The Dark Side of Commerce: Atlantic Slave Trade

Commerce has brought many great products, advances in technology, new wealth, prosperity and more. But it has also brought a dark side of history, slavery. The industry of slavery began through the Atlantic Trade. Europeans came into Africa looking for something to trade, originally they found sugar. It was a brand new sweetner much sweeter than the traditional honey, they had to have it. However, sugar had to be grown. The Europeans did not know anything about sugar therefore they decided to make the natives, the Africans, grow and harvest it. Europeans did not pay them therefore kickstarting the development of slavery, work without any benefit. Slavery grew from there. Colonists in the Americas saw they needed labor for harvesting cotton but did not want to pay anyone. This lead to importing Africans into the Americas for free labor. Slaves were treated horribly. They were beaten, raped, transported in crowded corriders, they were treated so badly, the average slave would last for 7 years before dying under the horrific conditions (Strayer 688). It was not just the colonists of the Americas that enlisted slaves. Many other kingdoms, including kingdoms in Africa, allowed and encouraged slavery of Africans such as the Kingdom of Kongo and Asante (Strayer 705,707). Slavery is a part of the dark history we would all like to forget. But it happened. There is nothing we can do it about. No doubt has it shaped our perceptions of Africans in present day. Racism, prejudices against a race especially those of African descent, exist because of slavery. However, we as the next generation can change that. We don't have to make the same mistakes our founding fathers did. Even if it's the small things like speaking up against a racist joke, we can change the culture of racism. We are all humans with many different backgrounds. All it takes is just to acknowledge our history, learn from it, and change.