Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade

The triangular trade did a huge impact on Africa's economy. If you ask yourself why Africa is so poor today, you must know that the triangular trade is one of the main reasons. The Atlantic save trade formed one part of a three-legged trade network called triangular trade. The first step of this trade was when merchant ships brought manufactured goods to Africa to be traded for slaves. The second step, called the Middle Passage, was when slaves were transported to West Indies where they were sold or exchanged for raw materials such as sugar, molasses, tobacco, cotton, and other products. and the last was when these raw materials were shipped back to Europe or European colonies in the Americas. Between 1650 and 1860, about 10 to 15 million enslaved people were transported from Western Africa to the Americas. Most were shipped to the West Indies, Central America, and South America. In 1500, about 2000 Africans were sent to the Americas each year. This trade caused decline of some African states and the rise of others, and the rest of them were conquered by the new rulers of the African states.

Europeans were cruel to the Africans, because during the triangular trade, Europeans went to Africa forced Africans to be slaves because they were traded with goods and then they were transported to the Americas to do harsh labors and collect the raw materials. Millions of Africans died because of the way they were treated it was a really horrible time. Bartolome de Las Casa was basically the one that gave them the idea to start using Africans to do the labors, because all of the Native Americans were dying and their population was decreasing, so in order to replace them, he gave the idea in using Africans as slaves, which he then regretted because they were horrible to the enslaved Africans. I think that Europe should help Africa nowadays because they owe them so much because of the horrible things that they had done in the past. Africans even started to loose faith in their Gods because they felt like they had no one to help them form the nightmare that hey were living in. Africans have had a really harsh past, in which you mention is why they are so poor today. I believe that the countries that have created such problems in Africa in the past, should start helping them and try to make a change. It was and it still is so unfair to the Africans because we all deserve the same things, and sadly they were the most mistreated ones. Awesome topic Alicia