By opening up sea routes to Africa, Asia and America, Western European countries — led by Portugal — rose to become internationally active trading and colonial powers. From that point onwards, trading in
spices, ivory, textiles
and slaves became global.
What did they trade for slaves?
The goods were the products of slave-labour plantations and included
cotton, sugar, tobacco, molasses and rum
. Sir John Hawkins, considered the pioneer of the British slave trade, was the first to run the Triangular trade, making a profit at every stop.
What did the Portuguese trade?
The main Portuguese goal was trade, not colonization or conquest. Soon its ships were bringing into the European
market highly valued gold, ivory, pepper, cotton, sugar, and slaves
. The slave trade, for example, was conducted by a few dozen merchants in Lisbon.
What did the Spanish and Portuguese trade for slaves?
Following their “discovery” of African populations willing to trade valuable commodities such as
gold, ivory, wax, peppers, and grain
—and slaves—the Portuguese established trading factories (feitorias) at strategic locations.
How did the Portuguese initially acquire African slaves?
Initially, Portuguese explorers attempted to acquire African labor
through direct raids along the coast
, but they found that these attacks were costly and often ineffective against West and Central African military strategies. … Manikongo (leaders of Kongo) receiving the Portugeuse, ca. pre-1840.
Why did the Portuguese want slaves?
The high demand for slaves was
due to a shortage of laborers in Portugal
. Black slaves were in higher demand than Moorish slaves because they were much easier to convert to Christianity and less likely to escape.
Why did the Portuguese bring slaves to Brazil?
Gold and diamond deposits were discovered in Brazil
in 1690, which sparked an increase in the importation of enslaved African people to power this newly profitable mining.
Where did most of the slaves from Africa go?
The majority of enslaved Africans went to
Brazil
, followed by the Caribbean. A significant number of enslaved Africans arrived in the American colonies by way of the Caribbean, where they were “seasoned” and mentored into slave life.
What were slaves traded for in Africa?
Africans were either captured in warring raids or kidnapped and taken to the port by African slave traders. There they were exchanged for
iron, guns, gunpowder, mirrors, knives, cloth, and beads brought by boat from Europe
. When Europeans arrived along the West African coast, slavery already existed on the continent.
What did Africa trade in the triangular trade?
transatlantic slave trade
… three stages of the so-called triangular trade, in which arms,
textiles, and wine
were shipped from Europe to Africa, slaves from Africa to the Americas, and sugar and coffee from the Americas to Europe.
Who invented slavery?
Reading it should be your first step toward learning the full facts about slavery worldwide. In perusing the FreeTheSlaves website, the first fact that emerges is it was nearly 9,000 years ago that slavery first appeared, in
Mesopotamia
(6800 B.C.).
What was the last country to abolish slavery?
Mauritania
is the world’s last country to abolish slavery, and the country didn’t make slavery a crime until 2007. The practice reportedly affects up to 20% of the country’s 3.5 million population (pdf, p. 258), most of them from the Haratin ethnic group.
Which country ended slavery first?
Haiti
(then Saint-Domingue) formally declared independence from France in 1804 and became the first sovereign nation in the Western Hemisphere to unconditionally abolish slavery in the modern era.
Who sold African slaves to the Portuguese?
Benin’s conflict over slavery is particularly intense. For over 200 years, powerful kings in what is now
the country of Benin
captured and sold slaves to Portuguese, French and British merchants.
What was the final destination of the slaves that were collected in Africa?
During this period, roughly 90 percent of captive Africans ended up in Latin America and
the Caribbean
with 40 percent going to Brazil, 37 percent to the British and French Caribbean, and 10 percent to the Spanish colonies. Only 7 percent of captive Africans ended up in British North America (the modern United States).
When did the Portuguese abolish slavery?
Portugal proudly claims to be one of the first countries to abolish slavery following a
1761
decree.
