Dbq Racial Slavery Essay

To understand the development, evolution, and implications of racial slavery, one must first understand the collision course between the Americas, Western Europe, and West Africa. It ignited a brutal campaign resulting in the loss of human life and cultural extinction of African and native peoples, “Seeking wealth or land, they commenced a process of conquest and settlement that would alter or destroy the lives of the people who already lived there” (Clark, pg. 8). While no master plan existed for racial enslavement, the belief in racial superiority and possessing an upper hand in terms of socioeconomic standing, allowed for this racial element to become intertwined with slavery. There were some key developments in terms of the progression

By wiping out native religions and cultural customs of Africans and other native peoples, they were “doing them a favor” in their minds. They were providing uncultured people with religion and a better culture. As evidenced in Document 1, Kongolese king Afonso emphasized how the Portuguese would just come onto his lands and take away people as they saw fit, “…In order to satisfy their voracious appetite, seize many of our people, freed and exempt men, and very often it happens that they kidnap even noblemen and the sons of noblemen, and our relatives” (Davidson, 192-93). There was no return and it was a one-way trip, stripping slaves of their humanity and treating them as cargo basically. Europeans took Africans at will, taking people who would be leading societies in Africa, removing the best of individuals from societies that needed them for their functioning. By doing so, indirectly Europeans hindered the development of African societies and caused them to stagnate. Routes like the Triangular Trade were established, which shipped goods to Africa in exchange for slaves, and shipped those slaves to the New World for production of even more goods. When the Europeans had showed up to Africa, major trade hubs that spanned the Sahara to Egypt, existed, trading spices, salt, and other luxuries (Lect. 2, 1/22). However, the outstretched arms of colonization proceeded with a “better” plan, to remove any inkling of progress that could define an advanced African society. Slaves were taken from West Africa, prisoners from inland regions and taken out to the coast to be shipped off the New World and the colonies (Lect. 3, 1/25). The financial incentive, ability to easily obtain labor, and having utmost control over a group of people, only further added to the propensity for slave trade, “The settlers of North America continued, above all, to need labor. The differences in