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What was the relationship between Great Britain and the American colonies
The plight of Africa during slave trade
The Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on Africa
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From the 15th century to the 19th century, Britain was the leading European country in the slave trade market, transporting roughly 3.4 million slaves during this period. Most of the slaves were bought from Western or Central African countries such as Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. The slaves were then taken to newly colonized portions of the Americas, predominantly to islands in the Caribbean. The theological differences and commercial rivalry with Spain was only further aggravated the already contentious relationship when Cromwell began his Western Design campaign against them in 1654. In 1655, during the Anglo-Spanish war, the Cromwell lead military seized Jamaica, one of the major producers of sugar of the time. Through the Western Design, Cromwell sought to “shift the balance of power between the major European colonial powers in the Caribbean ”. This drive for economic and colonial expansion lead to the industrialization of Great Britain, something that would have never been possible if not for the capital growth and economic development vis-à-vis the Atlantic slave trade. In other words the establishment of slavery and the trade that it gave rise to, were the catalyst for an industrial revolution in Great Britain. The first and most important factor that can be attributed to Britain’s economic growth is the transport of slaves from Western and Central Africa to the Americas; not only did slavery help fund the industrialization of Britain on a national scale, but also on an individual level. Britain saw an enormous influx of capital through their various trading companies and agricultural settlements in the Caribbean and Americas, but as Eric Williams suggests, slavery had precipitated these ... ... middle of paper ... ...y of whom also served as mayors of Liverpool and Members of Parliament, essentially reinforcing the fact that most of the wealthiest political figures rose to power through the slave trade. As Eric Williams suggests in “Slavery and Capitalism”, slavery helped in financing the British Industrial revolution via capital mobility and large scale investments and it was abandoned when it stopped being profitable. Once again, reinforcing the idea that all of Britain’s political and social reforms were economically motivated. Albeit, the slave trade furnished an economic base for a large-scale international trading network. Without this international network of merchants and exporters, the British would not have an inexpensive source of raw goods, nor a way to produce it. Many argue that without the slave trade, the industrial revolution would have never been possible.
Slavery was a practice in many countries in the 17th and 18th centuries, but its effects in human history was unique to the United States. Many factors played a part in the existence of slavery in colonial America; the most noticeable was the effect that it had on the personal and financial growth of the people and the nation. Capitalism, individualism and racism were the utmost noticeable factors during this most controversial period in American history. Other factors, although less discussed throughout history, also contributed to the economic rise of early American economy, such as, plantationism and urbanization. Individually, these factors led to an enormous economic growth for the early American colonies, but collectively, it left a social gap that we are still trying to bridge today.
Growing up in the United States, many Americans have come to learn that the slave trade often started on the West African coast, but after reading Olaudah Equiano’s narrative and Reversing Sail written by Michael Gomez, we can see that the slave trade was already transpiring way before the trans-Atlantic trade. Before the European trade even occurred, there were systems of slavery that were happening already within different provinces or districts. Based on Equiano’s narrative, he observed “that their subjection to the king of Benin was little more than nominal; for every transaction of the government was conducted by chiefs or elders of the place” (Equiano 5). Based on that, we can see that there were designated chiefs, kings, and judges in
Liverpool's Slave Trade as a Centre of a Global Commerce and an Important Factor in British Economic Growth
These tangents alone can develop to a state of modernity but individually they do not amount to modernity. The effects of the Atlantic slave trade were a feature of modernity although it did not affect all aspects and in some case such as technology there is an argument for regression. Ideological advances particularly in the contrasting way slaves were viewed at the start and end of the Atlantic slave trade show a definite transformation towards modernity. The view of slaves as free humans and not animals was a contemporary idea which gained popularity and brought about the end of slavery. The slave trade did contribute to economic growth but the size of this contribution is questionable. Some people such as Inikori believe that the role of the slave trade was such that the British economy may have stagnated without it (Inikori cited in Waites et al, 2011 p.66). However, despite its undoubted impact to the economy there is statistical data to suggest that exports of slave manufactured commodities were minimal and that the so call ‘industrial revolution’ would have happened either
One of the most significant catalysts of the system was the growth of the Atlantic slave trade. The success sugar plantations of the West Indies and the colonial expansions in South America would not have been possible without African slave labor. Although African slaves were expensive, approximately equivalent to 6.5 thousand USD in today’s currency , compared to natives or indentured servants from Europe, they were seen as a better investment. The mercantilist policies of European states such as England and the Netherl...
Eltis, David. "The Importance of Slavery and the Slave Trade to Industrializing Britain." The Journal of
Slaves and slave trade has been an important part of history for a very long time. In the years of the British thirteen colonies in North America, slaves and slave trade was a very important part of its development. It even carried on to almost 200 years of the United States history. The slave trade of the thirteen colonies was an important part of the colonies as well as Europe and Africa. In order to supply the thirteen colonies efficiently through trade, Europe developed the method of triangular trade. It is referred to as triangular trade because it consists of trade with Africa, the thirteen colonies, and England. These three areas are commonly called the trades “three legs.”
