Establishment of the African-European Slave Trade Report (Assessment)

The beginning of the slave trade, while challenging to trace exactly, became prominent when Portugal started forming alliances with African nations. One source, namely, Zarura’s chronicles (1453), highlight the importance of the decision of Prince Henry of Portugal to support the trader Goncalves, who saw a personal opportunity to start human trade operations between Africa and Europe. Initially, the aim was to gain appreciation and rewards from the prince for building the relationship that ultimately led to the operations becoming prominent. On the other hand, the King of Kongo letter transcripts (1526) highlight the importance of such alliances both for the African countries as well as for the European ones. As a result, the inhumane practice resulted in Portugal acquiring much-needed free labor while Kongo accessed goods that could not be otherwise manufactured locally.

• Assessment question: Europeans began enslaving humans from Africa in the mid-15^th century because they were in need of labor, while Africa was in need of the advances manufactured in Europe, which ultimately facilitated the establishment of trade deals.

Both pieces of evidence suggest that the slave trade was profitable. Moreover, both European countries and African nations accepted the agreement despite its notion being based on human trafficking. Portugal, which is highlighted in both pieces of literature as the initial facilitator of slavery, could address two problems with the creation of slave trade alliances. On the one hand, free labor would become a way for the country to become more prosperous. On the other hand, it was a profitable operation. The African countries, on the other hand, agreed to enter into such transactional processes as they were less developed economically and militarily. Selling slaves would allow them to access goods that required manufacturing techniques unavailable on the continent as well as improve economically.

References

de Zurara, G.E. (1453). Crónica dos Feitos da Guiné.

King of Kongo (1526). Letter Transcript, King of Congo to D. João III.