The World Trade Organization (WTO) does its best to improve the international trading system in order to benefit its members. To reach this purpose, it has developed negotiations aimed at the reduction of trade barriers and revision of associated rules. This program is currently known as the Doha Round, and it deals with approximately a couple dozen of trade areas. The trade-negotiation round was launched at the beginning of the 20th century and took place in Doha, Qatar, which affected its name. It was developed during the WTOs Fourth Ministerial Conference. The program focused on the issues of agriculture, services, and intellectual property.
The members of WTO wanted to develop a trade agreement that would be accomplished in four years (by 2005); however, one more year was needed because the USA and the EU did not want to alter their agricultural subsidies making them less costly (Lee, 2016). The Round was an ambitious program because it included participants from almost the whole world. Negotiations presupposed the possibility to resolve all issues by consensus instead of following the idea of the majority, which appealed to WTO members. Agreements had to be accepted by all participants; otherwise, they were not considered. It was expected that those decisions that can enhance economic growth would be developed due to the Round. The reduction of subsidies would make it possible for developing countries to export those products they produced. Developed countries, in turn, would simplify access to their services, such as banking. As a result, both parties were expected to benefit because the size of markets would increase, and they would modernize.
The Doha Round included talks on the following topics:
Agriculture. Reduce subsidies and tariffs on imports and eliminate them from exports of food.
Non-agricultural market access. Minimize tariffs on imports of various products except for food.
Services. Develop clear rules regarding the provision of services for other countries. Provide countries with an opportunity to identify if they permit foreign ownership and what kind of services they are willing to obtain from foreigners.
Rules. Create clear anti-dumping rules, forbid launching subsidies. Pay attention to vessels, aircraft, cotton, and fishery.
Intellectual property. Focus on wine and liquor producers. Create an appropriate register. Protect product names.
Trade and environment. Ensure the safety of natural resources in developing countries.
Trade facilitation. Identify and enhance custom fees, documentation, and regulations. Cope with bureaucracy and corruption.
Special and differential treatment. Provide assistance to developing countries for them to improve infrastructure and meet those standards that developed countries have. Consider the necessity of financial aid and special treatment.
Dispute statement. Recommendations should be developed to manage associated issues.
E-commerce. Internet products and services should not be affected by any taxes.
The success of the Doha Round would have enhanced the economy of developing countries and minimize spending on subsidies in developed ones. As a result, the adverse outcomes of the financial crisis could have been lessened. However, the US and EU legislatures did not manage to deal with the political pressures and led to the closure of the Doha Round (Ismail, 2009). Nevertheless, the number of bilateral agreements that are not difficult to negotiate increased, which might be advantageous for developing countries.
Unfortunately, the failure of the Round presupposes that other international trade agreements of the same type are not likely to be successful. The USA and EU will not allow developing countries to offer their low-cost products because of the possibility to reduce their market share. At the same time, developing nations will be afraid to face those issues that affected Mexico because of NAFTA. Thus, the design of future trade agreements like those discussed in the framework of the Doha Round can be questioned (Rena, 2012). This fact can be supported by the observed outcomes of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership that was not supported by the US president.
The USA and EU do not want to negotiate regarding the reduction of trade subsidies and taxes because the price of their food products differs. The counties are afraid that governments will stop protecting their offerings. Much attention is also paid to the fact that the EU bans the use of modified and treated hormone products while the USA relies on them as they provide an opportunity to keep prices low. A similar situation was observed with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as the USA was withdrawn from it because of the unwillingness to reduce trade barriers.
Thus, it can be stated that the Doha Round did not end up with success because of the USA and EUs decision to keep their agricultural subsidies. However, there some other reasons that led to this outcome as well. For instance, China, India, and Brazil that participated in the negotiations, failed to take the leadership role in them and did not provide enough support. In addition to that, the USA, Japan, and China need to consider their influence on other countries. In particular, their willingness to make their currency the leading one tends to cause inflation in developing nations. In this way, it is vital for them to focus on their responsibility for the financial situation in countries. It would also be advantageous if Doha makes its export regulations friendlier to the needs and requirements of other countries for them to accept alterations.
References
Ismail, F. (2009). An assessment of the WTO Doha Round July-December 2008 collapse. World Trade Review, 8(4), 579-605.
Lee, Y. (2016). The long and winding road: Path towards facilitation of development in the WTO: Reflections on the Doha Round and beyond. Law and Development Review, 9(2), 437-465.
Rena, R. (2012). Impact of WTO policies on developing countries: Issues and perspectives. Transnational Corporations Review, 4(3), 77-88.
The World Trade Organization is the sole global body that deals with fairness in trade among nations. It designs rules to ensure that large economies and small economies are at par in economic growth. However, its policies and propositions are not popular with most nations.
Its aims are to facilitate demand and supply by ensuring that producers of goods and services find a way to export their products and those that do not produce find a way to import what they need. Through its membership, World Trade Organization facilitates two major world forums. The Doha Development Agenda is a trade negotiations forum.
