How Did The Transatlantic Slave Trade Affect West Africa
The mass import of Africans to the Americas is known to be one of the most devastating and cruel events in all of humanity. The transatlantic slave trade ruined so many lives, especially of those who still lived in West Africa, the most heavily targeted region to collect slaves, and lost family and friends. It also left a sizable mark on West Africa’s economy, political system, and social structure. Three historians wrote of how big this mark was, and whether or not it was helpful or damaging to West Africa. The transatlantic slave trade definitely had a negative effect on West Africa, as it hindered the continent’s overall growth, but it was not as detrimental as some historians, such as Walter Rodney, believed. Walter Rodney proved that West
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Africa took a major hit economically and socially through the strong use of primary sources and counterarguments. But, Hugh Thomas’s argument proves that the economy, while destroyed for some time, eventually bounced back, and that although Africa’s political structure fluctuates, it mainly failed. John Thornton further supports these two arguments, for while he may be opposing Rodney, he does so poorly that it actually helps Rodney’s argument.
West Africa suffered economic and social losses due to the transatlantic slave trade, and Rodney’s essay supports this through the strong use of counterarguments and primary sources.
The economic decline can be expressed through Rodney’s admittance to the abundance of arguments from European and American scholars that oppose his. These scholars argue that the slave trade was a trade of goods, so African rulers were given many goods from the Europeans in exchange for their people. Rodney proves this argument to be severely flawed and downright “ridiculous” as he states that these scholars leave out important aspects of this trade, such as the poor quality of the goods that the Africans were traded for and how this brought a new competition to the already struggling African markets that sold the same products. Rodney successfully exploits a false argument that opposes his and thus proves that the African economy did not grow. Also, the gold industry took a major fall during and after the transatlantic slave trade, as West Africans would rather fight people around them for slaves to sell to Europeans than work for gold. Rodney supports this claim with the use of a primary account from a European in West Africa: “’as one fortunate marauding makes a native rich in a day, they therefore exert themselves rather in war, robbery and plunder than in their old business of digging and collecting gold.’” Because West Africans saw the temporary wealth in selling slaves, they dropped their mining, a more permanent source of income, to steal from and fight with others. The remaining people who continued to mine and sell gold soon stopped, for it soon became unsafe to carry gold due to the violence. This not only damaged the economy, as the only steady flow of money and trade slowed down severely, but it also damaged the social structure and stability of West Africa. With people fighting with fellow community members and power being instituted with how easily one could obtain
slaves to sell, the strongest man in the community could obtain power and temporary wealth easily. The transatlantic slave trade caused a major economic and social decline in West Africa.
Hugh Thomas proves that the economy of West Africa slowly made a climb back up, despite what Rodney argues, while the political structure kept falling. Thomas writes that one of the reasons the economy was in rapid decline was because the products that were traded for slaves by the Europeans brought new competition to the West African markets that sold the same products in agreement with Rodney: “The success of slaving as a commercial proposition also implied that many older business—such as the trade in palm oil,…kola nuts, even ivory—diminished.” But, Thomas shows that Rodney fails to mention that these goods eventually were “revived in the nineteenth century” after the slow fall out of the transatlantic slave trade. Thomas supports Rodney’s argument that West Africa’s economy was stuck in decline for some time, especially during the transatlantic slave trade and right after it stopped. But, eventually the economy bounced backup as the citizens of West Africa still needed products that the markets were selling before, so the markets were recovered after some time. Therefore, the negative economical impact was indeed immense, but not as horrible as Rodney believed. Politically, West Africa was severely instable for quite some time as urban coastal cities gained immense amounts of wealth and power while smaller communities dwindled. Calabar was a small, West African community that was targeted by the Efik, which was a large city that “excluded all other Africans from contacts with the Europeans, and…had political control over all the local slave trade.” The transatlantic slave trade pressured larger communities to subdue potential competition with European buyers, so they took over smaller city-states and took some as prisoners to sell to the Europeans. Thus, political power rose to the most dominating and violent monarchies, and the rest were left with little power and even less people as before. This caused great political instability, which remained in most West African monarchies, as small communities were absorbed into larger cities and remained that way even after the transatlantic slave trade. Therefore, Hugh Thomas proves that although the economy regained solidity over time, the political structure of West Africa remained unbalanced.
John Thornton’s argument supports Rodney’s argument that West Africa experienced economic and social damage through population loss, which greatly hindered the growth of West Africa. Even though Thornton is slightly against Rodney’s argument that the impact was entirely negative, he admits that there was a great demographic loss due to the transatlantic slave trade. This supports Rodney’s argument that because so many young, healthy men and women were being taken away from West Africa, there was a great economic hampering. Thornton includes this information in an unsuccessful attempt at counter-arguing Rodney’s thesis, as he writes, “The demographic impact, although important, was local and difficult to disentangle from the losses due to internal wars and slave trade on the domestic African market.” But Thornton fails to mention in his counterargument that these internal wars were mainly fought to obtain prisoners for the transatlantic slave trade. Therefore the deaths that would have affected the population from these wars were insignificantly small, for the objective was to keep the most people alive. Also, the domestic slave trade would not have affected the population for slaves were just being moved around West and North Africa, unlike in the transatlantic slave trade where they were being moved completely out of the continent in the most brutal ways. Therefore, since the population decrease was not due to internal wars and the trans-Saharan slave trade, the negative demographic impact was devastating, which caused a great imbalance in the ratio of young, able bodied people to old, weak individuals, as the healthy were taken away. Thus created great social instability, as societies were left to improvise with a lack of young, strong leaders, and economic instability, as naturally an older, weaker individual would not be able to accomplish what a healthy, young person could. The transatlantic slave trade is responsible for the destabilization of social structures and the economy of West Africa.
