Unveiled, ostracized, and piteous stood our ancestors in plantations, after being coerced

into dehumanization some 400 years ago. Though other ethnicities existed, the Africans were

somehow indispensable to the Europeans, who undoubtedly enslaved millions of Africans in the

Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Chivallon defines the slave trade as “The organization of the circuits

through which the commerce of captive human beings occurred, while slavery constitutes the

finality of this traffic, namely the use of slave labour.”( 3). What caused the Europeans to resort

to slavery? The importation of Africans for enslavement occurred due to physical, economic,

ecological, social, and religious reasons. Each of these reasons will be adequately discussed with

the aid of historical facts from various sources.

The importation of Africans for enslavement occurred due to physical reasons. "Physical"

means the bodily position of the Africans and the characteristics of their location. Before delving

in, the question is why the Europeans required slaves in the first place. In the tropical parts of the

New World, the need for labour forces was extremely high, because commodities like tobacco

and sugar needed to be refined, for subsequent export to Europe. The motive of the Europeans

was maximum financial gain, so the acquisition of a labour force had to be a cheap venture.

Unlike countries like India and China, the distance from Africa to the Caribbean presented a

short voyage, with minimum costs. In addition, there was a gap in technology between Africa

and Europe in terms of the production of goods. Therefore, if Africans could provide desirable

and marketable commodities for European buyers, large profits would be generated.

Unfortunately, the desirable product turned out to be slaves. (Angeles, 13) Furthermore, there

was a ‘universal’ practice of enslaving culturally different people; a slave was always an

outsider. An outsider because he was born in a different society to the one where he was

introduced as a slave. The cultural fragmentation within Africa contributed to this perception of
slaves. In essence, the distance from Africa, the technological gaps and cultural fragmentation,

all contributed to the enslavement of Africans.

The importation of Africans for enslavement occurred due to economic reasons. As you

will notice, the common theme within all these reasons is the maximum acquisition of wealth by

the Europeans – by any means necessary. The trading of African slaves proved to be very

profitable for both African and European prospects. If Africans wanted to purchase European

commodities, they had to provide a product that could be shipped overseas at a minimal cost.

Gold and ivory were frugal, but manufacturing them was limited to one location, hence their

supply was limited. The result was the export of the labour used in agriculture as opposed to

agricultural commodities. So here it is, gold and ivory were available for trade, but due to their

inability to accommodate the Europeans economically, the Africans had to turn to trade slaves.

The economic benefits of employing slaves to work were highest in labour-intensive activities

such as sugar production. Correspondingly, enslavers decided that work could be coerced from

slaves through inflicting pain. (Angeles,10) As expected, pain incentives were indeed utilized for

the economic advantage of the enslavers. To sum up, the trading of slaves and the utilization of

slave labour was economically accommodative to the Europeans.

The importation of Africans for enslavement occurred due to religious reasons. Religion

and the state fortified each other; kings and emperors benefited from the validity that only

religious authorities possessed. While coordinated religions could benefit from development and

maintenance by becoming the official creed of a state. A nation united through the correlation of

religious and political entities established exceptional military forces. Therefore, the Europeans

deemed it necessary to use Christianity as not only justification for slavery but legitimacy and

possible expansion. They believed that Africans were the descendants of Ham and Canaan, who
were blighted into bondage by Noah, for Ham's transgressions. (Battle, 2) Imagine, some slave

owners allowed slaves to attend church services, but certainly to benefit the slaves! Some

preachers argued that the sermons on the admonition in the scriptures of Ephesians and

Colossians, "slaves, obey your earthly master," would encourage slaves to be obedient. Then, to

make matters worse, Europeans dismissed religious practices of Africans as mere superstitions

and evil. Overall, the Europeans used religion to justify enslavement, while condemning any

remnants of African religion.