It is designed to achieve groundbreaking reforms in the manner in which world economies conduct their trade. The forums agenda is to inject revised rules and to improve the international trade system through systematic introduction of minimal trade restrictions. It was officially launched in Qatar in 2001. Ministers of respective countries tasked with commerce, trade, and sometimes finance attend the forum.
Each minister goes to the table to air their countries views. The Doha development agenda covers around 20 critical areas of world economy, which include agriculture, services, imports, exports, intellectual property, among others.
World Trade Organizations advocacy for free global trade has not been popular with majority of the nations. Although free trade has many benefits as opposed to closed trade, many countries perceive free trade negatively and bring down any attempts at making the world economy free of national and regional barriers.
For example, in 2003 during the talks that were held in Caucun Mexico, the world witnessed massive protests. This was the third ministerial meeting with the same agenda: trying to break the deadlock that had been experienced in the last two sittings since the first round in Qatar.
The second major forum facilitated by World Trade Organization is the World Trade Forum. This forum seeks common ground on how countries can work together in tackling common global problems that go beyond the need for economic integration. This includes the need for development in major areas such as education. Major economies and their leaders normally attend it.
They review goals and targets such as millennium development goals. This forum is generalist compared to the Doha round of negotiations. However, it is important to note that they both champion for a more developed world, which caters for the need of everyone. The following principles guide WTO.
Principle of Non-Discrimination: It requires a WTO member to apply similar trade conditions while transacting with all WTO members. It simply implies that the WTO members should treat other in a favorable manner. In addition, if a favor is extended to one member of the WTO in a certain transaction, similar treatment should happen to any other WTO member in case of a similar transaction.
Reciprocity: This principle advocates for nations to do mutual things to each other. For example, reduction of transaction tariffs should be mutual and equal in measure. Markets should be freer on both sides of the spectrum. Barriers restricting such trade should effectively come down to enable more trading for mutual growth and benefits.
Predictability: World Trade Organization proposes that any agreements arrived at should be binding and long-term. Any member should not decide arbitrarily to change any terms or conditions.
This gives confidence to members, investors, governments and any other stakeholders. It is a good ingredient to promoting healthier relations and growing economies. The subjects that touch on this principle include market-opening commitments, tariff rates, and trade barriers.
Beneficial to Less Developed Countries: This is a critical principle. However, in recent times and in the past many developed countries have misused this principle. It proposes that underdeveloped countries should enjoy special privileges when dealing with economically strong economies.
This will enable them to enjoy greater visibility and flexibility in the marketplace. At the start of the supposed agreement, it helps these economies to adjust to the current economic environment. Adjustments include sensitization of its citizens and structural changes, which may be much easier for the big economies.
Competitive and Fair: The WTO strongly advises that a fair and level playing field should exist for all nations. Every country should fairly compete and universal human standards upheld. It discourages unorthodox practices such as arbitrary dumping of obsolete products to third world countries.
This practice common among the developed countries is inhumane and self-seeking. It also goes against United Nations Charter. Others include unfair export subsidies and cheap products development to gain market share.
If free trade is beneficial to nations, why does it face such hostility? Why is it that since its formulation in 2001, Doha round of negotiations did not record any milestones until 2011? Does it mean that since the major economies had been experiencing massive growth in their economies before 2011, they did not find it necessary to include other nations in their trade? These pertinent questions depict large economies as greedy.
They also point out the greatest lacuna in these talks where majority of the nations with the vote are large economies that want to shelve the interests of others.
This paper will analyze the benefits and disadvantages of free trade and look into the reasons why efforts geared towards this are hampered. Additionally, this paper will critically analyze the state of the global economy and reasons for the current state in light of existence of an idealistic free trade among nations.
State of the Global Economy
Since the World War 2, political disintegration has been on the rise. There is currently more than three times the number of independent countries than there were at the end of the war. Political disintegration has sometimes been credited with innovation as countries strive to come up with ways to fund budgets, increase security, and be relevant to its citizens.
Consequentially, political disintegration has led to economic disintegration. Although some economists argue that this leads to innovation in respective countries, as noted above, majority are of the opinion that integration of fiscal, economic, and monetary policies that are geared towards the benefit of all nations have far-reaching benefits than the former.
The global economy can be classified as irregular clusters of self-seeking political and economic integrations, which offer minimal, if any, benefits to the less performing economies. The political and economic integration of Euro Zone is a perfect example. These countries have curtailed sovereign fiscal policymaking and delegated that to the European Union.
In future, this was expected to continue until the recent Euro Zone crisis that was brought about by reckless borrowing by some members. There is minimal economic integration world over since most large economies are interested in vesting their interests at the expense of smaller economies. This brings a wedge of sharp mistrust and spawns half-baked integration with minimal benefits.
Examples of treaties that may not be effective include NAFTA, COMESA, EAC, among others. The fact that countries can easily pull out of these economic bodies reduces their credibility and waters down their efforts. Hence, the world economy is closely guarded with minimal freedom to conduct trade.
Additionally, there is minimal fairness in the game with countries that can produce goods cheaply illegally exporting these products to countries that produce them at a higher cost. This essentially kills trade.
