Origins of Slave Trade -50-

LEARNING AREA: HISTORY

TOPIC: Slavery and Slave Trade

SUB-TOPIC: Slave Trade in Africa

OBJECTIVES: 1.Describe the slavery and slave trade in Africa.

INTRODUCTION

S lavery existed worldwide though on different proportions. It degenerated into slave

trade. Indeed, slave trade was the worst crime ever committed against humanity by
humanity. Africans were at the receiving end as its development was brought to a
standstill.

ACTIVITY

❖ Carryout a research on various forms of slavery in 21st century

 • A slave is a person who is owned like property by another and is under that person’s total
control.
• Slaves were usually captured during wars or raids
• They were forced to work for the slave master without any form of payment.
• Slaves were treated like commodities or domestic animals which could be bought or sold
on the market wily nilly.
• To that end slavery is the practice or system of owning slaves.
• Slave trade was a system of buying and selling human beings.

NB: If a slave was married the family belonged to the

slave master and the family members could be sold to
different masters. This means that the children of
slaves were born slaves. Some slave masters could
choose to breed slaves and then sell them at a profit.

• It is important to note that in East Africa, the slave trade was started by the Muslims,
around the Indian Ocean.
• The Muslims bought slaves in East Africa and sold them in Asia.
• In West African the Atlantic or the Triangular slave trade was started by the Portuguese
in the 1440s.
• Initially, Portuguese took Africans to Lisbon for the purpose of educating and then return
them to civilize their fellow Africans.
• However, they never returned as they became victims of slavery.
• The Portuguese bought Africans and took them as slaves to Portugal to work as
household or farm servants.

NB: The worst example of both slavery and the slave trade in human history took place
from about 1500 to 1900 AD. This was the ;
Atlantic Trade (West African trade in which millions of Americans were shipped
across to the Atlantic Ocean and sold in slavery in North America, South America and
the West Indies popularly known as the New World.

During this period slave trade was lucrative. Several countries participated in this trade namely:
✓ Portugal
✓ Spain
✓ France
✓ Britain
✓ Holland (The Netherlands)
✓ Denmark
✓ Germany
✓ The United States of America
✓ Brazil and others

ACTIVITY
To what extent did slave trade lead to under development of Africa?

MAGUTA TAFARA
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Causes of Slave Trade in Africa -51-

LEARNING AREA: HISTORY

TOPIC: Slavery and Slave Trade

SUB-TOPIC: Slave Trade in Africa

OBJECTIVES: 1.Describe the causes of slave trade in Africa.

INTRODUCTION

Slave trade was a result of both events obtaining in Africa and factors in the New World.
However, most of the factors were peddled in order to exonerate the West from the worst
crimes against the Africans. Some of these factors will be explored below.

ACTIVITY
❖ Carryout a research on causes of slavery in early Zimbabwean societies.
• Perhaps the discovery of huge mineral deposits in the New World led to the rise of the
slave trade. Indeed, around1530huge gold deposits were discovered in the Spanish Puerto
Rico and in the New World. Such minerals were on great demand in the European
industries and as more mines were opened up the demand for cheap labor increased hence
slave trade.
• The emergence of plantation agriculture influenced the rise of the slave trade. Plantations
of various crops were set up in the New World areas such as Brazil and West Indies.
Acute shortage of cheap labour arose and slave labour was sought hence the birth of slave
trade.
• The crops that were grown on plantations in the New World includes:
✓ tobacco,
✓ sugar cane,
✓ cotton,
✓ coffee,
✓ cocoa,
✓ cassava
✓ and others.
• It is essential to note that the most outstanding plantations were those of sugar cane.
• European industrialization after 1900 has been put forward to explain the rise of the slave
trade.
• This was so because the rapid development of industries in Europe called for a constant
supply of raw materials.
• Cheap labour was therefore required to work for the supply of raw materials hence the
birth of slave trade.
• Another factor in the rise of slave trade was personal glory. A young Portuguese called
Anthem Gonzaloes. Gonzaloes is believed to have captured male and female slaves from
Africa for personal glory. He handed the slaves to Prince Henry who intended to convert
the slaves to Christianity and send them back to Africa ad Missionaries. However these
slaves never returned to Africa as they were sold as domestic slaves.
• Slaves were also required for domestic use. The Portuguese who started the slave trade
needed slaves to work as domestic servants. At first the slaves were taken to the
Americas. Slaves had accumulated in Lisbon and the Portuguese soon realized that they
could make huge profits by selling slaves to the New World. Some slave owners began
to breed slaves for sale.

