Africa and Atlantic World Smore
Wendy Bede and Hannan Sylla
Describe the social effects of the slave trade.
Firstly it affected African countries by very effectively depleting them. Also, because the strength of young African men, they were picked from their homelands and taken, leaving the sex ratio very uneven (2/3 of Africa were women). This led to polygamy in Africa and forced women to do jobs that men otherwise had done.
Describe the political effects of the slave trade.
One example of political effects of the slave trade includes an increased number of wars, which were both distantly or directly related to the slave trade. Another way was that some African states turned on each other. For example, the Dahomey people would trade slaves from neighboring communities for firearms. The more they traded the more firearms they obtained, making it easier and easier for them to raid other communities.
How did the plantation system work in the New World (What cash crops were produced?
The plantations first started appearing in Haiti and the Dominican Republic but eventually spread to Mexico, the Americas, and the Caribbean. Some of the cash crops produced included, first and foremost, sugar, then tobacco, cotton, indigo, and coffee. They specialized in a certain type of cash crop and were operated by Europeans or Euro-Americans and labored on by imported African slaves.
How did slaves resist? (Forms of resistance?)
A mild resistance from the slaves included working slowly and poorly for their masters, sabotaging the farm equipment, and other ways of being unprofitable. Another was running away and starting maroon colonies in the mountains, forests, or swamps. The most extreme was slave revolts, which terrified masters. Since they had such large numbers and some military experience, they proved worthy opponents to the masters, but the Europeans had access to firearms, horses, and the military, resulting in the disintegration of the revolts. One revolt actually worked, the Hatians who revolted against the French and declared independence.