Origins of European African Slave Trade

Origins of European African Slave Trade
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Introduction
The European Africa trade started in the 16th century1. There were several motivations
behind the starting and thriving of the trade. It is important to note that slavery existed even
before the start of the European African slave trade. The European African slave trade has is
usually referred to as the transatlantic slave trade. The Portuguese could be attributed to the
start of slave trade. In the late 15th century, Portuguese went to Africa in search for a sea route
to India. It was during their voyage that they came to Northern Africa. Here, the trade was
dominated by the Muslims. The Muslims practiced slavery. They would capture people and
use them as slaves while carrying out their trade. Due to this, the Portuguese soon started
trading for slaves. They would buy slaves from the Muslims and transport them to Portugal to
provide cheap labour. Later, in the 17th century Britain joined and dominated the slave trade2.
Britain had acquired a new colony in America. The colony had plenty of land for farming.
Due to this, the British required a source labour in their plantations. The British could not
efficiently provide labour to the plantations because they demanded high pay. Therefore,
there was need to source for a cheaper source of labour. The indigenous people were not a
good option because they were often prone to diseases3. In addition, Indentured servants from
Britain were too low to meet the labour demand. Therefore, the best option for sourcing
labour remained to be the transatlantic slave trade. The main reason for the start and thriving
of the transatlantic slave trade was the need for cheap labour in European plantations
1. Thomas, Helen. "20 The Slave Narrative." Handbook of Transatlantic North
American Studies 3 (2016): 373.
2. Horne, Gerald. "The United States and The Transatlantic Slave Trade to The
Americas, 1776-1867." Civil War Book Review 19, no. 1 (2017): 27.
3. Marques, Leonardo. The United States and the transatlantic slave trade to the
Americas, 1776-1867. Yale University Press, 2016. 14

A Brief History of the Trade
Slavery is as old as the first large civilizations. Although this is the case, there is a
sense in which the European African slave trade is unique. This trade is referred to as the
transatlantic slave trade. There are several characteristics of the transatlantic slave trade that
make it quite unique from other forms of slave trade practised elsewhere. The first unique
characteristic relates to the magnitude of the trade. Extensive historical research reveals that
about 12.5 Africans were transported from Africa towards the Americas to work as slaves4.
This trade happened between the beginning of the 16th century to 1866. Extensive evidence
reveals that at this time, slave trade was more common in Africa than at any other part of the
world5. The other unique feature of the transatlantic slave trade is that it has a system in place
to capture and supply slaves. In most cases through the historical times, slaves were usually a
by product of wars. Rarely were there armed conflicts with the sole aim of acquiring slaves.
The two aspects illustrated above show that the transatlantic trade was unique when
compared to other forms of slave trade practised throughout history. The main question that
one may ask themselves is what were the origins of this trade. What motivated the Europeans
to carry out slave trade for about four centuries? This is going to be the focus of the following
sections. There must have been certain motivations behind the transatlantic slave trade.
One of the main motivations of the slave trade was its profitability6. It benefited the
Europeans since it provided a cheap source of labour. It also benefited the Muslim sellers for
they could obtain some money from the Europeans as a compensation for providing the
slaves. This explains why the exchange of slaves is referred to as a trade. Africa did not have
great agricultural produce since there was no use of agricultural technology. Europeans on the
4. Davidson, Julia O'Connell. "Rights talk, wrong comparison: trafficking and
transatlantic slavery." Social and Economic Studies 65, no. 4 (2016). 132
5. Kelley, Sean M. "American Rum, African Consumers, and the Transatlantic Slave
Trade." African Economic History 46, no. 2 (2018). 7.
6. Swaminathan, Srividhya. Debating the slave trade: Rhetoric of British national
identity, 1759–1815. Routledge, 2016. 28

other hand, had the ability of producing more yields since they had more advanced
agricultural technology. Due to this, the Europeans always had adequate resources to pay for
the slaves. The economic aspect of the trade seems to be the main motivation behind
participation of both Muslims (sellers) and Europeans (buyers) in transatlantic slave trade.
Therefore, the technological differences between European and African farmers contributed
to the trade.
Military factors played a role in influencing the beginnings of the Europeans African
slave trade7. In the beginnings of the European African slave trade, Spain and Portugal had
the greatest milliarc powers in Europe. This gave them an upper hand when it came to
starting and controlling the slave trade. It is important to note that when the Portuguese first
went to Africa, they were not searching for slaves. Instead, they were searching for gold.
Their interaction with the Muslims inculcated the idea of slave trade. The Muslims dominated
trading in the region and used slaves to accomplish most of their transport endeavours. The
slave trade started between 1600 and 17008. At this time, the slave trade was completely
controlled by Spain and Portugal. As noted above, this is because they had military
dominance. During the 17th century, the military dominance of these two countries was
challenged by European powers from the north9. Due to this, Britain and France had become
significant players in the slave trade. Although this is the case, most of the slaves went to
wither Britain or Portugal. There exists evidence to show that more than 70% of slaves at this
time went to either Portugal or Britain. The military strength of the two countries was
7. Gøbel, Erik. "Transatlantic Slave Trade Shipping." In the Danish Slave Trade and Its
Abolition. BRILL, 2016. 28
8. Drescher, Seymour. "The Atlantic slave trade and the Holocaust: A comparative analysis."
In Is the Holocaust Unique? Routledge, 2018. 105
9. Fenske, James, and Namrata Kala. "1807: Economic shocks, conflict and the slave trade."
Journal of Development Economics 126 (2017): 70.