• In Africa, human beings were sold for criminal records, failure to pay tribute, and war
captives. some of the people who were sold are:

✓ War captives
✓ Witches and wizards
✓ Murdered
✓ Rapists
• Hence the need to get rid of those with anti-social behaviors led to slave trade.

• It was greediness of African leaders. Some Africans wanted to accumulate wealth and get
western products hence the rise of slave trade.

ACTIVITY
Describe the causes of slave trade in Africa.

MAGUTA TAFARA
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Reasons for the enslavement of Africans -52-

LEARNING AREA: HISTORY

TOPIC: Slavery and Slave Trade

SUB-TOPIC: Slave Trade in Africa

OBJECTIVES: 1.Describe the reasons for the enslavement of Africans

INTRODUCTION
When plantations and mines were established in the New World criminals from Europe and red
Indians were used as labor. The question which boggles one’s mind is why then was Africans
enslaved? Indeed, the reasons for the enslavement of Africans are an issue of great debate
among historians. Some of these factors will be explored below.

ACTIVITY
❖ Carryout a research on why Africans were chosen ahead of Europeans.
• Africans were believed to be very strong and hard working

• They were resistant to tropical diseases such as malaria, sleeping sickness, yellow fever
and others.
• In fact, the American Indians who were once enslaved by the European plantation
owners and white servants died in large numbers from tropical diseases.
• Africans had the ability to endure difficulties
• They were used to both harsh working and living conditions
• Africans were less rebellious and usually conciliatory
• Africans were experienced in agriculture and ironwork
• The Africans were militarily weak and poor
• They were cheap to maintain
• The Europeans regarded themselves as a superior race and Africans were regarded as
inferior.
• Indeed, the notion that Africans were the hewers of wood and drawers of water led to
their enslavement.
 ACTIVITY
Describe the reasons for the enslavement of Africans.

MAGUTA TAFARA
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Methods of Obtaining Slaves -53-

LEARNING AREA: HISTORY

TOPIC: Slavery and Slave Trade

SUB-TOPIC: Slave Trade in Africa

OBJECTIVES: 1. Describe the methods which were used to obtain slaves in Africa.

INTRODUCTION
The Western world used several methods to obtain slaves in Africa. Indeed, the Europeans
brought with them factory seconds to acquire as many slaves as they could. It is vital to note no
amount of money or product can be equated to human beings. Most of the slaves were obtained
through raiding and kidnapping. Some of these methods will be explored below.

ACTIVITY
Carryout a research on why African chiefs were involved in slave trade?

• kidnapping involved the enslavement of isolated African individuals. Lone travelers and
weak subjects were kidnapped and sold to the slave dealers. This method was commonly
used in West Africa especially in the dense forest areas.

• Another common method that was used to obtain slaves was raiding. Raiding involved an
organized and concerted attack on a settlement with the purpose of taking away strong
and able bodied people.

• Raiding was especially used by the Portuguese in West Africa were African villages were
attacked by armed gangs. Houses and granaries were burnt and men, women and even
children were taken to be sold to the slave merchant.

• Slave warfare was another method that was used in Africa to obtain slaves. After inter-
group and inter-state wars in Africa, prisoners of war were often sold into slavery.

• Exchanging slaves for Europeans manufactured goods was very common during the
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

• It was carried out between the Europeans and the African ruling classes such as the kings,
chiefs, headmen and traditional priests. The method involved bartering European
manufactured goods for human beings to take as slaves.

• The commodities were received by the African rulers in return for slaves were:

✓ Guns and gun powder

✓ Textiles
✓ Copper bars
✓ Wine
✓ Beads
✓ Mirrors
✓ Tobacco and many others

• Slave traders also used trickery or cheating to obtain slaves from Africa.
• European merchants would approach the African rulers with European merchandise to
exchange for African goods such as ivory, gold, beeswax, animal skins and others.
• The European merchants would buy the African goods and hire able-bodied men and
women to carry their goods to the coast.
• Upon arrival at the coast, the European merchants would sell the porters as slaves and the
Africans would have been tricked.
• Judicial enslavement involved rulers sentencing people found guilty of various crimes for
deportation into slavery.

