Atlantic Slave Trade

Yue Jiang
(Words count: 1,631)

African slaves were highly valuable to the Europeans as they were perceived to be
energetic and productive. The increased demand for workers in the New Land (America) that the
Europeans had discovered led to the growth of the Atlantic slave trade. Slaves from Africa were

transported through the Atlantic Ocean to America where they worked on tobacco, coffee tea,
and cotton plantations. The products were moved to Europe for processing, and later some of the
items moved back to Africa to buy other slaves, thereby, taking a triangular route (William
Snelgrave 32). Given the high value of African slaves, it was important that the merchants lose
the least possible number during the voyage to America. Therefore, they had to formulate
strategies to minimize rebellions aboard the ships as the slaves were hard to control. The slaves
would also rebel in the plantations, hence, affecting their productivity. Understanding the
Atlantic Slave Trade and the strategies that the owners, merchants, and lawmakers ensured that
slaves never had much time to interact, and that prevent slave rebellions both on plantations and
aboard the ships, would help to address slaves critically.
William Snelgrave explained how Africans were initially enslaved and later sold in the
transatlantic trade. At the time when he wrote about the Atlantic slave trade, Captain Snelgrave
was thirty years old. He described the voyages to the places where slaves were sold, which were
the ports of Jakin in the Kingdom of Dahomey and Whydah. These ports were the source of most
of the African slaves than any other region.
Snelgrave indicated that there were several ways through that people became slaves in
the Atlantic trade. The first way through that Africans became slaves was after they were taken as
war captives by their neighboring communities. The communities that held them hostage saw an
excellent opportunity to get different items from the whites in exchange for the slaves. Before the
Atlantic trade, communities that took people hostage often killed most of them whenever they
captured more than they could handle. The primary motivation or reason behind selling some of
the slaves to the whites was the fears that they should rebel, and endanger their Masters Safety
(Snelgrave 32). Another source of slaves in the Atlantic trade was from communities that sold off

their stubborn members. For example, if one committed a crime and failed to pay the penalty
imposed on him or her there were high chances that he would be sold to the whites. Other
practices among the Africans that promoted the Atlantic slave trade included selling off debtors
to the whites and some parents sold their naughty or disobedient children. Therefore, based on
Snelgrave (32) arguments and descriptions of the Atlantic trade it was evident that Africans
played a significant role in its growth and development, although barbarous, inhuman, and
unnatural. (Snelgrave 32)
Olaudah Equiano narrated how the Atlantic slave trade was an integral part of the
European economy. Slave hunters kidnaped his father and sold him to the whites in the Atlantic
slave trade in the 1750s. Olaudah Equiano further indicated that almost all the European empires
used the services of slaves from Africa and often battled to have control over the Atlantic trade,
which was highly profitable. To the merchants, African slaves were a commodity in high
demand; hence, they made significant profits in the Atlantic trade selling them to the whites.
Olaudah Equiano also indicated that on average about 7.7 million Africans were transported from
their homes to the ports where the slave trade took place between 1492 and 1820. It was
estimated that of this number over half arrived at their various destinations after they had been
sold. Because the conditions in the ships which they were transported in were pathetic, most of
them succumbed to various ailments and complications along the way.
Based on Olaudah Equiano narration of how slaves were transported from Africa to the
ports where they were sold and later moved to their owner's homes, it was evident that they were
not viewed as people. They were part of the many commodities like so many sheep in a fold,
without regard to sex or age (Equiano 53), transported through the triangular routes that
crisscrossed between Africa, America, and Europe. The primary reasons that they were called as

