Atlantic Slave Trade

The Atlantic slave trade, between the fifteenth and the nineteenth centuries, was the largest forced migration in the history of mankind. This migration was distinct from others of the kind, in terms of its begrudging nature, record breaking mortality rates and the alienation of generations from their roots. This essay aims to explore the various factors that led to the development of Atlantic slave trade political, technological, social and economic.It also analyses the profitability of the trade from the viewpoint of the various stakeholders entangled in this epic trade network kings, slave traders and dilemma, planters and ordinary consumers. POLITICAL FACTORS The yearning of the Europeans especially Portuguese, Spanish, British and the Dutch for exploration, colonization and imperialism was a major factor in expanding the slave trade networks in the Atlantic. As discussed by Timothy P.Grady in the book The Atlantic World 1450-2000, explorers from Portugal, Spain and other European nations expanded the geographic knowledge southward along the coast of Africa and westward across the Atlantic shores of the Americas . The urge for this exploration was triggered by the fall of Constantinople in May 1943, the last vestige of the Roman Empire, to the Muslim Turks which shook the fortitude of the European countries and the Christian faith. The expansion of the Ottoman Empire around the Mediterranean region deprived European merchants of the lucrative trade routes along the Silk Road to the East. The threat of lost communication and trade routes across the Mediterranean into China, India and other regions of eastern Asia and lost access to silk and other precious commodities carried along this route, forced Europeans to explore alternate trade routes to Asia by turning westward for new opportunities. Discovery of new routes west of Europe through the Atlantic, led to European arrival off West coast of Africa in the late fifteenth century.By mid seventeenth century, the coast line of West Africa was infiltrated by fifty forts and slave trading posts of competing European countries Portugal, Spain, Britain, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Germany dividing the coastline into -? Ivory Coast, Gold Coast and Slave Coast. The political set up in Africa also facilitated slave trade. Africa was divided into a number of small and l arge states, chieftains and independent villages each with their own form of government, religion, customs and radiations. These territories often fought with each other and the captives of war were taken as slaves. Such conflicts were justified wars which according to Warren. C. Whitley was natural struggles Of nation building conducted in the normal course of affairs. The captives referred to as joint-products of war or stolen goods were then exported. With the advent of the Europeans, domestic conflicts became slave raids. As Robin Law asserted, the Kingdom of Doomed dominated the slave raiding and trading from 1 715 to 1850. Their kings held a royal monopoly on the trade and conducted slave aids through their armies. Thus the political ambitions of the European and African monarchy led to the development of the slave trade. TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS The developments in technology and its impact on navigation, ship building, and firearms aided the growth in Atlantic slave trade. Navigation The desire for exploration spurred European scholars, navigators and sailors to expand their knowledge of geography and devise new ways of charting and mapping their journeys. Increased use of the hour glass and logs to measure time and distance and the Portola charts clearly documented navigation.In 1462, the Portuguese navigators devised methods of figuring out latitudes by measuring the height of the Pole Star above the horizon. Later in 1484, astronomers in the court of King Jiao II, using the midday sun to figure latitudes, produced a set Of declination tables. Under the patronage of prince Henry of Portugal, other significant developments were made in the study of winds, tides and ocean currents; documents fro m previous explorations were compiled and maps and charts were continuously improved. Thus a good number of problems associated with navigation were resolved by late fifteenth century.As navigation across the great oceans became manageable, the transportation of the slaves between the continents Europe, Africa and America became less complicated. Ship Building The changes to the design and functionalities of the European ships were another major factor that contributed to the expansion of Atlantic slave trade. Between the fourteenth and mid- nineteenth centuries, sailing ships were the main means of transport of the slaves. These sailing ships kept changing over time in terms of design, fittings, equipments and materials used as sail. SE of here to four masts, sturdy hull, square latten and sprit sails, and stern rudder enhanced their sailing power, speed and eased control of the ships in wild weather conditions. Small ships such as the caravel, highly unbearable ships introduced in the fifteenth century encouraged the Portuguese to explore regions around West Afric an coast such as Senegal and Cape Verve and Canary islands to secure staples, gold and slaves. Other ships designed by Portuguese for travel in the Atlantic Ocean were the cracks, four master ships and the galleon, heavily armed multi deck sailing ships.The ships also ere in size and multi decks were able to accommodate larger number of slaves. The mean tonnage of the slave ships from