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Statute of Limitations and The Slave Trade
Statute of Limitations and The Slave Trade
It dawned on me today, after 60 years of living experiences, that Blacks who live in the US and
elsewhere, who have sought reparations from the US Government, may have the right idea but a poor
approach.
Kidnaping and murder have no statute of limitations in US courts. If one can prove a person or persons
[or company] is guilty of kidnaping or murder, the guilty party can be penalized in a court of a law for
the crimes and a different court for the same crime but instead of needing a unanimous verdict, the
claim by the plaintiff needs only a preponderance of verdict to win.
It further seems to me that if a “Wealthy company in the US” would finance the
investigation of slave trading that is currently going on both covertly and overtly in the US, Mexico, and
the West Coast of Africa, and get some proof, one could use the actions of the slave traders who
brought the slaves to the US as part proof and get an easy conviction, in absentia, then, take the
judgment to both the federal government in each African nation and separately, have an IT company
discover where the slave traders hide their resources and “Capture” those
resources and have it directed, instead, to the plaintiff’s account.
An internet history search on the history of slavery discloses the following: “When the Portuguese first
sailed down the Atlantic coast of Africa in the 1430's, they were interested in gold. Mansa Musa, the
king of Mali, made his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1325, with 500 slaves and 100 camels (each carrying
gold). The region had become synonymous with such wealth. There was one problem: trade from sub
Saharan Africa was controlled by the Islamic Empire which stretched along Africa's northern coast.
Muslim trade routes across the Sahara, which had existed for centuries, involved salt, kola, textiles, fish,
grain, and slaves.
As the Portuguese extended their influence around the coast, [Mauritania, Senagambia (by 1445) and
Guinea], they created trading posts. Rather than becoming direct competitors to the Muslim merchants,
the expanding market opportunities in Europe and the Mediterranean resulted in increased trade across
the Sahara. In addition, the Portuguese merchants gained access to the interior via the Senegal and
Gambia rivers which bisected longstanding transSaharan routes.
The Portuguese brought in copper ware, cloth, tools, wine and horses. (Trade goods soon included arms
and ammunition.) In exchange, the Portuguese received gold (transported from mines of the Akan
deposits), pepper (a trade which lasted until Vasco da Gama reached India in 1498) and ivory.
There was a very small market for African slaves as domestic workers in Europe, and as workers on the
sugar plantations of the Mediterranean. However, the Portuguese found they could make considerable
amounts of gold transporting slaves from one trading post to another, along the Atlantic coast of Africa.
Muslim merchants had an insatiable appetite for slaves, which were used as porters on the trans
Saharan routes (with a high mortality rate), and for sale in the Islamic Empire.
The Portuguese found Muslim merchants entrenched along the African coast as far as the Blight of
Benin. The slave coast, as the Blight of Benin was known, was reached by the Portuguese at the start of
the 1470's. It was not until they reached the Kongo coast in the 1480's that they outdistanced Muslim
trading territory.
The first of the major European trading 'forts', Elmina, was founded on the Gold Coast in 1482. Elmina
(originally known as Sao Jorge de Mina) was modelled on the Castello de Sao Jorge, the first of the
Portuguese Royal residence in Lisbon. Elmina, which of course, means the mine, became a major
trading centre for slaves purchased along the slave rivers of Benin.
By the beginning of the colonial era there were forty such forts operating along the coast. Rather than
being icons of colonial domination, the forts acted as trading posts they rarely saw military action
the fortifications were important, however, when arms and ammunition were being stored prior to
trade.”
Slave
exports
from
Africa
on the
Trans
Atlantic
route
Period Number of %
slaves
accounted for
14501500 [81,000]1
1. Mainly traded as a commodity along the
Atlantic coast for gold as well as a small
number exported to Europe and Atlantic
islands.
2. Does not include up to 50,000 slaves
exported to Europe and Atlantic islands.
3. Includes those exported as contract
labourers or libertos by the French and
Portuguese.
Source: Transformations in Slavery
by Paul E. Lovejoy
Cambridge University Press, 2000,
ISBN 052178430Derived from
tables: 2.1 and 3.1
From Alistair BoddyEvans,
Your Guide to African History Related ArticlesSlavery in the Modern Age; Slavery banned in
the UK since 1807 Hidden Slave Trade
The TransAtlantic Slave Trade.Biography: Idi Amin Dada Apartheid Legislation in South Africa Short
Biography: Stephen Bantu (Steve) Biko African History: 16 June 1976 Student Uprising in
Soweto.
With photo evidence, witnesses and intermittent necessary hacking of bank records,
a team could “Fairly easy” identify most of the current slave traders in Africa [as a start]
and help [involuntarily to the traders] move their bank accounts to neutral banks in
European nations.
As this imaginary team gains more skills and insider knowledge, they can expand to
all other nations known to be actively trading in humans.
Inevitably, lawsuits can be created in US courts and with judgments beneficial to the
plaintiffs [exslaves], more PR can be created to stifle those slave traders not yet caught.
[Whether or not child labor in India and Asia is considered slavery is debatable.]