Since the financial crisis started in the United States and quickly spread in other nations, many countries have restrained their need to import in an effort to appear to support their ailing economies. This was particularly informed by falling employment levels in many countries. Many lobbyists would criticize government if it imported any goods or services that could be produced locally.
This forestalled growth in free trade and countries continue to be wary. For example, in South Wales, when the government imported police uniforms and firefighters gears from an Australian firm, there was mass ridicule from lobbyists and citizens.
This has been the case in United States, Europe and a host of other countries. Hence, these efforts to concentrate on growing national economies and protecting them have led to the traditional artificial barriers that restrict free trade.
Advantages of Free Trade
Free trade may not be a fair trade but it has many benefits. Governments erect restrictions that restrict movement of goods and services between countries. Governments do this through use of subsidies and tariffs to hamper free trade. Normally, this is aimed at protecting domestic production from international competition. However, free trade has its benefits.
First, it allows countries to specialize in production of goods and services that they have comparative advantage. This specialization brings about efficiency, economies of scale, and increases output, which results in increased production. Second, free trade leads to an increase in productivity and a higher domestic output by increasing efficiency of resource allocation.
In addition, it increases competition, which leads to innovative ways of distribution, marketing, and technology. Third, the increased competition allows goods and services to trade at the lowest costs and gives producers reason to produce quality. Hence, customers experience quality. It also allows customers to have a variety of goods and services.
Fourth, free trade results in foreign exchange gains associated with the exchange of hard currency. This exchange allows the domestic country to pay for imports without having to exchange the money, which can be costly at times. Lastly, introduction of free trade generates employment to the domestic population.
This is because it allows economic resources to be shifted to the more productive areas of the economy, which leads to more demand for exports. The resultant effect of free trade is economic growth and development. Higher incomes and higher growth rate in economy increases living standards of citizens. Domestic industries increase production levels and enhance efficiency in productivity.
Disadvantages of Free Trade
Although there are many advantages, many disadvantages are put forth by conservative governments, lobby groups, and some economists to scuttle the efforts towards a free trade. First, free trade creates a domestic dependence on global markets. This creates a domestic economic instability associated with inability to control majority of the markets and prevailing forces such as demand, wars, and recessions.
Second, the global market does not offer a level playing field. A country may produce a certain commodity cheaply at a surplus and, to avoid losses, dump it in a country that produced the same commodity at a higher cost. Many countries find it hard to compete when such conditions prevail. Additionally, the nature of goods a country produces may not auger well in trying to find a favorable balance of trade.
For example, countries that produce agricultural related commodities experience unfavorable terms of trade. This results in lower export income and subsequently a large national debt. Third, it is in the interest of nations to protect their upcoming industries. This may not be possible if they are constantly facing competition from already established firms.
Hence, developing economies may find it more conducive to close trade and allow growth of its industries. Lastly, there are other disadvantages such as protection from environmental pollution by external firms and protection from a possibility of structural unemployment.
Tradeoffs of Integration
Introductory Case
The European Union is the single biggest economic and political integration since the Soviet Union. Europe had embraced industrial revolution and there was high industrial development across the region prior to the World War II. The war brought the economy of Europe into waste, with many of its industries destroyed.
During the period of 1945-1990, many of the countries in Eastern Europe fell into the communist hands of the USSR. United States came in sought to help save the European economy under the Marshall plan; it aided the western part of Europe and helped in building the economy.
By the 1980s the communist nations were rapidly falling while the economies of Western European countries were increasingly gaining power, this is attributable to the support of the USA.
With the help of America, many of the western nations moved to link together through economic integration. They formed the European Union that increased trade among them through shared infrastructure.
They agreed on a common currency (the euro) and made trade agreements that set their economies on the path to recovery. This was unlike the Soviet Union, which had wanted to continue scuttling efforts of recovery in Europe to its advantage.
Britain had been weakened by the Second World War hence it could no longer support countries in Europe like Greece and Turkey. It thus sought the intervention of the United States. The united states were strongly opposed to communism and to avoid European economies from falling in the hands of the soviet union they provided financial aid and also played a major role in stabilizing the civil wars at the time.
Americas intervention through the Truman doctrine saved the nations from soviet communisms in effect saving Europe from foreign policy failures and military humiliation. America believed that once a country falls into communism it would also weaken the neighbors as there would be minimum interaction due to diverging trade systems.
Their support was evident when the Soviet Union pressured Turkey over the Dardanelles Strait concessions that would have allowed invasion from the west, through enunciation of the Truman policy. USA helped Berlin with supplies and food when Stalin attempted to barricade West Berlin in a bid to take control.
This enabled Europe to maintain control of its cities from the Soviet Union. Were it not for the vast amount of aid America gave to Europe, European economies would have fallen further with the Soviet Union invasion during the cold war.
Tradeoffs of Integration
There are two types of integration: economic and political integration. The above case highlights the tricky nature of political and economic integration especially when carried out at the same time. The European Union is a classic case of economic integration with a measured political integration.
For example, it is possible to travel from some countries to others without a visa and it is a legal requirement is some countries within the euro zone. Economic integration is a major challenge to the national fiscal policies, the existence of some economies without straining and the entry of new members in the euro zone. These challenges are highlighted below.
