Why the slave trade was conducted?

Answer 1

Slavery actually existed for centuries before the first slaves ever came to America. In Egypt, Greece, and the Romans all owned slaves. When Europeans came to Africa for slaves - slavery already existed. Most people think that slaves were stolen or caught by European slave traders, when in truth, most slaves were bought by Europeans from other African people. Usually, rival tribes sold into slavery members of other tribes they captured during wars.

Spain in the beginning was one of the biggest Slave trading nations, while Portugal was the first. They used African slaves to work on their plantations in South America and the Caribbean. This is were most of the slaves were taken during the first few centuries of the Atlantic slave trade.

England was actually one of the last countries to start the slave trade, however, they quickly became the biggest later on. When the big tobacco and rice plantations as well as cotton grew in the colonies in the south. The slave trade increased.

African's were also chosen as slaves because it was easier to identify a slave by skin color than any other method.

The slave trade was a horrible thing to ever do, the slave trade even started the American civil war. When the Emancipation Proclamation was declared by Lincoln. It proclaimed the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves. The South didn't want give up it's slaves and was one of the main reason why the North and South (Amount other reasons) went to war.