Gold+Coast+Slave+Trade

**Gold Coast/Ghana**


Slavery has happened since the beginning of human history, however the African Slave Trade drastically changed it. The Portuguese were the first to initiate the Atlantic slave trade. They built a fort, Elmina, on the Gold Coast and were given exclusive slave trading rights by the Pope. “From 1500 to 1870, an estimated 10 million people were taken from [|Africa] and forced into slavery; about 20% of them were exported through the Gold Coast, which created intense European competition for trade advantages in the region.” –Ghana

“The Slave Trade” says, that slaves from the Gold Coast were the most valuable because of their skill in sugar cultivation, creating a high paying popular market for them in the America’s. The Ashanti kingdom was on the Gold Coast and helped establish the Gold Coast as a major slave trade center. “the Asante Empire was the dominant center of West African trade with European countries. Gold, ivory, guns, and slaves made the region a volatile yet profitable area.” (Asante and Ashanti were the same people). “Initially, the Portuguese focused primarily on acquiring gold.”-Asante. However, they quickly begun trading slaves at an extremely high rate. The rulers were extremely happy to trade their slaves for high quality goods and promoted the growth of this trade. This video, http://www.choices.edu/resources/scholarsonline/campbell/jc11.php, explains some of the affects of the slave trade on Africans. The slave trade quickly overshadowed gold on the Gold Coast. Many Europeans competed for control of the slave trade in this area but Portuguese help it until the Dutch took it in 1642. Slavery was acceptable in West Africa’s social views and it dominated other commercial industries during it’s peak. Men and Women captured by warring states in Africa often became slaves before the Atlantic Slave trade they became slaves in Africa and still had some rights and while there were still some slaves in Africa after the Slave trade started most were sold and shipped to the Americas. While it is thought that some tribes begun engaging in warfare for the purpose of gaining slaves the Asante were not known to do that. During it’s peak there were about 5,000 slaves leaving the Gold Coast each year. Slavery was ingrained in the people of the Gold Coast as an acceptable cultural occurrence and enabled them to gain weapons and tools to grow.

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Bibliography "Gold Coast." //World History: The Modern Era//. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. "Ghana." //World History: The Modern Era//. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. "Asante Empire." //World History: The Modern Era//. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. Carey, Brycchan. “Slavery Timeline 1501-1600, A Chronology of Slavery, Abolition, and Emancipation in the Sixteenth Century.” //Brycchan Carey's Website//. 2 October 2011. Web. December 14, 2011. [] "Estimates." //Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade//. Emory University, 2009. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. []. Emert, Phyllis Raybin. //Colonial Triangular Trade.// Carlisle, MA:Discovery Enterprises, Ltd. 1995. Print. Biard, Auguste. //Slaves on the West Coast of Africa.// 1833. Picture. “History Slave Trade.” //Early European Contact and the Slave Trade.// GhanaWeb, 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2011.

Jessica Hillman