Liverpool in 1730 was 75 tons. This increased to 130 tons in 1 790 and 226 tons in 1805. Weapons The supremacy of Europe in the slave trade was driven by its guns, cannons and restraints. They used a variety of weapons to threaten the slaves and the enemy ships at sea, to maintain control both on land and at sea. The diffusion of the new gunpowder technology accelerated the slave trade. The African communities, threatened by armed neighbors, resorted to trading the patties for gunpowder, guns and muskets.In the words of Warren. C. Whitley, the vicious cycle, a raid or be raided arms race known as the Gun- Slave-Cycle was created. The replacement of the ineffective matchlock musket by the flintlock nil 6805, drastically increased firearms demand in West Africa. According to J. E. Nikkei, the firearms imported from England during the eighteenth century were between 283,000 and 394,000 guns per annum. The demand for firearms from West Africa was so high that manufacturing companies such as Farmer and Gallon were forced to pressurize their workers to increase production.The demand for firearms was matched by supply of slaves. The developments in restraining technology aided the slave trade in terms of terrorizing the slaves and reducing escapes. The restraints used in the trade included, neck restraints, iron collars linked by chains, tongue restraints and leg and wrist shackles to trammel movement. The ability to stow more slaves per cubic foot of the ship, ability to navigate better around the coast Of Africa, the reduction in escapees due to draconian restraints, and the organization of forts around the coast to lodge the captives helped to reduce costs and promote trade.SOCIAL FACTORS African Demand for goods from Europe The introduction of a wide range of consumption goods in West Africa, the possession officio was a matter of social status and power, was another factor leading to the development of Atlantic slave trade. The African demand for iron and copper bars, textiles, salt, earthenware, weapons and firearms, rum, wine, gin and cowries shells and a variety of both European and oriental goods had a profound impact on slave trade. The demands for these goods were so high that the European suppliers could not cope with the increased demand.J. E. Nikkei commented that firearms and textiles were in such high demand by the slave traders that they were not prepared to clear their slave cargo, if they were not satisfied with the quantity of supply of these items of trade. The merchants were willing to trade their morality to capture slaves in exchange for European goods. Alan Rice clearly identifies this when he asserts, The desire for luxury goods was so great that these African elites would consign war captives and domestic slaves to an unknown fate across the ocean in exchange for them. Growth in Slave trading institutions Growth in social institutions to perform a more organized slave trade was a key factor in Atlantic slave trade. The increase in demand and prices of slaves encouraged the development of various institutions to address the issues associated with the trade capture, enslavement, seasoning, trade, regulations and taxation. The merchants explored new ways of trapping the slaves deception, kidnapping, ambush attacks, promoting conflicts between villages and the pretence of family substitution for the runaways.The kidnap of Aloud Equation in asses in his words, One day when all our people were one out to their works as usual and only I and my sister were left to mind the house, two men and woman got over our walls and in a moment seized us both And ran off with us into the nearest wood. The drought and famine in Africa due to marginal rainfalls in the Savannah areas Angola and the grasslands extending from Assignment to Cameron, forced despoiling families to sell themselves. People were too poor to survive and offered themselves as collateral for credits.Non repayment made them slaves. Development of enforcement mechanisms also encouraged the slave trade. Credit was offered to slave traders to cover costs of acquiring transporting and housing slaves until they were boarded on the ships. Other types of such mechanisms, described by Warren. C. Whitley were the use of factories and forts as holding pens and warehouses, African canoe houses and other trade coalitions, secret societies and treaties between European and African nations.The cycle of violence to hunt down the slaves continued leading to an upsurge in slave trade The decline in population in the Americas This was another important factor that led to the development of Atlantic slave trade. With the European colonization of the Americas, there was a growth in mining and plantations in the islands between North and South America and the labor demands were met by native Indians. The massive mortality rates of the natives due to poor working conditions and new European and African diseases such as measles, small pox, the plague, influenza, malaria and yellow fever led to decline in the population of Americas.Figure 1 presents data on the drastic decline in population in Americas which led to a decline in labor. The Europeans now turned to the Negroes in Africa for l abor. They soon found that the African slaves were more productive and the output quadrupled. Shiploads of slaves were exported to work in these American islands and soon the slave trade was transformed from a marginal institution to a global phenomenon. ECONOMIC FACTORS Growth in Plantations The development of Atlantic slave trade stemmed from the growth in plantation agriculture such as