slaves rather than labors were that they had no human rights and freedoms. They were compelled
to toil for the owners luxury and lust of gain, and separate from their kindred, still to be
parted from each other(Equiano 54). The Atlantic slave trade formed a triangle-like type of
movement were moved, and other commodities were transferred from British/Europe to the
colonies in Africa, and slaves transported from the continent to the New World (America). The
slaves would work on the owners farms in America, and the products would be transported to
Europe for processing then they would be used to buy more slaves from the ports of Africa.
It was obvious and undoubted that the slaves would rebel for their sufferings and
sorrows (Equiano 54), and to prevent their rebellions, George Lawrence and William Bull
offered suggestions from the slaves nature. George Lawrence indicated that Africans had an
inferior brain because their genius damped by the merciless power of cruel masters and the
scourge was their only reward (Lawrence 58). Hence, they deserved to work for their white
masters. He believed that the primary factor that promoted the Atlantic slave trade was inferiority
complex of the Africans and superiority feeling of the Europeans. Therefore, to fully put an end
of the trade, Europeans had to change their perspectives about the Africans. As George Lawrence
claimed, at the end of his oration, that LIBERTY unfurl her banners, FREEDOM and JUSTICE
reign triumphant in the world, universally (Lawrence 60), it was crucial to start viewing them as
equal human beings. Similarly, in William Bulls Report on the Stono Rebellion, he concluded
that prevent such desertion of our Negroes is to encourage some Indians by a suitable reward to
pursue and if possible to bring back the Deserters (Bull 37). William Bull suffered a rebellion
arose by a great number of the rebels, which he called Negroes. There were twenty-one white
persons and forty-four rebels were killed, and also many houses were burned. Considering this

rebellion, the owners should give some rewards to the slaves rather than cruel suppression and
ruthless execution.
It was not easy to get the slaves to comply with the regulations in the New Land. Aboard
the ships and on the plantations, there were cases of rebellions from the slaves. Therefore, slave
owners, merchants, and lawmakers had to formulate policies to ensure that there were no
rebellions. Based on the aftermath of the Stono Rebellion, the South Carolina legislature passed a
code, called The South Carolina Slave Code, to restrict behaviors of the slaves. To prevent the
rebellions of the slaves and the peace and security of province, the code stipulated that the slaves
would be lawfully executed when assaulting and striking the white persons, destroying and
stealing productions, and attempting to raise any insurrection (38-41). Also, the code forbade that
whoever teach or cause any slave or slaves to be taught, to write, or shall use or employ any
matter of writing (42) would be forfeit. The act was an ostensible improvement that it provided
a basis in the form of the law, however, it was unfair for the slaves, and was not resolving the
conflicting issues fundamentally.
James Barbot Jr. explained that rebellions from slaves did not only occur in the
plantations, but also aboard the ships. Merchants would lose a lot of money because of slaves
who chose to die along the way either as a result of fighting the guards, suicides, or conflicts
amongst themselves. To ensure that slaves on board the ships did not rebel, the merchants built
decks in the vessels where they would separate the slaves regarding gender and strength. That
made it possible to manage them efficiently and minimized cases of some of them jumping off
the ships (James Barbot Jr 20). James Barbot Jr. also narrated of how at one time they lost about
twenty-eight slaves, which was highly costly to them (19-20). Apparently, the slaves had
organized a rebel, and the guards were not ready for an uprising. They shot indiscriminately at

the slaves hoping that they would scarce and disperse them off. However, this was not the case as
some of them resulted into jumping off the ship, hence, losing their lives. Following the incident,
they analyzed some of the causes of such uprising and came up with strategies to minimize the
rebellions on board, such as allowing more liberty and the better foods. James Barbot Jr. also
believed if Such officers should consider, those unfortunate creatures are men as well as
themselves (22), they could prevent the rebellions of the slaves.
To conclude, the Atlantic slave trade was critical in the European economy before its
abolition. Contrary to popular belief that the whites were wholly responsible for it, several
viewpoints debated that African communities played a significant role in promoting the trade.
William Snelgrave stated that some of the ways through which people became slaves for sale in
the Atlantic trade were after they were captured and sold by their fellow Africans. Some parents
also sold their children to the whites for various reasons, although Snelgrave did not fully
support the argument. All in all, it was evident that Africans also played a significant role in the
growth of the global trade and the development of America. Divided and conquered method as
the most effective strategy that owners, merchants and law masters used to control and regulate
rebellions amongst the slaves.