Week 9: “Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery in the Americas” – Atlantic World Ch. 6

In Atlantic World Chapter 6, I found an interesting connection between the Atlantic Slave Trade and Europe’s desperate need for raw materials such as sugar and other goods that would benefit the people. First, let me start off describing how the slave trade became a source for individuals. The slave trade happened because there was a serious shortage of an able working population due to wars such as the “Civil War between Catholics and [the] Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire,” the “return of disease” such as the Black Death, and slow recoveries of population growth because of diseases (Atlantic World, 188). Because of this, Africans were forced to work under slavery conditions to meet the demand of workers needed to work.

Europe’s demand for sugar and raw materials were made possible because of African slaves brought from Africa to work where they were dropped off during the Atlantic World trade route. One example of raw material dependency mentioned by Hunter Loya is the English dependency on sugar products. The English depended on sugar products is because they were heavily started to get dependent on “coffee, tea, and chocolate” by 1652 (Atlantic World, 188). This was all made possible because slaves were cheap to buy and their productivity level would produce high amounts of profits that can be pocketed to those that invested in the trade (Atlantic World, 191). This pattern continued to happen until nations started banning slavery in their lands.