Black History Month: Revisiting the Most Reprehensible Period in Human History

Source: BBC

The buying and selling of people as if they were commodities is undoubtedly the most shameful episode in the history of mankind. From the early 16th century right through to the 19th century, people of colour were captured and transported between continents and forced to work as slaves in very abhorrent conditions. According to UNESCO, ‘the slave trade and slavery constitute one of the darkest chapters in the history of the world’. This ‘dehumanising enterprise’ challenged the very basis of human civilisation and requires a somber reflection from every decent human being, regardless of race or skin colour.

Merchant ships loaded with goods such as textiles, weapons and gunpowder were often navigated between European and American ports targeting the African continent with the sole aim of trading such goods in exchange for indigenous people. As a consequent, innocent men, women and children were kidnapped and traded as slaves which ultimately led to the separation of millions of families. People whose only crimes happened to be the colour of their skins were chained and bundled onto ships, and then transported to unknown destination in journeys which often lasted for months.

From the seventeenth century on slaves became the focus of trade between Europe and Africa. Europe’s conquest and colonisation of North and South America and the Caribbean islands from the fifteenth century onward created an insatiable demand for African labourers, who were deemed more fit to work in the tropical conditions of the New World. The numbers of slaves imported across the Atlantic Ocean steadily increased, from approximately 5,000 slaves a year in the sixteenth century to over 100,000 slaves a year by the end of the eighteenth century (Bortolot, 2003).

The Transatlantic Slave Trade, often known as the Triangular Trade, connected the economies of three continents - Europe,America and Africa. It is estimated that between 25 to 30 million people (men, women and children) were deported from their homes and sold as slaves in the different slave trading systems. In the transatlantic slave trade alone the estimate of those deported is believed to be approximately 17 million. These figures exclude those who died aboard the ships and in the course of wars and raids connected to the trade (UNESCO, 2017).

It is disheartening to learn that such a cruel enterprise was allowed to run for hundreds of years. However, some common sense finally began to prevail in the late 18th century as an anti-slavery movement led by abolitionist - Thomas Clarkson garnered momentum in the United Kingdom. Owing to growing pressure, British member of parliament - William Wilberforce was persuaded to took the fight for abolishing slavery to  parliament. Following a tireless campaign which lasted for about 18 years, Wilberforce finally succeeded in having ‘The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act’ passed by the British Parliament on 25 March 1807. Subsequently, all the slaves in the British Empire were formally set free by 1838 (BBC, 2017).