Africa took a major hit economically and socially through the strong use of primary sources and counterarguments. But, Hugh Thomas’s argument proves that the economy, while destroyed for some time, eventually bounced back, and that although Africa’s political structure fluctuates, it mainly failed. John Thornton further supports these two arguments, for while he may be opposing Rodney, he does so poorly that it actually helps Rodney’s argument.
West Africa suffered economic and social losses due to the transatlantic slave trade, and Rodney’s essay supports this through the strong use of counterarguments and primary sources.
The economic decline can be expressed through Rodney’s admittance to the abundance of arguments from European and American scholars that oppose his. These scholars argue that the slave trade was a trade of goods, so African rulers were given many goods from the Europeans in exchange for their people. Rodney proves this argument to be severely flawed and downright “ridiculous” as he states that these scholars leave out important aspects of this trade, such as the poor quality of the goods that the Africans were traded for and how this brought a new competition to the already struggling African markets that sold the same products. Rodney successfully exploits a false argument that opposes his and thus proves that the African economy did not grow. Also, the gold industry took a major fall during and after the transatlantic slave trade, as West Africans would rather fight people around them for slaves to sell to Europeans than work for gold. Rodney supports this claim with the use of a primary account from a European in West Africa: “’as one fortunate marauding makes a native rich in a day, they therefore exert themselves rather in war, robbery and plunder than in their old business of digging and collecting gold.’” Because West Africans saw the temporary wealth in selling slaves, they dropped their mining, a more permanent source of income, to steal from and fight with others. The remaining people who continued to mine and sell gold soon stopped, for it soon became unsafe to carry gold due to the violence. This not only damaged the economy, as the only steady flow of money and trade slowed down severely, but it also damaged the social structure and stability of West Africa. With people fighting with fellow community members and power being instituted with how easily one could obtain
slaves to sell, the strongest man in the community could obtain power and temporary wealth easily. The transatlantic slave trade caused a major economic and social decline in West Africa.
Hugh Thomas proves that the economy of West Africa slowly made a climb back up, despite what Rodney argues, while the political structure kept falling. Thomas writes that one of the reasons the economy was in rapid decline was because the products that were traded for slaves by the Europeans brought new competition to the West African markets that sold the same products in agreement with Rodney: “The success of slaving as a commercial proposition also implied that many older business—such as the trade in palm oil,…kola nuts, even ivory—diminished.” But, Thomas shows that Rodney fails to mention that these goods eventually were “revived in the nineteenth century” after the slow fall out of the transatlantic slave trade. Thomas supports Rodney’s argument that West Africa’s economy was stuck in decline for some time, especially during the transatlantic slave trade and right after it stopped. But, eventually the economy bounced backup as the citizens of West Africa still needed products that the markets were selling before, so the markets were recovered after some time. Therefore, the negative economical impact was indeed immense, but not as horrible as Rodney believed. Politically, West Africa was severely instable for quite some time as urban coastal cities gained immense amounts of wealth and power while smaller communities dwindled. Calabar was a small, West African community that was targeted by the Efik, which was a large city that “excluded all other Africans from contacts with the Europeans, and…had political control over all the local slave trade.” The transatlantic slave trade pressured larger communities to subdue potential competition with European buyers, so they took over smaller city-states and took some as prisoners to sell to the Europeans. Thus, political power rose to the most dominating and violent monarchies, and the rest were left with little power and even less people as before. This caused great political instability, which remained in most West African monarchies, as small communities were absorbed into larger cities and remained that way even after the transatlantic slave trade. Therefore, Hugh Thomas proves that although the economy regained solidity over time, the political structure of West Africa remained unbalanced.
John Thornton’s argument supports Rodney’s argument that West Africa experienced economic and social damage through population loss, which greatly hindered the growth of West Africa. Even though Thornton is slightly against Rodney’s argument that the impact was entirely negative, he admits that there was a great demographic loss due to the transatlantic slave trade. This supports Rodney’s argument that because so many young, healthy men and women were being taken away from West Africa, there was a great economic hampering. Thornton includes this information in an unsuccessful attempt at counter-arguing Rodney’s thesis, as he writes, “The demographic impact, although important, was local and difficult to disentangle from the losses due to internal wars and slave trade on the domestic African market.” But Thornton fails to mention in his counterargument that these internal wars were mainly fought to obtain prisoners for the transatlantic slave trade. Therefore the deaths that would have affected the population from these wars were insignificantly small, for the objective was to keep the most people alive. Also, the domestic slave trade would not have affected the population for slaves were just being moved around West and North Africa, unlike in the transatlantic slave trade where they were being moved completely out of the continent in the most brutal ways. Therefore, since the population decrease was not due to internal wars and the trans-Saharan slave trade, the negative demographic impact was devastating, which caused a great imbalance in the ratio of young, able bodied people to old, weak individuals, as the healthy were taken away. Thus created great social instability, as societies were left to improvise with a lack of young, strong leaders, and economic instability, as naturally an older, weaker individual would not be able to accomplish what a healthy, young person could. The transatlantic slave trade is responsible for the destabilization of social structures and the economy of West Africa.