American History

Abstract

The paper discusses about the slave trade as a mechanism whereby slavery spread outward from Africa during the early modern period. But forced migration of slaves across the Atlantic did not represent the origins of the slave trade. As various scholars have demonstrated, an earlier slave trade had led to the relocation of thousands of Africans to the East long before Christopher Columbus ever sailed to the West. Slavery, which existed when scribes wrote both the Old and New Testaments, appeared in the Koran as well; in that sacred text slave holders learned that they should be willing to offer freedom to the slaves they kept in bondage if the slaves could afford to purchase their liberation. But many Muslims, like other peoples in the world, nonetheless participated in the slave trade. One historian has estimated that slave traders arranged for the transportation of 4,820,000 slaves across the Sahara between 650 and 1600. During the 10th and 11th centuries, when this trade hit its peak, perhaps 8,700 slaves left their homelands through this trade each year, although by the 15th century the annual rate had dipped to approximately 4,300 (before rising again, during the 16th century, to 5,500 per year). These numbers are estimates based on a variety of sources. But whatever the precise figure, there is no doubt that the eastern slave trade took hundreds of thousands of Africans from their communities to new lives. Once enslaved, men might become soldiers, grooms, scholars, clerks, and secretaries; female slaves found themselves as concubines, musicians, cooks, or domestic workers. Although many of the enslaved might have landed in North Africa or southern Europe, others traveled much farther; substantial numbers made it as far as India and China.

Table of Contents

Introduction5

Discussion6

Discovering America6

The American Indian Preface to European Colonization7

Spanish Missions in the New World11

English Protestantism Transplanted to the New World14

American Revolutionary War15

The Role of Native Americans in the War21

Indians and the War22

Result of Revolutionary War23

Conclusion25

References28



American History

Introduction

Between 1701 and 1808 no fewer than 2 million Africans were imported into the North American continent as slaves. They were brought in by slavers working the triangular route—from Europe with trade goods, to the west coast of Africa for slaves, and to the American slave markets for sugar and valuable raw materials. The identity of the slavers is a largely unexplored aspect of the slave trade, but it is known that the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and Americans were most heavily involved before the trade was banned in 1808. It is estimated that between 13 and 33 percent of the slaves loaded aboard slave ships died during the transatlantic leg of the voyage, with the lower number finding favor among recent researchers. Although the records are incomplete on both sides of the Atlantic, the total of slaves sold in America seems to be about 13 percent lower than that purchased in Africa.

Discussion

The rise of agrarian European colonies in the New World created an urgent demand for labor; strong workers were needed to harvest the raw materials of the ...