Slave trade was greatly practiced in Africa between the 16th and 19th centuries when blacks were sold to Europeans, who later sold them to Americas. It was the largest slave trade that ever took place in Africa and it involved physical shipping of blacks across the Atlantic Ocean. The creation of Latin American colonies was partially the result of the intermarriage of the colonialists and the African slaves. The Latin American social hierarchies were deeply affected by the intermarriage.
In the beginning of slavery, over 15 million Africans were transferred from their homelands and transported across the Atlantic Ocean. Latin American highly contributed to increased practice of Trans-Atlantic slave trade. They used the good rapport they had created with Africans as a way of exploring the non-colonized nations. They would liaise with local African chiefs in pretence of the slave trade. According to Rawley and Behrendt, “American colonies were influenced by the slave trade and its consequences” (Rawley and Behrendt 268).
The slave trade eventually resulted into colonization in Sub-Saharan African societies due to the lack of powerful state leaders, who would condemn the vice. Thus more and more captives were sold into forced labor due to high demand of workers in the mining fields, agricultural plantations and as domestic workers. Craig Lockard mentioned, “the drive for the enslavement of Africans for many centuries was thus an economic benefit” (Lockard 457). Similarly the colonization of Latin America was economically advantageous.
It is obvious that there is a relationship between the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the creation of Latin American colonies. Both instances show a huge neglect for human worth and for the existing societal order of the colonized territories. Although the two problems discussed are different in their nature, similar arguments are often used to justify them.