Atlantic Slave Trade

Johannes Postma was the author of the book called “The Atlantic Slave Trade” and was born in Zwagerbosch, Netherlands in 1935. He received his PhD from Michigan State. He is now a professor at Minnesota State University and has written “The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade”. As well as co- editing of “Riches from Atlantic Commerce: Dutch Transatlantic trade and Shipping.”

The Atlantic slave trade was the largest and longest ongoing international voyage in human history. Taking place as early as the 1440’s, the slave trade gives valuable account for the trade in slaves from various parts of the world. The author gives a regulation from West Africa to as far as the Arabic region along southern parts of the Mediterranean Sea into a lesser degree talks about the Arabic slave trade in East Africa, this period profound economic, social, political, cultural, religious, and military change. I strongly agree with how the authors attempted to explain the circumstances under which the African enslavement occurred in Africa through the dismay Middle Passage and sale of the slaves in America. A brief introduction to the Slave trade was in the 1502, the first African slaves were taken to Hispaniola. In 1888, Brazil became the last nation in the western Hemisphere to outlaw slavery. For the nearly 400 years in between, slavery played a major role in linking the histories of Africa, North and South America, and Europe. Johannes Postma begins with an overview and a detail explanation of the 5 most important aspects of the Atlantic Slave Trade. First was the capture of slaves and the Middle Passage, the identities of the enslaved and their lives after captured, the economics of the slave trade, the struggle to end slavery, and the legacy of t...

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...tinued to import annually a unlimited supply of slaves.

Although the slave trade had become illegal, slavery remained a reality in the British colonies. The author Johannes Postma has gotten most of his information from newspapers and magazines and articles along with some personal documents but not as much as he uses the public sources. In my general thoughts and ideas I think the author has completed his goal in getting the point across to the fact that’s is easy, without the slaves the world wouldn’t be how it is now and we should appreciate that and come together as one instead of just intending to do something or complaining about it. In my opinion the writer wrote the book with all the information that he had because you can see it in his writing. He focuses on the tiny events and describes them with such detail so yes I do think that the author was successful.