At the heart of Anglo-American trade lay the highly profitable commerce in cash crops, from tobacco in the Chesapeake colonies to rice and indigo in South Carolina, wheat from the middle colonies to cotton in the South; an extensive textile industry in the North, Insurance companies that insured slaves as property, to many wall street firms that got their start as middle men in the cotton trade, I think it would be logical to conclude that the foundation of American economy lay in the back breaking toil and sweat of Slave labor.
The debate over the economic advantages of slavery in the South has raged ever since the first slaves began working in the cotton fields of the Southern States. Initially, the wealth of the New World was in the form of raw materials and agricultural goods such as cotton, sugar, and tobacco. The continuing demand for slaves' labor arose from the development of plantation agriculture, the long-term rise in prices and consumption of sugar, and the demand for miners. Not only did Africans represent skilled laborers, but also they were a relatively cheap resource to the South. Consequently, they were well suited for plantation agriculture. Whi...
Perhaps the most logical reason to try to explain the boom of slavery in America and anywhere is it was a very profitable business. In the case of America, the first slave trades were done for mere profit but then it became a necessity because of the increasing demand for working hands in the ...
One of the darker causes for the Industrial Revolution was the slave trade with overseas colonies at the time. For many merchants who saw the easy money to be made from the voyages, the merchants became extremely rich – and as it is in human nature – these rich merchants wanted to become even more rich, the seemingly best way to do this was to invest profits from the slave trade into the new factories that were arising, this is called “Commercial Revolution”. Britain was one of the few countries that was able to bring in profits from other countries and keep profits in their country, aiding them into being the first country to Revolutionise Industrially.
At the end of the 18th Century into the beginning of the 19th Century, Britain was moving toward industrialization, which in turn led to a movement towards free labor from its citizens. Britain was also expanding is enterprises within it’s East Indian Trade Company. The East Indian countries had the raw materials that the new textile industry needed. Free people are also a better market for the textiles than the slave populations of the West Indies would. [1]
The British found Jamaica to be much more profitable than the Spanish had. It eventually became one of the most lucrative colonies in the British empire due to its dominance in sugar exports: from the mid 1700’s until the close of the slave trade in Jamaica in the 1830’s, Jamaica accounted for 42 percent of sugar imported into Britain (Burnard and Morgan 3). Unfortunately, these benefits for the British empire came at a significant cost to the hundreds of thousands of Africans who became unwillingly caught up in the trade triangle between England, Africa and the Caribbean. In their essay "The Dynamics of the Slave Market and Slave Purchasing Patterns in Jamaica, 1655-1788," Trevor Burnard and Kenneth Morgan say: "Jamaica had the largest demand for slaves of any British colony in the Americas" (2). By the end of the eighteenth century there were more than 300, 000 slaves in Jamaica; and the fact that the slaves outnumbered the plantation owners was unsettling for many of the wealthy, white inhabitants of the island. The political system basically consisted of a governor who represented the Crown and the Assembly of Planters, who both were against the slaves.
Not only was slavery connected to the growth of capitalism in America but also Britain. As Britain’s industrial capitalism was mainly based upon slavery. The British bourgeoisie became rich from the sugar trading in England which was rooted in slavery. Therefore, it is evident that capitalism evolved in the concrete and slavery was central to the development of the capitalist system ...
Along these lines the grave harvest is a decent contender for slave work since subjugation makes tight control of the work power neither unreasonable nor too hard. Planters more than likely felt as if they had to conduct free labor in order to turn enough profit to maintain or gain wealth. Capitalism is one process by which the problems of economic production and resource distribution might be resolved. Instead of planning economic decisions forcefully, as with socialism or feudalism, economic planning under capitalism occurs with decentralization and voluntary decisions. The whole point of capitalism is to take advantage of the circumstance and slavery did just that for farmers in this day in age. Africans would just work, work, work, without pay, pay, pay which made the farmers’ profits go up, up, up and this exactly what the farmers wanted. In order for the plant production to expand, planters just starting giving out needed loans to buy slaves and land. A resulting organization of this would be the joint-stock company, in which investors can contribute variable sums of money to fund the venture. In doing so they become joint holders of the trading stock of the company, with a right to share in any profits in proportion to the size of their holding. Once the idea of capitalism appeared, it quickly spread. England's unique economic position both assisted and was assisted by the development of the colonies. The capitalist transformation of agriculture helped to create a landless proletariat which was available for immigration or for wage labour in England. The profits of slavery were central to the primitive accumulation which paved the way for English industrialisation. The change of the English economy made a