• Voluntary submission whereby , an individual could enslave himself or herself or family.

This was usually done to redeem oneself from poverty in times of drought and famine.
• Resale of domestic slaves could be resold by their masters.

ACTIVITY
Describe the methods which were used to obtain slaves in Africa.

MAGUTA TAFARA
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Impact of Slavery and Slave Trade in Africa -54-

LEARNING AREA: HISTORY

TOPIC: Slavery and Slave Trade

SUB-TOPIC: Impact of Slavery and Slave Trade in Africa

OBJECTIVES: 1. Describe the positive effects of slavery and slave trade on the African
continent.

INTRODUCTION
• Firstly, Coastal Kingdoms such as Asante, Dahomey and Oyo accumulated wealth and
became rich and powerful. These powerful states got guns through the slave trade and
they used the guns to attack the weaker groups, defeat them and absorbed them thereby
expanding their states.

• Secondly, Africa got several imports, particularly luxury goods, through the export of
slaves. She got such goods as guns, ammunition, alcohol, tobacco, sugar, textiles and
many more.

• Some of the goods became symbols of power and prestige for some African rulers.

• Africa also benefited the introduction of new crops such as maize, pine apples, cassava
and others. These crops were brought by the slave merchants who exchanged them for
slaves. Crops such as maize, cassava, citrus fruits and other became staple diet in
Africa.

• Socially, African benefited the birth of new languages such as Swahili which improved
communication. New languages in Africa resulted from the mixture of African
languages and foreign languages such as the European and Arabic languages.

• The slave trade and slavery also affected Europe and the Americans.

What were the positive effects of the slave trade and slavery in Europe?
• In Western Europe, especially in Britain, slave merchants made huge profits from the
slave business and they became bankers and they financed new businesses.

• The slave trade played an important role in providing British industry with access to raw
materials and this contributed to increased production of manufactured goods.

• The profits gained from the slave trade gave the British economy an extra source of
capital. The Americans and Africa became useful additional export markets for British
goods (manufactured).

• British industry benefited by supplying factory made goods in exchange for slaves and
the profits made in the slave trade provided money for investment in British industry.

• Banks and insurance companies which offered services to slave merchants expanded and
made cities such as London very wealthy.

• Plantation owners in the Americas made huge profits by using slave labour (free labour)
on the plantations

❖ Carryout a research on the question, ‘Did African benefit from slave trade? “

ACTIVITY
Describe the positive effects of slavery and slave trade on the African continent.

MAGUTA TAFARA
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Impact of Slavery and Slave Trade in Africa - 55-

LEARNING AREA: HISTORY

TOPIC: Slavery and Slave Trade

SUB-TOPIC: Impact of Slavery and Slave Trade in Africa

OBJECTIVES: 1. Describe the negative effects of slavery and slave trade on the African
continent.

INTRODUCTION
• Depopulation in Africa was caused by slave trade. The population of Africa was reduced
by the removal and killing of millions of Africans

• To add on, many Africans died during the slave trade and the death rate of enslaved
people was horrific. It is estimated that at least two million enslaved Africans died on the
Middle Passage across the Atlantic and in the Americans the death rate was also very
high, not to mention the grant numbers of Africans who died during wars to capture
slaves.

• Furthermore, Africa lost economically productive personnel

Remember learners the slave masters preferred slaves between the ages of fifteen to
thirty-five of which was the age group needed to economically boost Africa. This is
perhaps the reason why Africa still struggles to economically develop.

• Indigenous mining and craft work declined when the able-bodied personnel to do the
mining and craft work were taken to the New World
• African agriculture also suffered because due to wars to capture slaves, no crop growing
took place and African animals either died or were slaughtered or raided by the enemies.
This led to the long-term impoverishment of Africa especially West Africa.
• The slave trade also led to the breakdown of African families,
• It tore apart the African family fabric as families were separated.
• Fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters were shipped to the Americans and some died
during raids leaving behind many widows and orphans.
• Politically, weak states were completely destroyed during slave raids. Their people were
captured and sold as slaves and the kings whose states were destroyed lost political
autonomy and they were reduced to slaves.