sugar, cotton, tobacco, tea and rice in the New World.The demand for plantation workers in sixteenth century Brazil, seventeenth century Caribbean and nineteenth century Cuba instigated slave supply from Africa. The intensity of the growth in plantations could be seen in small islands like Barbados. By 1650 Barbados had 300 plantations which multiplied to 900 by 1670, a rate of 100% per annum. The growing demand for sugar, multiplying at a compound rate of 5% per annum in the seventeenth century to about 10% in the nineteenth century, increased the demand for African slaves to work in the sugar plantations in the New World lands.As H. Hoboes puts it, nonfood became responsible for the Fractionation of the Caribbean. This small group of islands accounted for 80% of the sugar and slave trade until the eighteenth century. The slave labor for majority of these plantations was secured from Africa through the Atlantic. As plantations became the expanded into a global trade network, so did the Atlantic slave trade. Slave Trade and Profitability There were various groups of stakeholders in the Atlantic Slave trade who participated in it due to the profitability from the trade in slaves.African Rulers profited in terms of taxes and custom duties paid by the European merchants. They were given the first choice of any merchandise that was brought into Africa for trade and were able to bargain lower prices for these goods. The rulers also commanded premium prices for their own slaves. They also received considerable gifts from the merchants in order to secure preferential trading agreements. Idaho, a coastal town in Benign, West Africa was a strong European trading post since 1720 and was accessed by forty to fifty European trading vessels per year.Hence the ruler who started off with ten slaves in exchange for opening his market in 1 700 was able to command a higher price of twenty slaves by 1720. This was in addition to the privileges in the purchase or sale of the commodities which included the slaves as well. According to Miles Osborn, by 18005 the rulers in Africa Were able to obtain goods for each slave worth three or four times as much in 1700. Both African and European slave traders were paid well. Overwhelmed by the profits from slave exports, wealthy merchants both in Africa and Europe, expanded slave trading networks to prodigious numbers.Figure 2 analyses changes in supply by African slave merchants in response to changes in prices. The data reveals that the supply increased as price increased. Hence, the largest emigration of slaves in the eighteenth century can be attributed to the increase in price from E 14 to EYE. Between the years 1 779 and 1788, there was a decrease in demand for slaves due to the War of American Independence. This created excess supply of slaves in the African coast. Hence the planter in Americas started restocking their slave supply. The European slave traders capitalized on this by securing supply at cheaper prices from Africa and selling higher prices in the Americas; thereby making abnormal profits between these years. Thus slave trade allowed African and European slave traders to maximize profits from the trade. The consumers of Europe profited in terms of cheaper commodity prices due to increased output by African slaves in the plantations. Figure 3 presents data on the production of sugar and tobacco by British colonies.The increased volume of production of these commodities reduced their prices much to the favor of European consumers. Tobacco which fetched twenty to forty shillings In 1619 was sold for a shilling or less while the price of sugar halved be;en 1 630 and 1680. Thus the consumers were able to enjoy the luxury of these commodities at affordable prices. The planters were another group of stakeholders in the trade who profited in their own way. Labor became heap and more available due to Atlantic Slave trade.The planters always worked with a motive of profitable exploitation of the factors of production, especially labor and work was dictated by discipline and violence. Successful planters were able to create immense wealth and have extravagant lifestyles. While the slaves slogged day and night in the plantations, the owners were able to retreat in the Great Houses built on commanding positions, with beautiful gardens, imported china, furniture and furnishings. The fortune and lifestyle of Sir Charles price, the largest land and slave owner of Jamaica teen 1 738 and 1772 demonstrates the height of planter lifestyles. The Decoy, the Great House he built was a mansion with magnificent rooms with mirrors and wood carving in the dcore, lakes and parks around the house and elegant gardens with fruits, flowers and vegetables. CONCLUSION This essay has clearly illustrated the factors that led to the development of the Atlantic Slave trade. Penthouse the political set up in Europe and Africa and the growth in plantations laid the foundation for the trade, it was the technological developments and social influences on the Europeans and Africans that took the trade to global heights.Overall, the technological improvements lowered transport, handling and shipping costs enabling the achievement of economies of scale. Similarly, the growing demand for goods from Europe in Africa, the growth in slave trading institutions and the decline in Americas population fostered the slave trade. Finally, the profitability from the trade influenced various groups of stakeholders to become intensely involved making it an international trade spanning four continents and altering their social, economic and political composition.

