African slavery
Africans used to be in organized societies around the family unit with the supply of gold dictating powerful societies (ABC News. 2006). Their societies were, however, interrupted in the middle of the 15th century, when they developed unique relationships with the Europeans a relationship that saw the Africans devastated, they were depopulated, while on the other hand, the Europeans gained wealth, and developed their country the more. The relationship involved the Europeans establishing a trade for Africans who were held captive. The following is a timeline of how the events of the transatlantic trade started to how it ended. It is estimated that by the end of the slave trade at least 10 million Africans had been enslaved between the 15th and the 29th century in the transatlantic slave trade. Demand for labor on America’s plantations led to the need for more human labor and Africans were a good choice since, they had prior skills in their plantations that they were involved in back in Africa.
1502: the first African slaves were reported in the world and were said to have been done by the Spanish and they shipped the slaves to America (Khan Academy. 2019).
1640-1680: demand for slaves increased in the Caribbean sugar plantations and this led to large scale exportation of slaves. Some African rulers made various attempts to resist the demand created by the Europeans for slavery such as Queen Njingha Mbandi from Ndongo (Angola), who tried to fight the Portuguese, but later collaborated with them (Campaign for Abolition. 2019). King Agaja Trudo from Dahomey also resisted the Europeans but due to lack of armory, he was forced to collaborate with the Europeans.
1791-1794: a revolution began in Haiti due to slave uprising in the French west, white refugees started to flee the insurrection in Santo Domingo and as a result, France emancipated slaves in all their colonies ordered by Victor Hugues. The US also prohibited the manufacturing of vessels that were to be used in the slave trade.
1800-1803: various measures were put in place to fight slavery with the US implementing penalties for its citizens serving on slave ships, and Denmark banning slave trade followed by Britain in 1807.
1804: General Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared Haiti a republic.
1807-1817: The British made various attempts to abolish the slave trade by trying to appeal to other nations such as Spain, Portugal Netherlands, and France (Campaign for Abolition. 2019). British and Spain finally signed a treaty that prohibited the slave trade, though there were loopholes in the treaty that saw the slave trade continuing to grow. The efforts by the British to abolish the slave trade were suppressed by the Le Louis Case that denied them the right to search suspected ships of slave trading unless given authority by the given country.
1819-1820: the US makes attempts to abolish the slave trade, where they signed a treaty with Spain in the Adam-Onis treaty, and the slave trade was made punishable by death. Both British and the US sent naval ships to find slavers, an act that only lasted the US for four years before they recalled their ships.
1824-1825: efforts by US and British to abolish the slave trade continues and the trade was termed as piracy. Later a Venezuelan ship was found with two hundred and ninety-one slaves (ABC News. 2006). Thirty-one were given to their owners but the rest were set free.
1831: a revolt by the slaves broke out in Jamaica but it was brutally suppressed.
1833-1836: intensified efforts to stop the slave trade went on with various acts implemented such as the Abolition slave trade by Britain, Anglo-Spanish agreement on the slave trade. Portugal also banned the slave trade.
1837: Britain invited the US and France to join hands and end slavery a call that the US declined to.
1838: emancipation of slaves.
1839: Nicholas Trist, who was a US consul recommended a patrol of slavers in West Africa (ABC News. 2006). He was later dismissed with allegations that he had failed to stop the illegal trade.
1860: abolition of the slave trade was achieved with America implementing the 13 amendments that made the slave trade illegal.