• The slave trade also led to general insecurity and distrust among Africans as the result of
raids and wars to obtain slaves.

• People lived in constant fear of being attacked.

• Slave wars also caused disunity among the Africans which eased the colonization of
Africa by the Europeans.

❖ Carryout a research on the question, ‘To what extent was African development
hindered by slave trade? “

ACTIVITY
Describe the negative effects of slavery and slave trade on the African continent.

MAGUTA TAFARA
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
 -56-
LEARNING AREA: HISTORY

TOPIC: Slavery and Slave Trade

SUB-TOPIC: Impact of Slavery and Slave Trade in Africa

OBJECTIVES: 1. Describe the negative effects of slavery and slave trade on the African
continent.

INTRODUCTION
Slave trade was abolished in 1807 but it continued well after its abolition. The abolition of slave
trade was spear headed by missionaries and humanitarians. Some of the leading abolitionists
were as follows
▪ John Wesley
▪ Samuel Johnson
▪ Adam Smith
▪ Jeanne Jacques Rousseau
▪ Granville Sharp
▪ William Wilberforce
▪ Daniel Defore
▪ Fowle Buxton
▪ James Stephen
 ACTIVITY
1. Research on the International laws which prohibited slavery and slave trade.

The reasons for the abolition were as follows:

▪ Humanitarian factors
▪ Evangelical factors
▪ Industrial revolution
▪ Principle of human equality
▪ Enactment of laws
▪ Trade in humans was no longer profitable than trade with Africans.
▪ British economic boom.
 ACTIVITY
1a. State any six abolitionists of slave trade
b. Describe the abolition of slave trade.

MAGUTA TAFARA
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
 -57-
LEARNING AREA: HISTORY

TOPIC: Slavery and Slave Trade

SUB-TOPIC: Impact of Slavery and Slave Trade in Africa

OBJECTIVES: 1. Describe the negative effects of slavery and slave trade on the African
continent.

INTRODUCTION
There are several factors which explain why the slave trade Western powers continued with slave
trade and slavery well after its abolition.

ACTIVITY
1. Research on the reasons for resistance for abolition of slave trade by some western powers.

Some of the reasons includes but not limited to:

• Treaties were not effective as most African chiefs ignored them
• Slave trade was lucrative
• Most European countries had not yet industrialised like Britain.
 • The position of ports such as Nembe, Kalabari to mention but a few in mass creeks which
had several exits could load and transport slaves from Africa.
• Resistance was induced by national pride. For example the Bony
• Loss of independence by African states despite abolition of slave trade.
• The coastline was too long for the British navy to patrol
• Slave ships could hide in creeks and lagoons
• Its continuation ion Brazil, Portugal, U.S.A and France
• The British could only legally stop British ships.
 U.S.A outlawed slave trade in 1863, Cuba 1866 which spelt the end of slave trade.

ACTIVITY
Why did it take so long to abolish slave trade?

MAGUTA TAFARA
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
 -58-
LEARNING AREA: HISTORY

TOPIC: Slavery and Slave Trade

SUB-TOPIC: Impact of Slavery and Slave Trade in Africa

OBJECTIVES: 1. Describe the negative effects of slavery and slave trade on the African
continent.

INTRODUCTION
Both slavery and slave trade had far reaching political, social and economic impact on Africa. It
was the worst crimes committed by humanity against humanity. Indeed it was the darkest
episodes of African history.

ACTIVITY
1. Research on the impact of slave wars in the African communities during the
colonial era.

• It induced civil and or interstate wars which were fatal and bloody
• Raiding and slave wars led to misery bloodshed and destruction
• Collapse of states such as Oyo
• Development of advanced states such as Dahomey
• Encouraged importation of western products
• Influx of cheap foreign goods
• It led to hunger and famine
• Destruction of family fabric
• Africa lost young and able bodied populace
• It created an atmosphere of insecurity
• It was responsible for late development of late development of cash crop production in
Africa
• Slavery led to unpardonable destruction of humans
• It dehumanized Africans
• It was accompanied by the spread of christianity

ACTIVITY
Describe the negative effects of slavery and slave trade on the African continent.
 MAGUTA TAFARA
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License