Fashion as Material Cultur Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Fashion as Material Cultur - Essay Example The essay "Fashion as Material Culture" discovers the different kinds of value about clothes. Clothing fulfils its dualistic value differently. One of its main expressions as an agent and depiction of change is the concept of fashion. Clothing is at times a substantiation of change and at times a beginning of change. It is at times a way of establishing the conditions and nature of political dispute and at times a way of making an agreement. It is at times a tool of attempted dominance and at times an arsenal of opposition and disapproval. In this dualistic value, clothing functions as a communicative tool by which social change is considered, suggested, instigated, implemented, and rejected. Its analysis enables one to see the communicative part of material culture in its most revolutionary creative form. Basically, earlier research on clothing discloses the aspects of culture that can be explored in the clothing’s material culture. Cultural norms, forms, ideals, mechanisms, history, everyday communication, and social distance are all available to the scholar of material culture by means of research on clothing. The theory of the evolution of fashion appears distinct in the 21st century than in previous periods, yet so as to make sense of its current expression it may be useful to have a wide-ranging discussion of the history of the topic. Just like what Appadurai (1986) argued, â€Å"The commodity is not one kind of thing rather than another, but one phase in the life of some things.

Attachment styles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Attachment styles - Essay Example In order to understand this theory better, let us consider an example of infatuated love. We meet and like a number of people in our daily life. We do not feel the same about all of them. At times, we meet people who we like a lot and we really wish to be with them. This type of love is often called ‘love at first sight’ or ‘infatuated love’. People do not actually know each other, neither do they have intimacy. Such kind of love starts with the feeling of pure passion. The romantic relationships of this kind, are based on the sexual desires and physical attraction. Hence, in such relationships, passion dimension of the triangular theory is at its peak. Passion is the element which plays a major role in infatuated love relationships. People involved in this kind of love relationship do not normally trust each other to the extent as romantic lovers do. The commitment level is also low as their feelings are limited to the sexual desire and apparent attraction. However, when the intimacy develops between them and they start knowing each other the infatuated love grows into romantic love relationship where intimacy and passion both are high. If the level of intimacy does not grow, the relationship and love vanishes with time and no feelings are left between the partners. Hence, for an infatuated love to develop and the relationship to be strong, the level of intimacy and commitment must flourish. In conclusion, we can that the triangular theory of love provides good information about how love grows and the level of the three dimensions of love in each relationship. This theory provides a better insight in the relationships and the needs to grow one or the other aspect in order to keep the love relationship strong and

OMD GEESE :: essays research papers

Running Head Lessons about teamwork can be learned from geese. As each goose flaps its wings it creates"uplift" for the birds that follow. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds greater flying range than if each bird flew alone. When a goose falls out of formation, it immediately feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it. When the lead goose tires, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies to the point position. While flying in formation, geese honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed. When a goose gets sick or wounded, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. They launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock (Lessons on Teamwork from Geese, 1999). Bluefield College has a unique flock of geese that meet every Thursday night in the Science building on the second floor in room # 222. These particular geese "honk" in every class and are attempting to become a team. OMD #97 members are a prime example of how group intervention can be transformed into a team. Team building creates a culture that enables communication, trust and commitment. Critical skills for team success are factors such as communication and appreciating differences. Communication and appreciating differences When a group of people becomes truly effective and perform to their potential, each one should possess a built-in confidence for each other. Understanding how goals can be served by a group effort is important. During transition from a group to a team, communication skills need to be developed. Talking and listening are crucial forms of communication. The weakness in our group is not talking. Our geese "honk" about homework, papers and tests. They fall out of formation when they do not listen or try to understand what is occurring and become upset when questioned about their presentations. The group is affected when particular members: engage in distractions (writing, reading, leafing through books, slamming book covers, zipping and unzipping notebooks); verbally attack personalities; do not participate in team decisions; do not take the process seriously; and offer putdowns at every opportunity. These actions weaken the team.