Social and Political Challenges
A close look at Portugal and Spain who were late entrants into the European Union depicts profound developments in those two countries. Since entering euro zone, Spain has recorded a favorable economic climate highlighted by increased trade within Europe, access to European budget, and favorable infrastructure. However, many pundits believe that the inclusion of Spain and Portugal was not purely for economic reasons.
The European community strives to ensure that they have a functioning democratic union, with a common military purpose and a common defensive approach. Some economists argue that there cannot be a functioning economic integration without a political integration of some kind.
This is because many economic policies are spawned from political decisions. Hence, it follows that many Euro Zone countries do not have the political free will to make decisions as others may have.
The attached cartoon depicts a situation where a policymaker is considering two extreme options. The government of Greece had been borrowing money from the European Union members and from its citizens to fund expenditure budgets. It reached a point where the government was unable to meet its obligations and this resulted in a budget and debt crisis. The options were quite limited for the Greece government.
This is because they were not allowed to make hard financial decisions independently. Hence, the extreme options were to pull out of the Euro Zone and renege on debt payments to Germany and other big lenders or to abide by the demand from Euro Zone members to cut budgetary spending in exchange for a bailout agreement.
The bailout agreement, too, had many obligations. This includes the need to curtail government spending. This means the government will have to cut loose a massive working population from its structure. The other option will be to tax the Greek nationals more to meet the required budgetary requirements.
If Greece were independent from Euro Zone, the options would have been limitless. For example, the countrys central bank would have devalued the countrys currency. This would have facilitated more foreign investments and shored up the balance of exchange. Additionally, more money in circulation would have increased peoples spending and hence spurred economic growth.
However, all these fiscal decisions are tied to the Euro Zone fiscal structure. It is imperative to note that Greece was considering pulling out of euro zone. This meant that it would treat Euro Zone members as any other country outside euro zone. The reason this was an attractive way out is the short-term benefits.
For example, the country would immediately cease from having to consider Euro Zone members in its imports before going for any other option. Hence, the country would import essential commodities cheaply from countries in Asia, Africa, and Americas. Additionally, the countrys fiscal policies would be independent of any rules and regulations.
However, Greece would face trade barriers from even the closest neighbor and its exports would face a major lag. Hence, it would be hard to continue exporting goods to immediate neighbors. Additionally, it would be hard for Greece to be reaccepted into euro zone. The other countries will build a lasting mistrust in Greece. All these would have political, social, and economic consequences on Greece.
Legal Consequences
A country that enters into an economic integration has to abide by the rules of the integration. In the case of euro zone, all countries are required to align their agricultural, economic, and industrial legislation with the requirements laid down. Additionally, financial policies of a country must be in line with the European community. It is also mandatory to have certain taxation regimes and to have certain tariffs and subsidies.
Additionally, a country aligns its budgetary requirements with those of other countries in the euro zone. A country is also restricted from conducting business with another country if it can conduct that business with a country in the European community. All these are legal consequences that come with integration elsewhere.
One of the reasons why trade integration treaties do not work is because most countries do not take the integration seriously. In addition, the structures in place to ensure that these rules are adhered to watered down by the fact that a country has the free will to pull out at any time.
Poor Members
Poor members are one of the major reasons why economic integration is hard. Poor members feel like they are alienated and are not enjoying similar benefits as the rest. This had threatened the very existence of Euro Zone in the 1980s. These disparities include par capita income, infrastructure developments, education levels, productivity, and employment.
All these led to trade imbalances and hence poor countries were feeling the brunt. Efforts were made to harmonize this and some years later a fund specifically designed to address these problems was set up.
These structural policies systematically advocated introduction of new provisions that would make social and economic cohesions a common goal. Most integration treaties do not go to that extent. This means that in the end, most poor countries that are hungry for domestic development pull out. Eventually, the ability of the integration to continue working is severely scuttled.
Conclusion
From the above analysis, it is evident that a country that enters into an agreement with other countries significantly reduces its sovereignty. Depending on the nature and level of integration, a country may also enjoy a number of benefits.
Hence, a country trades off by weighing the option of giving up certain privileges to gain some advantages. The treaty has to be formed with good intentions. Failure to do that may result in its immediate crumble. For example, an effort should be made to ensure there is fairness that caters for the poor countries so that all enjoy fruits of integration.
The introduction of water policy according to a study by Edwards and Cheers (2007) limits the water rights of the farmers in Kerang immensely contributing to the deteriorating agricultural prospects in this region. The impacts of water trading as a result of the introduction of water policy need no overemphasis. A large number of farmers have no freedom of water use. The policy insists on providing water to farmers on full recovery of the costs. Moreover, the amount of the water abstracted from the river systems is under restrictions. The contents of this policy are likely to have direct impacts on water pricing and availability, hence upsetting irrigation dependent agricultural businesses in and out of Kerang. Trading rights in water is likely to cause multiple effects of drought situations as many will take advantage of drought situations to exploit the already financially susceptible farmers. Reduction of irrigation water means loss of local farms and productivity leading to dwindling wealth creation in the region the result is an increasingly vulnerable community in holding its values and ability to engage in long term economically viable activities.
