Essay on Slave Ship

Chapter 4, Transatlantic Moment, of Reversing Sail by Michael Gomez was extremely intriguing. As the saying goes numbers never lie. The statistical aspect provided by Gomez of the transatlantic movement was effective in altering my perception of the transatlantic movement as a whole. As the text states the scholarly consensus is that approximately 11.9 million Africans were exported from Africa. Only 9.6 to 10.8 millions arrived alive to America, meaning 10 to 20 percent was loss during the Middle Passage. These numbers show how extensive and outrageous the transatlantic movement was. These numbers represent people with established lives, who were kidnapped and put into forced labor. As Gomez stated serval times and how I now view, the transatlantic

The main focus of the document, The Horrors of a Slave Ship, is over a topic of a young boy given the name Gustavus Vassa who shared his story of his own slavery experience. He writes about a journey of heartbreak and terror and all of the restrictions he endured. He first describes the day he was kidnapped, then all of the families he was sold to. At one time he was fortunate to see his sister for a last time before being sold again to another family. Vassa observes the differences and similarities between his culture and the families’ of his owner’s cultures. Towards the end of the document, Vassa describes Africa, and how he was shipped off to a new world. He had to endure the horrors that came with being chained up with the other slaves. The boy described the smell to be unbearable and that many people would choose death their current situations. By the end of the document he portrayed the way that people were being sold in an auction and the despair of agony when they were parted from their loved ones.

Throughout history, humanity has exhibited its prowess for compassion, and its capacity for evil. In the wake of recent natural disasters, specifically the tropical storms which have devastated island nations and the southern state of Texas, citizens and companies alike have banded together to provide supplies and aid. In contrast, three hundred years ago a system was implemented, a system in which its effects of can still be seen today’s in racial division. Instituted on the basis of Caucasian and European superiority, racial based slavery thrived; slaves taken from Africa were no longer humans, but a commodity- just like soy is in the modern day. Slaves were brought to the Americas on large ships. On these large ships, those who survived the voyage would have endured grotesque living conditions, and various forms of abuse. The mistreatment of slaves was overlooked because the trade was a profitable business, and became more profitable as America began to efficiently produce regional based commodities: the demand for labor increased and the price of slaves decreased, the trade began to flourish once it was realized that slavery maximized profits for colonial producers. As more slaves were shipped, word of what occurs on the ships and the purpose of their voyage spread. In fear of what happens on the ships, slaves utilized different forms of resistance to escape their future, such as escaping captivity, mutiny, and suicide.

The transatlantic slave trade began in the 15th century, after the Portuguese started exploring the coast of West Africa. This had a long term effect on Africa because even though it started out benefiting the upper class in Africa, the long term effect was devastating. When Europeans started to enter Africa, they enjoyed “the triple advantage of guns and other technology, widespread literacy, and the political organization necessary to sustain expensive programs of exploration and conquest”(Doc 4). Africa’s relations with Europe depended on common interests, which Europe did not share. Europe’s contact with Africa, involving economic exchanges and political relationships, was not mutually beneficial.

The history of the Atlantic slave trade is long and sordid, from the working and transportation conditions to the structure of the trade itself. Historians and scholars from all backgrounds have worked to understand the impact of slavery and why it went on for so long. Two scholars, John Thornton and Mariana Candido, have extensively studied both the impact and organization of the Atlantic slave trade, but disagree on a few main conclusions. Upon thorough review of both sides, however, John Thornton’s ideas regarding the Atlantic trade are more convincing than Candido’s, and by looking deeper into each side it is clear why.

Despite being held at the bottom of the social pyramid for throughout colonial times, the labor of the colonies would prove to be far from useless. While vast, open land was turned into numerous plantations in the colonies by rich planters, the plantations could not purely be run by their owners, creating a great need for labor. This lack of labor would eventually be solved through the use of African slaves, but after the first shipment of slaves to Jamestown in 1619, few were purchased due to high prices for an extended amount of time. The planters, however, would be able to fulfill their need for labor through English indentured servants. Through the use of indentured servants, basically free labor was provided to land owners, while

Of all the horrid and cruel events in history that changed the course of the world, the Middle Passage was the worst, both for those who experienced it and their descendants. This journey, between the African continent and the Americas, killed 2 million Africans either due to disease, starvation, suicide, or revolt. In its own way, the Middle Passage was murder for the 12-60 million Africans, who were either captured or sold into slavery, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Of course, for the nations who profited from the horror of the slaves, there was nothing wrong with the process, and the Africans should be happy that they were “rescued” from their drab and unprofitable lives. However, those who took the long and hard journey of