Enid Lee, Incorporating Antiracism Essay

In â€Å"Taking Multicultural, Antiracist Education Seriously,† Barbara Miner interviews Enid Lee, a â€Å"leader in antiracist education† as noted on her website, Enidlee. com. She pushes for the use of the term ‘antiracist’ because the tem currently in use, ‘multicultural’, is too nice, focusing more on food and fun rather than hard issues of racism. Although her interview is inspiring and very necessary, some facets of her presentation seem to swing to far to the militant side to garner widespread acceptance. First, Lee explains that in many schools, European posters, readings, games and activities dominate the landscape. While I believe this is true in some cases, I do not believe it to be true in all cases. Many, many classrooms in which I have learned, observed and taught have been filled with pictures of prominent white, black, Hispanic and Asian authors, researchers, and political leaders. Lee’s multistage approach to antiracist education is clear and organized and sequentially stepped so as not to seem overly forceful. However, her insistent on the use of ‘antiracist’ is a bit harsh in that it assumes that anything not adopted or previous to this new ideology is racist. That is a huge overgeneralization. It also separates people into groups – the antiracists and everyone else, who, by association, must be racist. I do not think that many public school systems, and certainly no private systems, will purchase curricular materials and send teachers and administrators to antiracist workshops because it implies the worst of these people and materials. Lee can simply not make that kind of generalization. She urges the changes to extend beyond the school. Racism is alive and well in the community, but her approach sends the wrong message: â€Å"We have an antiracist plan to change this racist community. That is the message that people will hear. A less forceful message is much preferable to Lee’s approach. Lee is convincing in her devotion to creating antiracist schools. She urges to push for administrative changes and curricular changes, which she admits are financially blockaded by under-funded school districts. She gives an unsubstantiated claim that multicultural, antiracist programs are the most under-funded, when the removal of arts programs in elementary schools has made the national media several times in the last few years. Finally, after admitting the sad lack of money for programs, she launches on her website, a national push for her own conference called â€Å"Putting Equity on the Table† that costs $1450 for two school officials to attend. This is a three day conference and the rate (which is the early bird rate) does not include the hotel fee at the Hampton Inn in downtown Boston. In addition, the recommended reading resource is entitled Education Children of African Ancestry in the United States of America, Canada, and the United Kingdom. If we are truly talking about an antiracist education, why does our primary conference resource only focus on one race? Nobody will fault Enid Lee and others like her for taking on the cause of equity in education. Clearly the past has shown that steps are necessary. However, Lee’s focus on only African-descended children, on an inflammatory name for her type of education (which, oddly, does not appear on her conference registration information), and on her need to charge exorbitant fees for her conference detract from her credibility and are likely to be off-putting for widespread educators.

What Is a Derived Unit in Chemistry

In chemistry, a derived unit is an SI unit of measurement derived as a product of one or more of the seven base units. For example, the SI unit of force is the derived unit newton (N): One newton is equal to 1 m ·kg/s2.

The Evolution Of Mass Media - 786 Words

The Evolution of Mass Media De’Boria Claiborne-Lowery University of Phoenix HUM/186 Instructor Allyson Wells December 4, 2017 The Evolution of Mass Media The mass media are critical players in the American political system. Media is seen in many forms nowadays such as television, radio, social media, newspapers, magazine, etc. The media affects people in varied ways, some are positive and others are negative. A positive aspect shows constructive information. It can boost self-esteem and encourage people. Mass media helps people connect with people all around the world. I use social media for things like promoting my business or to talk to my family that is now†¦show more content†¦The newspaper can be very informational if you just really sit and read it. Reading is good for the rain. I love to encourage my children to read something so that they will not be so attached to the television. My father was born in 1935 so the television wasn’t a big part of his everyday life. He preferred to read the newspaper. With the newspaper you can cut clippings out and make a scrapbook on certain things that you can go ov er later in life. Another thing I found out with the newspaper is that you can get the news but it will be a couple days or so later before it reaches you, that is one down size of it. The television can be a great thing for the society because you are able to watch live new or watch anything in live. With the television you are able to see things whether it is new, entertainment or history in motion. Between the 1940s and 2000s, commercial television had a profound and wide-ranging impact on American society and culture. It influenced the way that people think about such important social issues as race, gender, and class. It played an important role in the political process, particularly in shaping national election campaigns. People will now promote their businesses through television commercials to get people to come to their company. 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