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Egerton et al argues that human interaction with Atlantic commodities shaped the history of the area both culturally and economically. (Egerton et al, 251) The development of goods drove trade through consumer demand, in turn giving rise to the commodification of people, needed to strengthen labor forces across the Atlantic basin. Along with the increase in trade came the metamorphosis of the physical landscape. Quiet towns became urban trading posts and important port cities because of their access to the Atlantic Ocean. These new cities witnessed the rise in the buying and selling of slaves, as they provided an area to load and unload goods, namely tribal Africans being shipped to the Americas to work the plantations.
The slave trade influenced anthropological changes in African society as well. Tribes moved further inland in search of areas less accessible to European raiders. The relocation of various tribes created new ways of life, new language, and new customs through the intermingling of indigenous African cultures. This, Egerton et al also argues, was a direct result of the Atlantic trade system. Additionally, the interaction of varying cultures and peoples enhanced the view of racial difference among all involved. Egerton et al contends that, “people with skin tones and features that did not match established European categories soon challenged the very idea of racial difference.” (Egerton et al, 257)
The intensification of the commodification of people and racial difference resulted from the Atlantic trade system. This hypothesis is held by many in the field, not just Egerton et al. As Marissa pointed out, Sidney Mintz’s article, Sweetness and Power, highlighted the value of enslaved people in the Atlantic atmosphere. Trade created a platform on which consumers and suppliers of goods changed the economic background of the entire Atlantic world. The increase in the demand for goods called for a larger supply of product. The enslavement of people to fill the demand led to human commodification. Trade and slavery, in turn, allowed for the intertwining of culture, tradition, and ethnicity resulting in the ubiquity of racial difference.