The Effects of the Atlantic Slave Trade on West African Societies

Almami Samori Toure, a great leader in West Africa who fought French colonialism in its infancy during the late 19th century.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos.

The Effects of the Atlantic Slave Trade on West African Societies

By Abayomi Azikiwe
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Editor's Note: The following article is excerpted from the "Pambana Journal Monograph Series" number four published in the Spring of 1985 at Wayne State University in Detroit. Azikiwe founded the series one year before and continued to publish the research reports until early 2000.
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The impact of the slave trade in the 15th century, had devastating effects on Africa as a whole. The centuries of slave capturing and exporting drained Africa of millions of its strongest and most capable youth between the ages of 15 and 25. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact number of Africans who were taken away from the continent during the period between the 15th century and the 19th century. The European slave merchants did keep records on the sale and transport of slaves but it is difficult for any objective person to accept these records as being valid and accurate. Many slaves were transported illegally after the trade in human cargo was deemed illegal in England and America during the middle 19th century. It was during this period in the 19th century, that the trade in slaves reached its peak.

According to Karl Marx, humankind's development can be categorized into stages of societal progression in regard to the relationships of production. The initial stage in human development is the communal stage, which is often described as primitive communism. The society at this stage is classless and the majority of the society's inhabitants work collectively for the benefit of the society as a whole. The level of technology at this stage is primarily geared toward the survival of humankind from the physical environment. The ownership of land during this stage of human societal development is collective.

As humankind progressed through history, the level of technology increased and therefore the human being's mastery of their environment improved. These factors allowed for a situation to come about where certain people in society were able to acquire large tracts of land whereas others were forced to work for the benefit of a small land owning elite within society. This stage in productive relationships is called slavery.

In Africa, slavery existed prior to the coming of the Arabs and the Europeans. Going back to ancient Egyptian society, we can see clearly that large scale slavery existed. The pyramids were built by slaves who worked long hours over extended periods of time to construct these monumental structures. However, this form of slavery, that was peculiar to African society, differed from the European chattel slavery that the Africans were subjected to during the 15th to the 19th century. In the African slave system the slave could eventually work his or her way out of servitude and even marry into the ruling class of the society. The African slaves were primarily prisoners of war who were not normally executed as in other societies, but allowed to work as a means of paying off his or her "debt" to the society that the slave was originally at war against. The slave in the African context was not considered genetically inferior to the members of the ruling class in society. This form of slavery differs greatly from that of European society where the enslaved were condemned to perpetual servitude for the duration of the slave's life and was constanly reminded that he or she was a conquered being at the mercy of the ruling class masters.

The great demand on the part of the European slave traders for African human cargo served as a disruptive factor in the economic life of the African society. The trade in slaves proved to be more profitable than the traditional trade in gold. Therefore, many Africans who were interested in acquiring European goods such as guns, ammunition, cloth, cooking utensils and alcoholic beverages were encouraged by the European slave traders to acquire African captives in exchange for these goods. This factor served as a means of discouraging internal trade in the African commodities and provided incentives for Africans to engage in assisting the Europeans in the trade in human cargo.

Walter Rodney, in his classic work entitled: "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa," describes how this process worked between Europe and Africa in regards to stifling the internal evolution of African societal development:
"The above changeover from gold mining to slave raiding took place within a period of a few years between 1700 and 1710, when the Gold Coast (modern Ghana) came to supply about five thousand to six thousand captives per year. By the end of the eighteenth century, a much smaller number of captives were exported from the Gold Coast, but the damage had already been done. It is worth noting the Europeans sought out different parts of West and Central Africa at different times to play the role of major suppliers of slaves to the Americas. This meant that virtually every section of the long western coastline between the Senegal and Cunene rivers had at least a few years experience of intensive trade in slaves with all its consequences. Besides, in the history of eastern Nigeria, the Congo, northern Angola and Dahomey, there were periods extending over decades, when exports remained at an average of many thousands per year. Most of those areas were also relatively highly developed within the African context. They were leading forces inside Africa, whose energies would otherwise have gone towards their own self-improvement and the betterment of the continent as a whole."

The Africans who were exported out of Africa to Europe and the Americas during this period had no idea of what awaited them at their destination. Neither did the Africans who sold slaves to Europeans realize the devastating effects of what they were doing to the future development of their societies. It must be stated clearly that the majority of Africans who were taken from Africa as slaves by Europeans were not taken as a result of commercial trade. Walter Rodney, in the same above-mentioned book, states that the level of deceit and treachery on the part of the European slave traders was largely responsible for the capturing of the majority of Africans who were made slaves.

"However, on the whole, the process by which captives were obtained on African soil was not trade at all. It was through warfare, trickery, banditry and kidnapping. When one tries to measure the effect of European slave trading on the African continent, it is essential to realize that one is measuring the effect of social violence, rather than trade in any normal sense of the word." (Rodney: How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, 1972).

The capital accrued in the export of African slaves was phenomenal; it is again impossible to calculate the approximate figures of capital accumulated by European commercial interests by way of their involvement in chattel slavery.

However, it is safe to state that the accumulation of wealth, as a result of the free African labor utilized in the slave trade, provided the basis for the rise of the industrial revolution, capitalist production and the export of capital to colonial territories by Europe (imperialism).

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Abayomi Azikiwe is currently the editor of the Pan-African News Wire. Azikiwe also works as a broadcast journalist who can be heard over WDTW, 1310 AM in Detroit on Sunday mornings from 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. In addition, Azikiwe can be heard over CKLN, 88.1 FM in Toronto every Thursday from 9:30 p.m.-10:00 p.m. This broadcast, hosted by Norman (Otis) Richmond's "Diasporic Music," is streamed at http://ckln.fm .
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