Slavery was a common phenomenon practised in Africa even before the kickoff of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Prior to the arrival of the Europeans in Africa, African societies had supplied the Arab merchants with slaves for a couple of centuries. The trans-Atlantic slave trade originated from the Portuguese interest in trade in Africa. The Portuguese merchants at first were only interested in the trade of trade goods and ammunition for African gold, as they had little or no market for domestic work slaves in Europe or the Mediterranean sugar plantations.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Portuguese realized that they could obtain huge amounts of gold from transporting slaves for Muslims from a trading post to another along the African Atlantic coast. The Portuguese ousted the Muslims from the trading posts, which they took full control of, in the early 16th century. The establishment of sugar plantations on the canary, Madeira and Cape Verde islands saw the Portuguese merchants abandon the trading of slaves to the Muslim merchants and instead started to take the slaves to work in the plantations by early 1500, a move which marked the start of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
The evolution of the trans-Atlantic slave took place in two eras, i.e. the first and the second Atlantic systems. The first system involved the trade and transportation of African slaves to the Spanish and Portuguese empires in the South American colonies. The first Atlantic system accounted for about 3% of the entire slave trade over the Atlantic. It is believed to have started around 1502 and ended in 1580. The second phase of the trans-Atlantic slave trade started in the mid 16th century, with the intrusion of English, French, Dutch and Brazilian traders in the slave trade, and the main destinations being the Caribbean island colonies, North America as well as Brazil. It was during this phase when most European countries established strong economic slave empires. Up to 1600, 3% of slaves were exported; the 17th century recorded 16% of the slave. Slave exports were over 50% in the 18th century, with 28.5% of the slaves being traded in the 19th century.
The major importance of this slave trade was the provision of labour in the colony’s plantation and the economic gains and trade profits the traders obtained from the trade. For instance, the British gained their economic supremacy from its sugar production and plantations in the 18th century.
The European powers forced this kind of migration in order to obtain healthy and energetic labourers to work in their sugar plantations in their colonies. This was the most labour intensive crop, hence the need to force slave immigrants to labour in the plantations. The main payers of the trans-Atlantic slave trade were Portugal, Spain, England, France, Scotland, Brandenburg-Prussia, Holland and Denmark.
It’s quite hard to quantify the negative impacts the trade had on Africa. The trade destroyed African societies economically, socially as well as psychologically. This trade manifested a great crime to African humanity. For example, it took away Africa’s healthy workforce, leading to the destruction of agriculture and industry. Rivalry and conflicts among African communities escalated due to the forced capture of slaves.
The European powers got richer from trade. For instance, European companies prospered from the slave produce in their American plantation. The growth of agricultural plantations and racialization of America was a result of the slave trade.
The trans-Atlantic slave trade got its “triangular trade” reference from its triangular trade aspect between Europe, Africa and America. Europe took goods to African rulers to get slaves (the first side of the triangle). The export of slaves to America and the Caribbean marked the second leg. The return of goods from America to Europe marked the third part of the triangle, hence the “triangular trade.”