Africa and The Atlantic Slave Trade
By: Neel Paithankar and Phani Gollamudi
Social Structure of The Slave Trade
The man-hunt which raged through Africa bred and sustained inter-tribal hostility, and so contributed to the present-day instability of the continent’s internal relationships. The wars fomented by slavers also unmasked the demon of brutality which lurks in the background of the Negro soul no less than it haunts the white men’s; for centuries it knew no moral censor and burst out of control. The Africans’ dark obsession with death and evil spirits, their grotesque and awful superstitions, the macabre humour and relish with which they explore the depths of other people’s fears and torments, were all now released and given full rein.
Political Structure of The Atlantic Slave Trade
Plantation Systems In New World
Most slaves brought over during the 17th century were on the same social status as indentured servants
· Slave plantations began to dominant the South after the sugar revolution in the Caribbean
· Most people in the American South were European, not slaves
· Where the majority of the population was slaves (like South Carolina) most worked with Europeans who were free
· Fewer than half of the salves belonged to plantation owners who owned 30 or more slaves
· The slave population began to increase faster (more births and lower mortality rates)