Fewer residents engaging in agricultural farming means less spending in food, clothing, education and other essential services; this has a direct effect of employment creation in the area. Once a family loses water right the next option is to sell their piece of land to individuals from outside of Kerang.These individuals have little interest and experience in farming leading to increased trucks of land not put to good agricultural use threatening the food security situation. The water trading is likely to lead to inequality in the region as those with sufficient purchasing power will drive the financially weak farmers out of farming business by acquiring their water rights and farm lands leading to skewed development progress in the region. The small scale farmers are the potential victims of this water policy as it favors commercial farming.
There has been a trend in population decline in Kerang though it began much earlier before this water policy was introduced; however, water trading cannot be counted out of this pattern of population decrease. According to a study conducted by Chapman and Grenville ( 2002) Australias population increased by six percent between 1991-1996.Though there was decline in population in towns like Mount Isa, Wee Waa, Bourke and Wilcannia. The towns located in white-sheep zones like Swan Hill, Griffith and Emerald experienced population growth in the same period. Emerald population growth was attributed to coal mining activities that took place in the mid 1990s. Those towns in the pastoral dominated regions registered a decline in population. Towns like Mount Isa, Swan Hill and Griffith are found in areas that changed to crop and beef production as a gap measure to declining wool pricing in 1990s. On one hand, Bourke and Wilcannia are those towns with limited land use and were involved in wool production due to lack of an alternative venture during the same period. Wee Waa and Griiffith depend majorly on agriculture that employs most of its populace.Whilst Emerald and Mount Isa apart from agriculture, mining industry and many other varied industrial base.This has led to population changes in various towns because of limited or varied reliance in certain sectors.
The residents of Kerang spend a lot of their time in the farms and businesses hence take no time out to be with their families. This situation has lead to abandonment of social groups and organizations causing systematic loss of community social fabric and subsequent population decrease. The cases of drought and economic hardship in Kerang resulted in water trading. Other factors that have lead to sales of water rights in this region are increased commodity prices and profits from the sales of water. The management of water resources by organizations like MurrayDarling Basin Authority through involvement of communities creates a brighter future in terms of sustainable agriculture by conserving the natural resources like environment by imparting knowledge to the locals who practice farming. The authority forms key federal government policy on conservation of water resources for future generations. The Basin plans are key to the future agricultural prospects of the communities. The states program to combat salinity is meant to create and to protect the existing agricultural land for continued crop production. The changes in agricultural structure through construction of dams and irrigation drainage have contributed to the levels and patterns of employment, opportunities in education, as well as extent of accessibility to services in rural areas in Kerang cumulatively resulting in the current shape of the society. The impacts of the changes that have been witnessed are quite diverse in many local contexts in Australia. The over-reliance in agriculture has lead to some regions and towns diversifying their agricultural activities while those regions with inadequate economic might to respond to high commodity prices have been edged out of the agricultural production. The rural communities depend a lot on incomes from wool, beef, and sheep meat production. Many towns, especially those that have heavily relied on agriculture have bore the brunt of amalgamation of farms in the quest to remain afloat and achieve productivity coupled with mechanization of agricultural production that has seen low demand for farm inputs and farm labor creating unemployment among the young people. Some sectors of the local economy have cut down employment levels and this is attributed to state and federal policies that are rationalist in nature.
The land use patterns have changed due to the climatic variations, commodity costs and input costs have had economic effects on the agricultural production in large farms in Australia. Sheep number went down by a third from the initial 173 million. On the other hand, the beef cattle numbers rose by five percent over the same period. This trend in the rise of crop and cattle production and the fall of sheep numbers was attributed to competitive prices in crop harvest and beef yield as opposed to wool products. The challenges in agriculture have impacted differently in regions across Australia because of suitability of agricultural land to support crop farming.Wheat-sheep areas have favorable climatic and topographical benefit compared to other regions IN Australia. High rainfall strips along the coasts as well as the table lands are viewed as more appropriate for grazing and legume production due to high rainfall, humidity and sharp topography. The arid, semi-arid and the northern tropical areas in Australia support pastoral activities as very few land barely sustain crop farming resulting in mass exodus from sheep keeping to cattle rearing in 1990s. The wheat-sheep areas enjoy vast land use. This has witnessed cattle and crop production overtake wool production partly because of the better prices in beef and crop outputs. Due to the high productivity in high rainfall zones the land use practices have been very minimal in these regions.
The magnitude of the impacts across regions has been influenced by the agricultural sectors ability to adjust to differences in commodity prices in the 1990s and the level of reliance in agriculture compared to other sectors of the economy by towns in those regions.
Reference List
Champman, L and Greenville, J. Profiling rural Australia, Vol.9 No. 2007.
Edwards, J. and Cheers, B. The impact of trading of water out of districts: A case study of the kerang region in Victoria, Industry partner Report No.5 2007.
The issue of the slave trade is one of the most controversial ones because this question is not only associated with the problem of slavery, but it is also based on the problem of morality which is related to the discussion of slaves as objects of trade. In his book The Diligent: A Voyage through the Worlds of the Slave Trade, Robert Harms presents the records of Robert Durand who was the first lieutenant of The Diligent, the French slaving ship.
