Slavery throughout the african disporia

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Slavery has plagued Africa and its people for a few thousand years. Slavery or involuntary human servitude was practiced across Africa and much of the world from ancient times to the modern era. Slavery mainly took place within the country but later turned into a huge trading export. This paper focuses on the history of slavery in the west (Americas) and the effects on Africa, its people and the idea of race. Many of the African kingdoms were quite powerful, having wealth, land, military power, and many natural resources. During the early 13th and 14th centuries Africa was in a power struggle, with different groups battling each other for power, land and resources. Some of the first instances of slavery occurred during this time, with the winning group taking captives. Such as in the book we read, Ama. They used to captives mostly for labor purposes but most often sold them and exported them to other countries. This exporting of captives lead to wealth for their captors and was a starting point for the slave trade. The increasing number of West African exports also increased the slave trade. During this time a great deal of trading was happening between Africa and other countries, mainly in Europe. Many resource rich African countries (Kingdoms) traded items such as ivory, gold, animal skins and spices, and in return mainly received salt. Although salt was coveted for its preserving properties, the Africans definitely got the short end of the stick. Thus, draining Africa of its many rich resources, and leaving outsiders to hold a lot of wealth. The slave trade developed in the mid-15th century after Europeans began exploring and forming trading post on the West coast of Africa. The Portuguese, British, and French were among the ... ... middle of paper ... ... affected by it. One of the biggest and lasting effects of slavery was race. Because of slavery race came to be defined by ones color of skin more so than their ancestry or culture. This view of race during and after slavery led to the idea of racism. In both Spanish America and North America racism was fairly prominent, mainly focused on one’s skin color and hair. Most Africans in the Americas faced racism and oppression. In Spanish America racial and ethnic differences were used to divide and control the African Americans and Native Americas. In the United States even freed slaves were segregated in society. Slavery was used as a controlling form of segregation, with African Americans being separated in society by attitudes, behavior and sometimes even expectations of them. Slavery in its entirety ended up affecting Africa and African Americans for centuries.

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