The effect of slavery in Africa Other states were completely destroyed and their populations decimated as they were absorbed by rivals. Millions of Africans were forcibly removed from their homes, and towns and villages were depopulated. Many Africans were killed in slaving wars or remained enslaved in Africa.
In some places, the slave trade increased the power of the African monarchy and led to economic strength. However, in places where there was competition between slave traders, the slave trade undermined the African monarchy, led to constant chaos/war, destroyed political unity, and disrupted African society.
Except for a fifty-year period between 1676 and 1725, West Central Africa sent more slaves to the Americas than any other region. In the first century of trading over 900,000 (52%) of all Africans leaving the continent came from West Central Africa. Map of embarkation areas in West and West Central Africa.
The most important consequences of the Atlantic slave trade were demographic, economic, and political. There can be no doubt that the Atlantic slave trade greatly retarded African demographic development, a fact that was to have lasting consequences for the history of the continent.
Ivory, gold and other trade resources attracted Europeans to West Africa. As demand for cheap labour to work on plantations in the Americas grew, people enslaved in West Africa became the most valuable 'commodity' for European traders. Slavery existed in Africa before Europeans arrived.
Slavery in Africa and the New World contrasted In general, slavery in Africa was not heritable—that is, the children of slaves were free—while in the Americas, children of slave mothers were considered born into slavery.
How did transatlantic slavery most affect the population of Africa? There were fewer men to clear fields and hunt.
Although slavery was highly profitable, it had a negative impact on the southern economy. It impeded the development of industry and cities and contributed to high debts, soil exhaustion, and a lack of technological innovation.
There are numerous examples of the slave trades causing the deterioration of domestic legal institutions, the weakening of states, and political and social fragmentation (e.g. Inikori 2000, 2003, Heywood 2009).
Slavery was so profitable, it sprouted more millionaires per capita in the Mississippi River valley than anywhere in the nation. With cash crops of tobacco, cotton and sugar cane, America's southern states became the economic engine of the burgeoning nation.
Capital is required up-front to buy the slaves. Recruitment costs can be high if slaves run away or die and must be replaced. Supervision and guarding costs are high. Slaves are often un-productive, either deliberately or because of poor conditions.
Slaves were often treated as part of their owner's family, rather than simply property. The distribution of gender among enslaved peoples under traditional lineage slavery saw women as more desirable slaves due to demands for domestic labour and for reproductive reasons.