct of warfare in Africa and changed the balance of power between classes. At the peak of the Atlantic trade only states equipped with guns were able to resist attack from their neighbours. The demand for slaves combined with the supply of guns, encourage rulers to attack neighbours. This continuous warfare eventually led to a decrease in the population as there were constant deaths. In addition to that, seeing that Africans were now in possession of guns, it suggested that they would’ve now been upgraded in the hierarchy as they would ensue war amongst slave owners. ` The Transatlantic trade had many drastic events on the African people, one such effect was that the Africans lost their mortality and values. According to the English Dictionary brotherhood is defined as "the quality or state of being brothers", before the trade Africans had a strong sense of loyalty and brotherhood. Conflicts among tribes was commonplace in Africa but are the Transatlantic Slave Trade developed some society’s raid others to capture their fellow Africans in exchange for goods. Warfare and slavery was commonplace in Africa and villages raiding others for slaves may not be morally bankrupt as it sounds but the immorality showed when Chiefs and kings who were Religious and moral leaders of their communities betrayed their own people and became slave dealers. As the demand of the Atlantic trade grew, more societies accommodated to the trade in slaves and the ever growing need for slaves. Although slavery had long existed in Africa, the profits to be gained from the Slave trade blinded Africans in to committing brutal and horrendous acts in order to capture and trade slaves. In order for some societies to gain slaves had to raid other villages and in the process killed many of their own county men and many of their own might have died all for the trade and their own selfish gain. Africans were taken from their home and sold and forced into the horrid and monotonous ordeal of slavery. This unexpected capture of hundreds of thousands of Africans caused a sudden separation of families and also the imbalance of gender in the African society left behind. A large percentage of these African that were taken captive were young men and also women in their child bearing years. Some of these individuals who were captured got separated from their wives and husbands and also left behind some of their loving children back home, this resulted in single parents without their regular support system and children would have then become orphans. As stated before because of the slave trade and all many men and women that were captures, it led to of an imbalance between men and women that were left in the African society because more men were than women and normal gender roles were disrupted along everyday practices. In the African society men were mostly responsible for doing the physical work, such as hunting, ruling tribes, keeping religious meetings, training their sons while the women’s roles were to do domestic work, agriculture and take care of the child/children. Many of these societies were small scale, occupied with farming, herding and producing enough from agriculture to survive and exchange in local markets but as a result of the imbalance between genders and de- population, a lot of these roles became difficult complete and the African societies dried out and everything including their labor force, agriculture, religious meetings, hierarchy and morals were shattered. The absence of these individuals caused a drain in supplies like food that would come from farming and hunting. In addition many relocated and abandoned their societies from fear of raids to be safer, so that didn’t make matter any better and before time the societies and tribes were completely segregated and destroyed. Fig 1. Showing captives being forced marched in a coffle from the African interior escorted by armed slavers from East Africa, 1859 wood engraving with modern color. Conclusion We can therefore conclude that the Transatlantic Slave Trade in fact had a negative impact on West Africa in the 16th and 19th centuries. The trade affected the society collectively in three categories; economically, politically, and socially. Slavery monopolized their export market and caused the drawback in the economy, the demand and reward for slaves led to competition amongst leaders leading to wars and raids. It is also true to say that society was at severe dysfunction morally, culturally, and religiously transpiring from the main fact that the region was losing its most valuable resource which was its people.
