The Atlantic Slave Trade + Sources - Blog #4

The Atlantic Slave trade traded about 12.5 million people from African Societies, and of course, because of the harsh conditions experienced during the trade there were about 10.7 million slaves left. The children of parents who are slaves inherited the slave status. Because of the inherited slave status, freedom for slaves seemed far-fetched. Owners typically had their slaves do agriculture or industrial labor. The word slavery has a negative connotation to it, but in some cases some slaves did not do any dirty work rather they were able to acquire a significant status in politics or in the military.  What sets the Atlantic Slave trade differently from other enslavement in the world is that when any power, economic or political, was obtained opportunity was there to sell slaves. Africa’s significance in the Atlantic trade increased because of the amount of slaves being sold. For slaves, the idea of laborious work seemed strenuous and terrifying because of the new world they were going to enter, but they also found that as opportunity to live their lives in the Americas.

Document 14.1 follows the life of Olaudah Equiano an African slave who was taken, along with his sister, when he was young. His experience as a slave as portrayed in the document engages the readers with Equiano’s intense his emotions after being taken to being separated with his sister. Equaino’s experiences sheds more light on the conditions that slaves endured in Africa. One thing I found interesting was the fact that as a slave, Equiano was sold numerous times. The worst part about it is that they have no choice to stay with family who treats them as equals. The end of their slave work seems to end when their life’s are taken. Transportation across sea caused the slaves to become sick from the perspiration lingering in the air and many eventually died. Document 14.1 shows readers the life of a slave, in-depth, through the eyes of Olaudah Equiano.  

Chapter 14 - Blog #3

After reading about the Sweet Nexus and the process of sugar being exported, in Chapter 14 second paragraph, it briefly discusses silver and it’s process as well, which completely approbates the idea of commodities back in the day underwent long processes to be profitable. Reading more about the Portuguese, it is evident that their main goal was to control the commerce within the Indian Ocean. By doing so, they had different bases set up around the Indian Ocean from Mombasa, to Hormuz, to even Macao on the south east coast of Asia. The result of their failure is pretty funny; hundreds of the Portuguese escaped their government and settled in Asian or African ports considering that Asian Traders outnumbered them. Their failure also resulted in exposure to local languages and converted to Islam. Now it seems like Portugal lost direction and not only do the Asian, but also other European countries, are against Portugal’s decision to monopolize the spice trade to Europe. Eventually other commodities such as silver and fur became popular in the markets but with high demand from other countries resulted in the decreased value of silver and depletion of animals such as beavers. One last thing that was interesting about the reading was the significance that women obtained by marrying European traders. They were able to gain economic power by serving as guides, translators and negotiators when it came to travelling. Soon they controlled the trade in wild rice and maple syrup.   

Chapter 13 Part II - Sweet Nexus

The handout begins by stating that we live in a world of commodities. It’s a great way to engage us readers by putting things into perspective; people have produced the chairs, the tables, and the white boards we use in the classrooms. In a way we all take things for granted opposed back then where people of hierarchal status were only able to consume in such commodities. Going back to the Europeans and their success with managing their scattered empires, the north western part of Europe became the core of the modern world economy. One thing I found interesting in the reading was that drugs that produces an altered state of being was central in production and exchanging. I question how controlled and safe it was for drugs to be produced and exchanged. Even to this present day drugs such as marijuana is legal in some states, but what about back in the day? What kinds of drugs were the people consuming? The Europeans impacted everyone internationally with the distant parts of the world they colonized.  Lastly, tracing back the origin of sugar somewhat reminds me a game of telephone but with sugar. People all over utilized sugar differently, like how the Europeans produced rum and molasses with sugar and, interestingly, it was also used primarily as medicine. Overconsumption in sugar was considered unhealthy all thanks to the tooth decay of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Thank you Queen Elizabeth I. 

Chapter 13 Part I

Europe had a significant advantage due to its geographic location unlike the other continents. This allowed the Europeans and their empires to expand across the Americas. Countries along the Atlantic rim of Europe were much closer to the Americas than any competitors, specifically the Asians. Travelling by sea was a challenge for many because of the fixed winds, but after studying the winds closely it provided an alternate route into the Americas. The study of the fixed winds of the Atlantic Ocean did not only enable them to build empires in the Americas but also the idea of the thorough navigation, ship design and mapmaking. The motivation of the Europeans to not only explore, but to create new ship designs and maps allowed them to travel across the Atlantic Ocean to fend for their scattered empires. 

First Blog

Something like that.