African Slave Trade

Africa had its own pace when it came to modernisation and the economy, but, the slave trade had forced this to speed up. This includes religious conversion (such as Islam), political and social changes. Early on Africans gained goods from trading enemy slaves with Europeans and Portuguese settlements such as El Mina. African societies were devastated by the slave trade as communities were torn up, numbers were decreased in villages and resources were exploited. Africans attempted to ‘fit in’ the Portuguese but, in later years religion was attempted to be forced on African kingdoms (particularly Christianity). Moreover, as slavery had pre-existed in Africa, it was easy for the Europeans to make use of existing supply routes.
It is estimated