Imagine

Without the Atlantic Slave Trade, there are innumerable ways that the New World and Africa would be different today. One way that they would be different is that the United States and much of Europe would not have had the high level of economic success that they enjoy today. So much of the foundation for our current capitalistic economy was built on the backs of enslaved Africans, a fact that many people from the United States do not want to admit. During the early 1800’s there was a huge textile industry in the colonies in New England, which ran on the cheap cotton that was grown on plantations in southern colonies. This meant that northerners were profiting off of relatively cheap cotton which was “delivered to those factories through enslaved people and the expanding American South.” (Baptist). Without cotton as its foothold into the ever growing global economy by way of the textile factories, the United States would not have been able to compete in more modern times through production of other exports. In addition to the changes enacted onto the United States there were also indescribable effects on the African continent. One way in which the African continent was majorly impacted was through the determination of nations by economically powerful countries of the time at the Berlin Conference, held in 1884. Without the Atlantic Slave Trade, there would not have been so much inconsistency in the development of individual African nations. This is because major European nations like Portugal, France, Spain, and multiple others (there were fourteen countries represented at the Berlin Conference) would not have had the level of economic prowess that they were able to gain either directly or indirectly as a result of the slave trade, and use that edge to divvy up the African continent (Rosenberg). Through the Berlin Conference, and indirectly through the Atlantic Slave Trade, the political landscape of Africa was badly affected, which “set disturbing precedents for the future” (Hardy). Another facet of society that was greatly influenced by the Atlantic Slave Trade is the prevalence of sugar, from sugarcane, in the modern diet. Slaves were initially brought to the Caribbean, Brazil, and other parts of Latin America to work on sugar plantations (Rose). Because of the forced labor from the enslaved Africans, the Europeans were able to produce larger quantities of sugar and other raw materials than ever before and ship them overseas to the European continent. Where "before the sixteenth century, northern Europe’s only local source of sugar was bees.", after the Atlantic Slave Trade got into full swing sugarcane was more accessible (Goucher et al). This influx of sugarcane meant that middle and lower class Europeans could more readily access sweeteners. Without sugar production from slaves, Europe would have likely remained "unsweetened" for quite some time. These are just a few of the ways in which the Atlantic Slave Trade could have affected the trajectory of modern society. It is likely that this horrible institution to have never occurred that we would be living in a far different society than any one person could ever possibly imagine.

Works Cited:

Goucher, Candice, Charles LeGuin, and Linda Walton. "Commerce and Change: The Creation of

a Global Economy and the Expansion of Europe." In the Balance: Themes in Global

History (1998): n. pag. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

Hardy, William. “Riches and Misery: The Consequences of the Atlantic Slave Trade.” The Open

University. 25 Feb. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2017

Rose, Christopher. "Episode 6: Effects of the Atlantic Slave Trade on the Americas." 15 Minute\

History. N.p., 3 Dec. 2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

Rosenberg, Matt. "Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 to Divide Africa." ThoughtCo, 03 Feb. 2017.

Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

"Without Slavery, Would The U.S. Be The Leading Economic Power?" Here & Now. WBUR,

19 Nov. 2014. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.