Atlantic slave trade from the fifteenth century and partially illegally through the nineteenth century, has always been a very ambiguous and controversial topic in North America and all around the world, and even in the modern world continues to perplex the minds of every individual. In schools and educations all around the world focus nearly too much on the brutality and evil treatment of the “black slaves”, and forget to mention the traveling of the slaves. The slave ships not only globally the general economy of the world but also played a role on spreading a sort of worldwide communism, at the ships’ most basic functions transporting the slaves, spreading cultures and foods, and finally and arguably the most important the slave ship prepared the slaves for their inevitable life on the plantations. The conditions on board of the slave ship show great proof

The Transatlantic slave trade is a “wrenching aspect of the history of Africa and America” (Colin Palmer). The transatlantic slave trade transported African people to the “New World”. It lasted from the 16th to the 19th century. Slavery has had a big impact on African culture. The Africans were forced to migrate away from everything they knew, culture, heritage and lifestyles (Captive Passage). Coupled with they were faced with racism and overcame life-threaten situations everyday. Nevertheless the Africans preserved and survived tremendous conditions. Even though the slave trade was horrible it still contributed to the economy of the

The argument with the obsessive question of whether or not slave labor was profitable as well as free. The question remains could a southern farmer who made money have made more money if he had employed free workers? The question remains with deep speculation as the comparisons between free labor and slave labor in the south slave plantations were valued with low expectations considering the varying climate conditions, the nature of the crops and many other reasons.

In The Slave Ship: A Human History by Marcus Rediker, the introduction starts out with the description of being in the bottom of the canoe. The owba coo coo was one of the worst punishments a slave could receive. There was much fear of the ship and with it came an odor of death. In the introduction Rediker gives the reader an insight of a woman before she boards the slave ship. Through this story the reader gets an emotional insight of the terror that came along with the ship. When the slaves boarded the ship it could be compared to them transitioning into hell. W.E.B Dubois refers to the Middle Passage as the “most magnificent drama in the last thousand years of human history.” Many of the slaves died on the

Many wonder about the spread of the African race. The answer to that mystery leads back to the Transatlantic Slave Trade/Middle Passage. The Transatlantic Slave Trade/ Middle Passage is the reason for the wide spread of the African society altogether. The first stage included manufactured goods like clothing, food, and artilleries and transporting them from Europe to Africa. The second stage was known as the “Middle Passage” where the enslaved Africans would be shipped to the Americas. The third and final stage of the trade was the shipment of the produce from the enslaved Africans to Europe. The fifteenth century is when the trade began, and the Portuguese interests for Africa turned from its natural resources and into its people who they will pursue as slaves. The triangular trade included the Americas, England, and Europe.

One could argue that the only important factor of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade is the creation of the political system in America; however, the geographic aspects, economic developments, and social status of people are the most important factors created from the introduction of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. These three factors are significant elements of the slave trade, while the political system simply derived from these factors. Without the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the United States of America would not be shaped the way it is today. Politics are the foundation of a country; a nation is born when the political system is set.

One of the darkest chapters in world history is the slave trade of the Atlantic World that occurred following the discovery of the Western Hemisphere by Columbus. All told, somewhere between ten to fifteen million Africans were forcibly brought as property to the New World. It has been estimated that eighty percent of all immigrants between 1500 and 1800 to the Americas were Africans brought in bondage. One of the great untold stories of the foundations of the Western World is the contribution African slaves provided for the wealth that would propel Europe into capitalism and the Industrial Revolution. African slaves provided the necessary labor source for Europeans to successfully exploit the economic possibilities of the New World through

Imagine, if you will, rising earlier than the sun, eating a mere “snack”- lacking essentially all nutritional value - and trekking miles to toil in the unforgiving climate of the southern states, and laboring until the sun once again slipped under the horizon. Clad only in the rags your master provided (perhaps years ago), you begin walking in the dark the miles to your “home.” As described by the writers Jacob Stroyer and Josiah Henson, this “home” was actually a mere thatched roof, that you built with your own hands, held up by pathetic walls, over a dirt floor and you shared this tiny space with another family. Upon return to “home,” once again you eat the meager rations you were provided, and fall into bed