The French people joined the Atlantic slave trade later than the other European countries such as Britain and Portugal, but the French successes were significant, and the slave trade became the characteristic feature Frances development in the 18th century. Thus, the historic significance of the book is in the fact that it provides the discussion of the role of slave trade in France during the 18th century.
However, it is more important to concentrate on the aspect of morality to understand the French publics attitude to the problem of slavery in the 18th century. Robert Durand does not demonstrate any signs of uncertainty in relation to the morality of the slave trade, and his position corresponds with the position of the French people regarding the nature of the slave trade, but it is possible to condemn Durand for his attitude because reflecting the publics visions, he violates the universe moral norms and supports cruelty and violence.
Robert Durands accounts show that the lieutenant does not feel any qualms about the idea of the slave trade in spite of its brutal nature. According to Harms, Durand was writing about selling people exactly as he would have written about selling barrels of wine or loads of wheat.
He gave no indication that he felt any sense of shame or moral ambivalence about his mission 1. Durands businesslike and matter-of-fact tone can surprise not only the author who analyzes the accounts but also the readers because this tone is not appropriate to discuss the important moral issue of the slave trade in France of the 18th century2.
Furthermore, the young lieutenant does not demonstrate the unique attitude to the problem. Instead, Durands accounts represent the attitudes of the majority in relation to the issue of the slave trade because the French public paid more attention to the problems of war, to the issue of famine, and to the economic questions associated with inflation and taxes than to such moral issues as the slave trade in the 18th century.
In his work, Harms intends to explain Durands position while stating that the talk focused on issues of access, profits, tariffs, and bonuses 3. Thus, Durands approach to discussing the question was typical for the period, and it was even the part of a general mind-set in the seaports of early eighteenth-century Brittany 4.
From this perspective, it is almost impossible to state clearly whether the French public supported or not the idea of the slave trade because the actual public discussion of the problem was not observed within different social classes.
However, the reference to the social tendencies cannot be used to justify the approach of Durand to discussing the problem of the slave trade. The fact that Durand focused more on recording the factual details of the trade operations and prices and on counting the profits supports the idea that the aspects of morality were widely violated in the French society.
It is possible to condemn Durand for his actions because his activities are significantly associated with a lot of moral aspects, and Durand could reject the development of the slave trade as any other person in the French society. Nevertheless, many people chose to ignore the issue of the slave trade, and they discussed it only from the perspective of its profitability rather than morality. Slave traders chose their path consciously because the business was risky and problematic.
That is why, Durand made his choice without thinking about the moral implications of his actions. In spite of the fact that Durand was one of many people who did not focus on the slave trade as the social problem, this fact cannot be referred to while discussing the problem of condemning Durands actions. The slave trade was the business characterized by a lot of problems and contradictions associated with the concepts of the slaves freedom and use of their work in France.
The records and accounts written by Robert Durand demonstrate his focus on the slave trade as on the profitable business rather than on the moral issue. This approach or attitude is also reflected in the general publics visions of the question which were typical for the French society in the 18th century.
However, in spite of the fact that the moral aspect of the slave trade was not actively discussed in the society, Durands attitudes and actions cannot be justified because the man violated simple moral norms and promoted the brutal practice of trading people. Thus, the book by Robert Harms is the important source to research the problem of the slave trade in France as the moral issue with references to the historic significance of the phenomenon.
Bibliography
Harms, Robert. The Diligent: A Voyage Through the Worlds of the Slave Trade. USA: Basic Books, 2002.
Footnotes
1 Robert Harms, The Diligent: A Voyage Through the Worlds of the Slave Trade (USA: Basic Books, 2002), 5.
The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 13001589 is a book by Toby Green that examines conditions in Iberia and West Africa in the 14th and 15th centuries that set the stage for the subsequent complex interactions between Europeans and Africans. Despite the title, the book mostly focuses on 1460 to 1589, when Cape Verde Islands hosted most of the trade. The book will interest Atlantic explorers and the general public curious about European expansion and maritime trade (Shumway 731). However, it may not be the most accurate predictor of the subsequent historical events. Green thoroughly analyzes Cape Verde as becoming a place where European colonizers shipped, traded, and used enslaved Africans for agricultural cultivation. He then portrays the settlers from Iberia, mostly New Christian Jews, arguing that their prior exposure to violence and exclusion in Europe influenced how they based a new society on slavery and the slave trade in the new location. The narrative then compares the African situation with other slave trades, including Islamic slave-owners engaged in the trans-Saharan trade, Mandinka diaspora, and early slave trade from Upper Guinea by Portuguese. Drawing on archival sources in Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, most of the narrative focuses almost exclusively on coastal and island locations of the Iberian trade. Additionally, inland Africa and places in Europe and the Americas connected to Cape Verde by sea trade are occasionally mentioned. Green covers the earliest European maritime activity and settlement phase in the Cape Verde Islands and the West African coast between the Senegal River and Sierra Leone. The last part of the narrative states that colonizers then used the slave trade experience in West Africa in the Americas to suppress the Native American population.
