The Inequality Of Opportunity: African Slavery And European Success

The basis of this paper will be following the theme that those in search of new findings and riches to benefit themselves and their home country often make decisions based on opportunity; with that opportunity comes the question of morality and the oppression of cultures. Overall, this regard of opportunity is going to be focused around the Trans-Atlantic trade.

It can be noted that the trade involved multiple countries including Brazilians, the French, Portuguese, the British, The Dutch, the North Americans, and the Spanish. Knowing that, this obviously was not a little event; it affected many people, many items regarding trade, and even brought about cultural diffusion. Through cultural diffusion, history received a wicked spectrum of positive to negative varying from economic boosts to millions dying from a disease, famine, etc. From the past, it has been renown that slaves were generally located from central Africa as well as the West. Here, a majority of slaves were unfortunately captured during an ongoing trade at the coast. Others were taken from their own homes or faced raids. Those taken were sold unwillingly to merchants located in South and North America to work in their coffee, sugar, cotton, cocoa, cotton, and rice plantations while others suffered in gold and silver mines. Interestingly enough, In Sugar by James Walvin, a point was mentioned that plantation owners actually monitored their workers’ health and assigned appropriate tasks based upon age and physical condition. Not to mention, during the late eighteenth century, some slaves were even being seen by doctors. It’s very interesting to see that fluctuation between morals and opportunity. Here, the slaves were provided, but instead of the exploitation, they were given the upper hand and taken care of. From that, if you look around the world during this time, or previously, there is a drastic contrast between these two. Philip D. Morgan emphasized that more than 12 million Africans were enslaved under the Trans-Atlanic trade. Morgan states that slavery could even be located back to Africa where it was a norm for them to practice slavery, one could even say it was part of their tradition. It was stated that Africans possessed a well-developed institution of slavery, with quite sophisticated marketing and delivery systems. This poses the question, were Europeans responsible for the elevation of what we consider, “slavery,” to this day and/or what we are accustomed to have learned about? To follow an interesting point, Morgan mentions that, “. . . Unlike in Europe, rights in slaves rather than in land were the primary form of revenue producing property. ”That baseline of morals clearly decimated quickly upon European domestication when they came over. This was something that I felt was almost abstract from history, I had the uttermost surprise reading this. How could something so significant and mind blowing not be mentioned over the course of 18 years…? Despite that, this is a recurring theme as well. Practices and potential traditions like slavery and the cultivation of crops was found in these civilizations before being completely destroyed and faced with a change for the worse.

The trade was encouraged by many for hundreds upon hundreds of reasons. One reason included the interested perspective and the infatuation for opportunity and becoming worshipped with riches, but realistically, a shortage of labor was truly the main factor. Interestingly enough, Mann states, “Africans are more genetically diverse than Caucasians or Asians; Africa is the cradle of humankind,” thus being said, how come they were being exploited one after the other for over four centuries. Upon the discovery of the “new world,” it’s no secret that there was plenty of land available that was dirt cheap. Knowing this, owners craved workers. Again from what Morgan had stated about African tradition regarding slavery, the trade initially developed in a swell motion because of the eagerness of Africans to sell fellow Africans for a surplus of goods from Europe. It was not common to uncover that Africans who had been convicted of a wrong doing in Africa were sold to slavery as punishment solemnly on the fact that there were no prisons. Although, warfare in Africa was a humongous contribution of the slave trade. Although Africans practiced slavery themselves, it was nowhere near that of the new world. Again, somewhere “opportunity, ” was clearly taken advantage of and conflicted morals. In Africa, slave’s children were not enslaved, although, in good old America, they were enslaved at birth. Where is the mortality in that. . ? Despite the century, enslaving children is against a moral tactic; it’s simply bliss ignorance and what one may now consider, a disgusting way to show wealth. As slavery progressed and competition rose, that divide between morals and what was consisted of as a “workforce” seemed to indistintivily disappear. In Africa, slaves were treated phenomenal compared to America. In some communities, slaves were even considered as adopted! They held the right to marry with permission compared to America where they were not allowed to marry. Instead, in America, slaves were ruthlessly beaten, bitten an/or even branded to show ownership. Power and greed going to people’s heads is something impulsively seen.

To go off on that and conclude, the occasions that are viewed as “opportunities, ” for typically Europeans, often means the exploitation of another group of culture, unfortunately. This is a theme repeated strongly throughout history, despite being present in these three articles. It astonishes me that you can have such a civilized and cultivated way of living that can be utterly destroyed within years. The number of people who had died during the years of capture and kidnapping of the Africans is countless, yet it remained higher than those actually enslaved. As a whole and specifically regarding morality and opportunity, this trade led to the led to the advancements of the Europeans, but nonetheless utter destruction and mayhem among other individuals and cultures.