Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Facts On The Slave Trade In America

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By Tammie Caldwell


The trade thrived in the 18th century where the goods involved in trade increase significantly by the year. A huge number of slaves involved in the slave trade in America were from Angola as compared to other countries in Africa. The country also produced a quarter of all imports that were shipped to America. All slaves were got from Africa, and death rate over the years reduced as they discovered better ways to prevent these incidences. Most of these slaves were forced into America while there were those who went there willingly not knowing what they were getting themselves into. Most of these slaves were settled down in North America.

The saves worked mostly in the fields, though there were those who worked in other areas too. The richer an American was, the more slaves he could afford. There were those who could not afford any either. However, as these slaves continued to reproduce, they increased significantly and more did not have to be imported from Africa.

Unlike in other countries that had slaves such as Brazil and Dutch, those who were taken to American had a better life. There were less death rates and birth rates were higher too. Due to the high number of children born in slavery land, with time the number of slaves brought from Africa to America reduced since they did not need any more of them.

In America, the slaves were in both sexes too. The number of women and that of men was almost the same. This made it possible for them to increase in numbers by natural reproduction unlike in other countries like Brazil where most of them died and they had to keep coming to Africa to get more slaves. Within a century, the slaves in America had almost doubled in number.

Pregnant and nursing mothers worked equally hard as those who were not pregnant and the men. They were not able to properly take care of their children and they would die in most cases during the first year of birth. Those who survived were often weak and sickly. They would also grow at a slower rate as compared to the white babies and would often be slower mentally.

The slaves had their own place set aside for them away from their masters house. The master would make sure they have a place to stay least they were taken away by other whites who needed them. There was a time when slaves were very expensive and come whites could not even afford them. Only the rich could afford many slaves to work in their farms.

They also suffered a variety of ailments for example skin lesions, bowed legs and abdominal swelling among others. They were mostly caused by malnutrition, unhygienic living conditions and exposure to disease causing pathogens.

At the beginning of the trade, most Americans did not own slaves. However, as they became more in the country and their prices lesser, more Americans were able to own quite a good number of them. Over a century into the trade, North America had more slaves as compared to South America. However, South America was richer since they had mechanized their services while the north relied on the cheap poor labor from slaves.




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