How Slavery Contributed to the Development of Modern History

Enslaved people started to play a significant role in trade between Europe and Africa in the seventeenth century. African laborers were in high demand due to European nations' conquest and colonization of North and South America and the Caribbean islands around the beginning of the fifteenth century. These enslaved people were seen as more suited to work in the tropical conditions of the New World. By the end of the eighteenth century, the annual number of enslaved people imported across the Atlantic Ocean had generally been rising. A significant factor in the growth of the modern world economy was slavery. They produced the goods for the first mass consumer markets, including sugar, tobacco, coffee, cocoa, and cotton, and the workforce required to colonize and develop the New World. The early international trade and finance networks that emerged in the 15th and 16th centuries were based on slavery. Generally speaking, the slave trade in Africa boosted European shipping, industry, and gun production.

Planters, master artisans, and other early capitalists could not pay workers throughout the early phases of civilization. Chronically in debt, New World farmers might use their limited resources to take advantage of slave labor. Slavery, according to the new world planters, might be the fastest and least expensive solution to supply the need for labor in agriculture and mining. The slave trade significantly impacted Europe as modern history was being created. The slave trade grew into one of Europe's largest and most lucrative industries between the early 15th and 18th centuries. The slave trade was believed to generate profits of up to 300 percent (Inikori, 2022). A third of the British merchant fleet was transporting, and trading enslaved Africans in the middle of the 18th century.

However, it would be hard to deny that transatlantic commerce significantly impacted the growth and scope of slavery in Africa. The Slave trade became more profitable when the demand for enslaved people grew due to European colonial expansion in the New World and rising slave prices. In other cases, African regimes that were anxious to boost their tax revenues even preyed upon their citizens by using their legal systems to sentence persons and their families to slavery so that they might profit from their sales to European merchants (Harvey, 2019). Several powerful kingdoms that depended on a military culture of perpetual fighting to produce the vast numbers of human captives necessary for commerce with the Europeans emerged due to slave exports.

Due to this trade, the Yoruba kingdom of Oyo, established on the coast of Guinea around 1500, swiftly grew. With cutting-edge iron technology, its powerful army captured vast numbers of enslaved people successfully sold to merchants (Inikori, 2022). The relentless hunt for enslaved people throughout the nineteenth century resulted in the rise of the kingdom of Dahomey in what is now the Republic of Benin, as well as the Chokwe chiefdoms emerging from the shadow of their Lunda masters in modern-day Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the seventeenth century, the Asante kingdom on the Gold Coast of West Africa also developed into a significant slave exporter.

Additionally, the global slave trade left a lasting mark on the cultural landscape of Africa. According to Inikori (2022), The general population declined in the regions most affected by chronic warfare and slave raids, and it is thought that the lack of males, in particular, may have altered the structure of many civilizations by forcing women into positions that their husbands and brothers had previously filled. In addition, some academics believe that images from this period of unrelenting bloodshed and banditry have persisted into the modern day in the shape of metaphysical concerns and beliefs about witches. Several West and Central African communities believe witches abduct lone persons and use them as slaves or food. Lastly, the growing trade with Europeans and its incredible riches allowed many nations to develop complex creative traditions using pricey and beautiful materials (Inikori, 2022). These artifacts serve as a vivid reminder of this volatile time in African history, ranging from the exquisite silver- and goldwork of Dahomey and the Asante court to the virtuoso wood carving of the Chokwe chiefdoms.

During the time of the Industrial Revolution's cotton textile industries, Britain experienced the earliest signs of modern economic prosperity. Industrialization took place in cities and became more export-focused. The British economy had previously experienced export focus, industry diversification, and economic expansion. This development relied heavily on trade with the Americas, and West Indian slave colonies were essential to British trade with the Americ