The importation of Africans for enslavement occurred due to ecological reasons. The

following statements will show how the natural ecology of the Africans was utilized by the

Europeans to make up for the predisposition of other ethnicities; The indigenous Amerindian

population immediately plummeted after the first European explorers arrived. Seemingly, the

Amerindians had no immunity against everyday diseases in the Old World such as the common

cold, scarlet fever or even the flu. Contrastingly, Africans were resistant to diseases that were

plaguing the Americas. Hence, this greatly contributed to the inauguration of African slavery in

those regions. Specifically, the resistance of Africans to malaria increased the profitability of

utilizing African slave labour, especially with slaves who originated from the most malaria-

inflicted parts of Africa. Incompetence of a nation is simply not a sufficient reason for enslaving

another, but again, it accommodated the motives of the Europeans. In addition, the lifestyle of

the Africans made them skilled in labour. In West Africa, before slavery, most Africans were

‘hunter-gatherers.’ In heavily wooded areas around the equator, African farmers engaged in the

raising of crops such as yam, plantain, millet, and rice. Consequently, their experience in farming

and reaping crops made them adequate in the eyes of the Europeans. In brief, the lifestyle and
ecology of the Africans were superior to other ethnicities, making them suitable candidates as

labourers for the Europeans.

The importation of Africans for enslavement occurred due to social reasons. Africans

were disqualified as human beings while simultaneously being indispensable to the Europeans

for the accumulation of profits. In the eye of the enslaver, the slaves had no social status. How

contradictory! The labourers who enabled the profitability of the Europeans were not even

acknowledged for their work! Moreover, to add insult to injury, the Europeans tried to justify

enslavement with pre-existing slavery in Africa. Prior to the Trans- Atlantic slave trade, slave

trades existed within Africa and comprised of large numbers of slaves. These pre-historic forms

of slavery in Africa depicted slaves as a designation or class within society. Often, it was entirely

possible for slaves to escape slave states and even become a part of new communities. However,

the unequivocal truth, is that no prior instance of slavery in history could supersede the Trans-

Atlantic slave trade. In short, the Europeans regarded the slaves with no social status and

attempted to justify the extent of their enslavement by prehistoric slavery.

In conclusion, no prehistoric instance of slavery could supersede or justify the Trans-

Atlantic slave trade instituted by the Europeans. The reasons for the enslavement of Africans

were grouped into physical, economic, ecological, social, and religious categories. The location

of the Africans and the labour they provided were profitable to the Europeans. While Europeans

used religion and ecology to justify enslavement and rendered no social status to the Africans.

Did the ends really justify the means?

References:

“African Societies and the Beginning of the Atlantic Slave Trade (Article).” Khan Academy,

Khan Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/precontact-and-

early-colonial-era/before-contact/a/african-societies-and-the-beginning-of-the-atlantic-

slave-trade#:~:text=Early%20West%20African%20society&text=Until%20about

%20600%20CE%2C%20most,%2C%20palm%20products%2C%20or%20plantains.

Angeles, Luis. On the Causes of the African Slave Trade - University of Glasgow.

https://www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_248866_smxx.pdf.

“The Atlantic Slave Trade.” South African History Online, 14 Nov. 2011,

https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/atlantic-slave-trade.

Battle , Mary. “LDHI - Lowcountry Digital History Initiative · Lowcountry Digital History

Initiative.” Lowcountry Digital History Initiative, http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/.

Chivallon, Christine. “The Slave Trade As A Founding Event.” The Black Diaspora of the

Americas: Experiences and Theories out of the Caribbean, Ian Randle Publishers,

Kingston Etc., 2011, pp. 3–12.

Emmer, Pieter. “Atlantic Slave Trade (the).” Encyclopédie D'histoire Numérique De L'Europe, 5

Feb. 21AD, https://ehne.fr/en/encyclopedia/themes/europe-europeans-and-world/europe-

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Thurman, Jake. “Read: The Transatlantic Slave Trade (Article).” Khan Academy, Khan

Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/whp-origins/era-5-the-first-global-

age/54-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-betaa/a/read-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-beta.