A Brief Look at the context of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade

The Atlantic slave trade, spanning the 16th to 19th centuries, involved the forced transport of millions of Africans to the Americas by European powers, primarily to work on plantations. It was a brutal system driven by demand for labor in colonies producing sugar, tobacco, cotton, and other goods. Estimates suggest 12-15 million Africans were enslaved and shipped across the Atlantic, with about 10-12 million surviving the Middle Passage, a deadly journey marked by overcrowding, disease, and abuse.

The vast majority of enslaved Africans were sent to the Caribbean and South America, particularly Brazil and the British, French, and Spanish colonies in the Caribbean, where plantation economies demanded immense labor. Brazil alone received about 4-5 million slaves (roughly 40% of the total), while the Caribbean took around 50%. These regions had high mortality rates due to harsh conditions, requiring constant replenishment of labor.

It should be noted that the slave trade was active in Africa beginning in the 15th centuary between tribes so it is a fair assumption that those exported as slaves were, in fact, already slaves in Africa.

The following video represents over 3,000 slave ship transits. Notice the small number to North America made by the British to the colonies. It should be noted that in within England slavery was outlawed but was not outlawed to its territories, including the North American colonies.

https://youtu.be/SKo-_Xxfywk?si=z02onOsvooz8emdx

North America, particularly the British colonies that became the United States, received a small fraction of the total—about 400,000 to 600,000 enslaved Africans, or roughly 2-5% of the trade. This lower number was due to several factors: North America’s plantation economy (primarily tobacco and later cotton) was smaller in scale compared to the sugar plantations of the Caribbean and Brazil, which were more labor-intensive. Additionally, the U.S. slave population grew significantly through natural reproduction, unlike in the Caribbean, where high death rates outpaced births. By the time the U.S. abolished the slave trade in 1808, the domestic slave population had grown to over 1 million through internal growth, reducing the need for imports.

The trade’s impact on North America, while numerically smaller, was profound, shaping the economy, society, and racial dynamics of the United States. This is mainly because race has become big business and also due to the U.S. far left socialists use of race to destabilize the population.

The United States did not invent slavery. The United States simply inherited it from the british and then outlawed it 25 years after statehood in 1808. It is NOT the great sin of the United States, it is the great sin of the British.