The authors overarching aim in comparing worldwide slave trades is to state that many of the historical numbers have been underestimated. However, this argument does not address a still highly uncertain number of enslaved Africans taken out on slave ships, and thus the quantitative methods to estimate the volume of trade will likely refute this interpretation. Moreover, Greene rejects that African gold was more important than slaves to the first generations of European traders in Africa, a generally supported historical view (Shumway 730). Lastly, Green fails to see the global picture: for instance, the Upper Guinea slave trade before 1589 represents only 1-2 % of the total slave trade. Greenes desire to redefine the entire transatlantic slave trade and emphasize the dominant role of Cape Verde and Upper Guinea discredits the extant historical work of on the early slave trade from West-Central Africa. Furthermore, the exaggerated claim about Atlantic colonization impacted by the African slave trade habits calls for additional analysis. While the narrative certainly contributes to a historical understanding of the Atlantic world formation, it doubtfully advances ones understanding of later world histories, such as the colonization of Africa and economic globalization (Shumway 730). Moreover, Green claims that historians have failed to appreciate the impact of the extermination of the Native American population on the subsequent forced migration of Africans to the Americas. Such a claim is untrue there is prevailing acknowledged information on Americas labor shortage and its impact of increased colonists demand for slaves in public education (Shumway 730). Overall, The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 1300-1589 contributes to the historical understanding of the beginning of the European slave trade in Africa and places the Cape Verde Islands at the center of its history.
Works Cited
Green, Toby. The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 13001589. Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Shumway, Rebecca. Review of The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 1300-1589. Journal of World History, vol. 24, no. 3, 2013, pp. 729731.
In the United States, numerous laws exist which grant rights to consumers and generally protect their well-being. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission are two government agencies that enforce such laws. The former is responsible for ensuring that lenders, banks, and other types of organizations offering financial services do not violate the existing regulations. The latter is a bipartisan agency that aims to protect consumers and promote competition by preventing fraudulent and deceptive practices in the marketplace. The two organizations are essential for the economy of the United States and ensuring that merchants observe the rights of consumers.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has several functions and subsequently provides a variety of legal protections to consumers in the sphere of finance. Namely, the CFPB is tasked with protecting consumers from unfair acts and practices by creating rules and enforcing laws, and outlawing consumer discrimination. The CFPB applies several rules, regulations, and laws in order to deliver on its responsibilities. The main ones include Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Home Mortgage Disclosure, Fair Credit Reporting, and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ( Code, n.d.). The CFPBs activity goes according to the following steps: consumers file a complaint, the bureau reviews it and forwards it to the company, which then responds, and the bureau takes appropriate actions.
It is clear that the CFPB performs work that is extremely significant for the protection of customer rights in the United States. The agency directly assists citizens in events involving fraud, as well as generates invaluable regulations which help prevent such cases in the future. For instance, recently, the CFPB ordered California Auto Finance to pay a civil penalty and refund its customers their funds for illegally charging their clients interest for late payment ( United States of America Consumer Financial, 2021). Another recent case concerned the CFPB issuing a request to the federal district court to order DMB Financial, LLC to pay consumers at least $5.4 million for charging unlawful fees ( United States district court for the district of Massachusetts, 2021). Thus, based on these two cases, I can be concluded that the CFPB tends to impose financial penalties.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is another important agency that ensures the protection of consumers rights. The FTC has investigative, law enforcement, and rulemaking authority which means that it can protect consumers by issuing cease and desist orders to merchants, prosecute them for violations, and order civil penalties ( A Brief Overview, 2021). Since the FTC possesses considerable authority, it enforces a large variety of regulations and laws. For instance, it applies the Federal Trade Commission Act, Clayton Act, Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention, and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 ( Statutes, n.d.). The FTC works according to the following steps: it receives a complaint, reviews it, and makes a decision on whether to charge the merchant, as well as imposes civil penalties. For example, recently, it ordered Age of Learning, a childrens education company, to pay $10 million and change its billing practices for failing to reveal important information to consumers ( United States district court central district of California, 2021). Such examples show that the FTC is necessary for the countrys commerce since it ensures that the marketplace is free from different types of fraud.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission are two government agencies that are responsible for protecting consumers rights. These government bodies can review citizens complaints and act on them, ordering organizations that violate laws and regulations to pay penalties. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission significantly benefit the countrys commerce and finance since they prevent companies from offering fraudulent services.
The illegal trade in ivory is currently the biggest challenge for wildlife conservationists who are trying to protect endangered animals such as elephants and rhinos. The black market for ivory has been growing globally, especially in China and other neighboring countries. Elephants and rhinos are killed indiscriminately in Africa and parts of Asia and tusks and little has been achieved by the effort put in place by authorities in these countries to fight the problem.
In some countries, government officers who are expected to protect the animals have been involved in the ivory trade because of the rampant cases of corruption. Poaching is currently conducted in a very sophisticated manner because of the emergence of organized criminal gangs in this trade. As Holtmeier notes, it is necessary to have a policy change that would help in protecting these endangered species (58). It is apparent that the current policies used in managing the problem are not effective enough.
