Why did Europeans capture African Slaves?

Question

How were they able to do that? And how come Africans did not have any protection to avoid slavery?

Answer 1

The Atlantic slave trade developed much later, but it would eventually be by far the largest and have the greatest impact. The first Europeans to arrive on the coast of Guinea were the Portuguese; the first European to actually buy slaves in the region was Antão Gonçalves, a Portuguese explorer. Originally interested in trading mainly for gold and spices, they set up colonies on the uninhabited islands of Sao Tome. In the 16th century the Portuguese settlers found that these volcanic islands were ideal for growing sugar. Sugar growing is a labor-intensive undertaking and Portuguese settlers were difficult to attract due to the heat, lack of infrastructure, and hard life. To cultivate the sugar the Portuguese turned to large numbers of African slaves. Elmina Castle on the Gold Coast, originally built by African labor for the Portuguese in 1482 to control the gold trade, became an important depot for slaves that were to be transported to the New World.

In 1452, Pope Nicholas V issued the papal bull Dum Diversas, granting Afonso V of Portugal the right to reduce any "Saracens, pagans and any other unbelievers" to hereditary slavery. This approval of slavery was reaffirmed and extended in his Romanus Pontifex bull of 1455. These papal bulls came to serve as a justification for the subsequent era of slave trade and European colonialism.

Increasing penetration into the Americas by the Portuguese created more demand for labor in Brazil--primarily for farming and mining. To meet this demand, a trans-Atlantic slave trade soon developed. Slave-based economies quickly spread to the Caribbean and the southern portion of what is today the United States. These areas all developed an insatiable demand for slaves.

As European nations grew more powerful, especially Portugal, Spain, France and England, they began vying for control of the African slave trade, with little effect on the local African and Arab trading. Great Britain's existing colonies in the Lesser Antilles and their effective naval control of the Mid Atlantic forced other countries to abandon their enterprises due to inefficiency in cost. The English crown provided a charter giving the Royal African Company monopoly over the African slave routes until 1712.


Why African Slaves?

In the late 15th century, Europeans (Spanish and Portuguese first) began to explore, colonize and conquer the territory in the Americas. The European colonists attempted to enslave some of the Native Americans to perform hard physical labor, but found them unaccustomed to hard agrarian labor and so familiar with the local environment that it was difficult to prevent their escape. Their lack of resistance to common Old World diseases was another factor against their suitability for slavery. The Europeans had also noted the West African practice of enslaving prisoners of war (a common phenomenon among many peoples on all of the continents). European colonial powers traded guns, brandy and other goods for these slaves, but this had little effect on the Arabian and African trade. The African slaves proved more resistant to European diseases than indigenous Americans, familiar with a tropical climate and accustomed to agricultural work. As a result, regular trade was soon established.


Source of slaves

For the Atlantic slave trade, captives purchased from slave dealers in West African regions known as the Slave Coast, Gold Coast, and Côte d'Ivoire were sold into slavery as a result of a defeat in warfare. In the Bight of Biafra near modern-day Senegal and Benin, some African kings sold their captives locally and later to European slave traders for goods such as metal cookware, rum, livestock, and seed grain. Previous to the voyage, the victims were held in "slave castles" and deep pits where many died from multiple illnesses and malnutrition. Conditions were even worse in the Middle Passage across the Atlantic where up to a third of the slaves died en route.

Answer 2

The Europeans originally tried to use Native Americans as slaves, however they were far too prone to European diseases. The European eventually followed the Arab tradition of using African slaves instead, who had far better survival rates and even though they had to be transported across the Atlantic, would be great workers on plantations.

In many situations, African tribes upon defeating another, would give the defeated up to slavery to the Europeans. Europeans preferred this to chasing after potential slaves instead as it maintained an environment where the Africans continued to war against each other rather than turn against the Europeans, not to mention it was easier for the Europeans as it didn't require excessive military manpower.

Answer 3

Lol. I encourage you study African history. Europeans didn't force nobody at all. And btw Europeans try VERY hard for centuries to conquer parts of Africa but FAILED miserably so they traded instead. At that time Africa was on top.Europe was economically weak.they did not have the resources to do so. And btw firearm came from China not Europe. In fact most African kingdoms had firearms as well which they traded from China (and yes African kingdoms and empires were trading with China LOL)Europeans came at a time when many African kingdoms were fighting wars frequently . and those that lost become "war captives". But prior to that war period when the Mali empire was around and songahy none of that happen. There was peace. FYI West Africans and other Africans even enslave Europeans. (Check out the moors). Arabs enslaved whites as well.

Answer 4

The Euro-African slave trade went something like this:

Africans captured Africans from other tribes, kept some as slaves, others were sold/traded to Arab slave traders who in turn sold the captives to Europeans who transported the slaves to various countries and sold them to their final owners.

Of course, this is a oversimplification and there were other systems in place too, but it serves to show that there are few if any ethnic groups without a dirty past were slavery is concerned.

Answer 5

The warring African tribes caught slaves and then sold them to the Europeans who used slaves for labor for the colonies in the New World.

Answer 6

Why? Because it quickly became cheaper and easier than just buying them off of the African tribes selling slaves. (Normal method was to have a tribe round up a bunch of enemies to be slaves, then take the representatives from the tribe they were peaceful with as well, that way they did not have to pay for any of it)

How? With guns. All the African tribes did slavery, it was a normal procedure.

Why would they have protection? They regularly sold neighboring tribes into slavery and some even sold their own people into slavery. It was the culture.

Answer 7

Based on research in African American Studies it has been shown that in a few instances individuals in the particular tribes were bribed and sold out information as to when the villages would be unprotected. When the men would be out hunting and the women alone etc. After this it was easy to over power the remainder of the African colonies.

Naturally there are always speculations but this answer has a strong foundation

Answer 8

For the most part Europeans did not capture Africans. They bought Africans from African slave traders.

Answer 9

well it's not like europeans just kind of came over to africa (or south american as it's happened there too) and stole them. i'm sure many were bought and paid for that's why it was called the slave trade, not the slave commandeer, or slave heist. i'm sure that europeans realized the strength and agility of many hard working africans and figured they could bank on. slavery sucks and i'm sorry it happened (though i had nothing to do with it). a lot of people suffered, but african culture has become one of the great nuances of america that i love. i love black people.

Answer 10

Why? A free source of forced labor. How? Superior weaponry along with the element of surprise. The vast majority of Africans had never seen a white person and were not even sure that such beings really existed. Tales of capture and pale skinned beings were believed by some but regarded as myth by others