Consequence Of The Slave Trade In America To Population Distribution And Statistics In America

By Kristen Baird


As the world was marking the end of eighteenth century, trade across the Atlantic Ocean was booming, and the number of slaves was doubling by day. Many of these forced laborers were mainly from Africa, and they were to be posted to plantations in America. The consequence of the slave trade in America is that it would later affect the population statistics and demographics of the black people in America in the later years.

Colonization of United States by Europeans and the changes in ways agriculture was done led to growing demand for workforce who would till the plantations. There was a need, to acquire slaves from outside USA because a number of natives had lost their lives through diseases and oppressive working conditions. Europe was fast developing, and they needed raw materials to sustain the improving living standards of its people.

The affordable land in the continent at the time of Trans-Atlantic trade also resulted in owners of tracks of land to look for people to work on the plantations. The weather and climatic conditions were very conducive to support food and crop production hence boosting the produce on the farm lands.

The slaves were transported through ships through the Atlantic Ocean in the process many died along the way while others reached America safely to start working on their stations. Long after slave trade was abolished many of these slaves began living free lives, and they settled in present day United States of America.

When they arrived in America in numbers the death rate was higher than the birth rate and the populations declined by day, and the numbers stagnated. Thus, it resulted in more imports of slaves to boost more labor demands. It was evident by the around early nineteenth century the composition USA was fast increasing to around fifteen percent black population who were off-springs of forced laborers.

The slaves in America suffered different health complications such as convulsions, bowed legs, blindness as a result of lack of good nutrition and feeding programs. These people used to work very long hours on the tobacco, sugar and cotton plantations. They could not take care of their young ones, and it resulted in high infant mortality rates among the African slave population compared to among the white people.

The African communities were the ones who were trading their colleagues by selling them to Europeans these people were captives and criminals in African society. Some of these laborers from Africa were war captives from communities that were in conflict, others were criminals who were sold to drive them out the society. It continued for a while until it got to a time when communities fought to acquire more slaves to cash into the trade opportunities. They were always ferried to be sold to the Europeans at coast. In most cases, the Europeans always did not get into the African interior because of fear of hostility from local communities and diseases.

Finally, there is no longer forced labor in America, and off-springs of the former slave men are now American citizens and they are free. The slaves and slave owners descendants have since intermarried, and they were now working to create a free generation for their future.




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