The interesting facts about West African Slavery and its effects on African Societies

While reading about the effects of the slave trade in Africa it was interesting to note the outcome of both the West African civilizations and where the slaves ended up. The impact was different depending on which region of the continent that you looked at. It was also noted in the readings that it was the outcasts from the society that ended up becoming victim to the slave trade. The different societies sold into slavery the people who they saw held no value to their societies. In some instances it is noted that the societies that sold their own into slavery also partakes in the ownership of slaves. They look at those that they keep as slaves as the prisoners of war or sometimes they were criminals so it was deemed ok to have them. It was also very interesting that the majority of slaves that were sold from the West African coast did not make it to Spanish America but were sold to Brazil and the Mediterranean for the sugar crop that needed to be harvested. The business of slave trading was looked at a nothing more than that of any other form of trade in the world. It was deemed as a need that the people who were involved in it saw that they were fulfilling for the rest of the world. During the early years of the trade it was deemed as necessary for them to partake in this in order for them to get what goods they desired from the oversea merchants. They saw it as providing a good for a good that was needed by each party involved in the trade. I was also surprised to read that the word slave is derived from earlier Slavic people who were used as slaves for the Mediterranean plantations. It was after the “Slav” slaves were no longer available when the West African slaves became the main source for the people to the world. Overall I believe that we in the western culture of the United States have a certain bias when we talk about slaves and through the reading of the chapter it helped to give a broader understanding of some of the history of slavery in the more modern world.