The African continent was bled of its human resources via all possible routes. Across the Sahara, through the Red Sea, from the Indian Ocean ports and across the Atlantic. At least ten centuries of slavery for the benefit of the Muslim countries (from the ninth to the nineteenth).
At the end of the 14th century Europeans started to take people from Africa against their will. Initially they were mainly used as servants for the rich.
Slavery can broadly be described as the ownership, buying and selling of human beings for the purpose of forced and unpaid labour. It is an ancient practice, mentioned in both the Bible and the Koran.
Africa's Losses Calculating the statistical dimensions of the slave trade, whether in terms of deaths or number of slaves taken from Africa since the 15th century is not easy
Although slavery is an ancient practice it has had its critics long before the 18th century. In West Africa there were a number of people who kept out of the slave trade, refusing to negotiate with Europeans at all, for example the Jola of Casamance and the Baga (modern Guinea), the last renowned for being unbeatable in battle
Slavery has always had its opponents. But the movement to abolish the slave trade only took off in the late 1770's. In 1771 Granville Sharp brought the case of the escaped slave James Somerset before the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Mansfield.
The Sierra Leone resettlement scheme was designed to provide a new life for 400 destitute mainly black people in London. This was also seen by some as a good way of disposing of a troublesome minority
The reasons usually stated for African slaves being preferred by plantation owners is that they could more easily be bought from traders on the West African coast and were more immune to European diseases than indigenous Americans or imported white slaves.
The height of the slave trade in the 18th century an estimated six million Africans were forced to make a journey across the Atlantic often totalling over 4,000 miles.
The 1950's was a time of accelerated political change. At the end of the Second World War there were only three independent countries in Africa.
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Foster is a graduate student in the field of special Education at The University of New England, Armidale. He is an international student from Ghana, West Africa. He Completed his general education in The University of Cape Coast-Ghana in 1991, and teaching social science (geography and history). Back home in Africa I teach history which opens doors for my students and shows them many historical events which shaped and moulded Africa into what we see today. I hope this website helps those who view it in many ways to understand Africa.
Website created and maintained my Foster Atubra.
last updated: 07/11/2002
Please send any comments/suggestions to :
fatubra@pobox.une.edu.au