African Slave Trade Dbq Analysis

Starting in the 15th century, exploration gained momentum throughout the European countries because of the massive amount of resources that the land in the New World provided. In order to make use of these resources, there would have to be a large amount of laborers to do the work. The Europeans refused to do the labor, and the Native American population had decreased due to diseases and war. However, Europeans knew of another approach for cheap labor, the African Slave Trade, which gained demand through the middle of the 15th century. Between 1450 and 1870 over ten million humans were captured and taken from Africa to become slaves. The African slave trade was influenced negatively by the absence of humanitarian concerns because of the need for labor, the increased importance of gaining profit, and assertion of

European superiority.
To start, the absence of humanitarian concern influenced the treatment of slaves negatively because of the large need for labor in the New World. One slave, whose name was Offobah Cugoano,described his capture by stating “I was early snatched away from my native country with about 18 or twenty more boys and girls, as we were playing in a field.” (Document 2). This clearly relates the idea that the high need for labor caused slave traders to resort to kidnapping African children, who couldn’t put up much of a fight. Seeing that Offobah Cugoano was a slave in this time period, he is a very reliable source because he has a first hand account and knows what occurred at that time. However, because he was a slave he would be biased against slavery, so his descriptions may not be completely accurate. Furthermore, according to Merrick Whitcomb, the “Spaniards were not willing to do the work, Natives who have become Christians are not allowed to be forced to do the work because the Emperor freed them. So now it is necessary to acquire Negro slaves” (Document 1). Again, this proves that many slaves were needed to do the hard labor of mining the new resources out of the land, because Europeans didn’t want to do it and couldn’t force the natives to do it either. The only solution that was still available to Europeans was slavery, which was a source of cheap labor. Each example clearly reveals that lack of humanitarian concern influenced the African slave trade negatively, especially because of the need for workers.
Incidentally, the African Slave Trade was also influenced unfavorably by the increased importance of gaining profit. At this time, more and more people started focusing on the money they could get out of the work they were doing instead of the products they were producing. For example, in the diagram of the slave ship Brookes, it shows thousands of slaves packed tightly together in the ship with only enough room to breathe (Document 5). This proves that slave traders carried as many slaves as possible because it was cost efficient for them and prevented them from taking more than one trip. In addition, Alexander Falconbridge states “A lot of slaves afflicted with the flux, (...) he directed the ship's surgeon to stop the anus of each of them with oakum. (...) The buyers when they examine them, obliged them to stand up in order to see if there be any discharge; and when they do not perceive this appearance they consider it as a symptom of recovery. In the present instance such an appearance of being prevented, the bargain was struck and the slaves were accordingly sold” (Document 10). This evidence reveals to us the lengths that the slave traders were willing to go for a profit off of their slaves. It shows us that the slave traders would trick the customers into thinking that the slaves were healthy, and sold them for a good price, when in reality the slaves were dying. Since Alexander Falconbridge was a British abolitionist that traveled on four slave ships, he would know what was going on with slave trade, so he is a reliable source. As has been noted, the absence of humanitarian concerns influenced the slave trade negatively because of interest in gaining monetary profit by packing slave ships with too many slaves and tricking buyers.
Subsequently, the absence of humanitarian concerns also affected the African slave trade negatively because of the Europeans’ superiority mindset. In Thomas Wallace Knox’s image, it shows the Africans being overworked while the Europeans direct them (Documents 3). This shows us that the Europeans have a sense of superiority over the Africans because they feel that they don’t have to do the work, but the Africans have to do the work for them. Since Knox was a Civil War journalist, he saw firsthand what slavery was like at it’s highest point. However, he could dramatise his descriptions because his job was to report to the public, so I believe he is a somewhat credible source. Moreover, James Ramsay, an abolitionist, wrote that “The ordinary punishments of slaves, (...) are cart whipping, beating with a stick, sometimes to the breaking of bones, the chain, an iron crook about the neck...” (Document 7). This proves that the slaves got unjust punishments that would be illegal to do to a European worker because Europeans believed that they were better than the slaves. They thought that the Africans were like animals that they could whip to make the slaves do whatever the Europeans wanted. Both of these sources proved that the absence of humanitarian concerns also influenced the slave trade negatively because of the Europeans’ superiority mindset.
By way of contrast, some have said that the harsh treatment of slaves was inevitable due to the fact that the European people had no control over what the slave traders were doing to the slaves.

In fact Olaudah Equiano, a slave himself, stated “Unfortunately, many humane gentlemen, but not residing on their states, are obliged to leave the management of them in the hands of the human butchers, who cut and mangle the slaves in a shocking manner” (Document 8). Still, even if the Europeans didn’t have any control, they still lacked concern for all of the slaves, so all of the negative consequences still apply. If the Europeans had any compassion for the slaves, then that might of been a valid argument, but because the Europeans didn’t care about the slaves, they still inflicted negative consequences on the slaves.
In the final analysis, we can observe that the African slave trade was influenced negatively by the absence of humanitarian concerns because of the need for cheap labor, the interest in gaining profit, and assertion of European dominance. Had the slave trade never been used, we might not have had any racial discrimination among Africans and

Europeans.