In chapter 14th of the text it goes into types of trade that had a big influence and may have shaped the early modern world. Spice, silver, furs and slavs... yes I said slavs. Apparently that it was where slave derived from. It was said in the text that "Slavic-speaking peoples from the Black Sea region furnished the bulk of the slaves for Mediterranean plantations = Slav" which later became slave. I to learned something new or may be I already knew but this old brain can't retain much anymore.
Obviously out of the trades that I read through, the slave trade caught my attention. I do remember that slaves did originate from Africa and I knew Africans sold each other out to other countries and within their own communities. But I didn't really know or recall how it was all started. Reading there were somethings that just caught me by surprise. For instance, the Atlantic Slave Trade. Of course it would be the one the trade that had a huge negative impact on a global aspect and consequence to people. The "WOW" factor - between 1500 and 1866 the Atlantic Slave Trade to about 12.5 million people from African societies shipped across the Atlantic in the Middle Passage (p. 687).
I pulled this map and found it amazing that Africans not only went to Americas but also to Europe and West Indies. Why? What was so unique about Africans that even their own people thought it would be good idea to sell people? Who thought of the idea of marketing people for money? The text had mention that even the children of parents who were slaves would either grow up being a slave depending on where they are or they were free. For the children who continue on to be slaves because of their parents were would follow the belief of the caste system if you were Hindu. Just a far reaching thought...
The question, Why? was answered in the text and I have to say that I had mix feelings about what I read. Strayer pulled some examples of what other historians believed of why Africans were the suited as slaves and how discrimination evolved over time due to slavery. Let me share a few that .... well let me just share...it was said that other societies were running low and slaves and well Africa apparently had abundant of them... "Slavic people were no longer available; Native Americans quickly perished from European diseases; marginal Europeans were Christian so hands off; but Africans were skilled farmers, had some immunity to both tropical and European diseases, they were not Christians, close at hand and readily available in large numbers." Talk about be rewarded if you are healthy and strong. But the obvious.. their skin color. One historian said that the racial stereotype came from Muslims and Christians (p. 690). But I have to share my favorite view from a Tunisian scholar (Ibn Khaldun), 14th century - "black people were "submissive to slavery, because Negros have little that is essentially human and have attributes that are quire similar to those of dumb animals."" I give that the triple WOW factor! Seriously, I don't know where people come up with this stuff. I don't know what to say to that...
so I Googled "images of dumb animals"...
I pulled a few... the power of Google!
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