Thesis: the study seeks to determine how legalizing the ivory trade is the best solution to stop the illegal ivory trading of elephants.
Solutions Currently Being Proposed
Poaching is considered the biggest threat to the existence of elephants, rhinos, and other animals currently classified as endangered species. The need to protect wildlife has forced the international community to come up with policies that would help in eliminating illegal ivory trade as a way of fighting poaching (Permitting Limited Trade 1). According to Adam, the international community came up with a ban on trade (44).
The policy was meant to eliminate the demand for ivory in the international market. However, the policy has not been as successful as was expected. China and other neighboring countries did not implement the ban. The demand for the product in Far East countries has fuelled illegal trade in ivory. McConnell notes that a detailed study published in August 2014 estimated that poachers had killed more than 100,000 elephants in the previous three years, outstripping the animals rate of reproduction (32). It means that the policy of banning trade is achieving little success if any. It is the reason why a section of the wildlife conservationists is now considering a possible policy change as a way of addressing this problem.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Those Proposals
The current policies may not be capable of addressing the problem of illegal poaching as the current statistics have confirmed. If nothing is done differently in the near future, elephants and rhinos may become extinct in the near future. Corruption has been the biggest weakness of the current policy that focuses on the ban on trade. Draper says that many of the fighters, along with Congolese Army soldiers purporting to defend the territory, lingered well after the cease-fires, expunging the parks wildlife for personal consumption or for sale as bush meat, (62). That is why it is now necessary to consider a new approach.
The new proposal is to lift the ban on ivory trade in the international market. The main weakness of this problem is that it may legalize the hunting of elephants and rhinos in some parts of the world. However, the biggest strength is that it will make it possible to monitor and regulate this trade. Governments will be able to control the number of animals killed for the ivory.
The Most Effective Proposals
The current statistics strongly suggest that it is necessary to embrace new strategies, which may be more effective in protecting the endangered species. A report by World Wide Fund for Nature says that we must create a new economic system that enhances and supports the natural capital upon which it relies, (122). That is why it may be necessary to lift the ban. The international community should understand that the current ban is only acting in the interest of the poachers who are always working in cohorts with corrupt government officials in many developing nations in Africa and parts of Asia.
Reasons Why Legalizing Ivory Trade is the Best Solution
The legalization of the ivory trade may be the best solution to stop the illegal ivory trading of elephants and rhinos tusks. Stiles says that some conservationists have begun to argue for legal trade in ivory, saying it could help stem elephant poaching (44). They believe that the traditional approach of banning the trade as a way of eliminating the demand has failed terribly. In fact, the ban is benefitting a few corrupt individuals who have the means to kill these animals for their trophies and deliver the products to the black market.
Conclusion
A change in policy may be necessary for the fight against illegal poaching that endangers elephants and rhinos. The international ban on the ivory trade has failed to protect these animals because of the growing black market for the product, especially in the Chinese market. It may be necessary to lift the ban. The move may allow governments around the world to regulate the process of harvesting and selling of ivory.
Works Cited
Adam, Rachelle. Elephant Treaties: The Colonial Legacy of the Biodiversity Crisis. University Press of New England, 2014.
Draper, Robert. The Battle for Virunga: Saving One of the Worlds Most Dangerous Parks. National Geographic, 2016.
Holtmeier, Friedrich-Karl. Animals Influence on the Landscape and Ecological Importance: Natives, Newcomers, Homecomers. Springer, 2014.
McConnell, Tristan. The End for Elephants? Gangsters Use Poachers to Make a Killing in the Ivory Trade. Earth Island Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, 2015, pp. 30-38.
Permitting Limited Trade in Ivory Will Help Protect Elephants Africa. Reason Foundation, 2005.
Stiles, Daniel. The Ivory Market: Keep it Closed or Open It up? Earth Island Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, 2015, pp. 44-47.
World Wide Fund for Nature. Living Planet Report 2016: Risk and Resilience in a New Era. WWF International, 2016.
The Atlantic slave trade represents forced transoceanic transportation of men and women to the New World. Its beginning can be traced back to the early XV century and the Age of Discovery (Captivating History, 2021). After Christopher Columbuss voyage in 1492, the Spanish rediscovered the Americas and, along with the Portuguese, started their first settlements on the territory of modern-day Brazil and in the Caribbean (Captivating History, 2021, p. 21). As the Europeans were conquering more of the lands in the Americas, they needed more workforce. The first slaves were transported to the Caribbean by the early 1500s (Captivating History, 2021).
Although the number of the first forcibly transported people was relatively small, it would only increase in time. There was a slight change in the development of the Atlantic slave trade in the XVI century when the British started establishing their own presence. At the time, they were not yet as powerful as other nations, so they focused on North America to avoid competitors (Captivating History, 2021). With time, the British started actively participating in the slave trade to have people working on plantations (Captivating History, 2021). Initially, England was not involved in the slave trade but grew to dominate it in the XVIII century (Captivating History, 2021).
Regardless of the American Revolutionary War, the slave trade peaked by the 1790s, and from that point until the end of slavery, the British transported almost a million Africans (Captivating History, 2021). The development of the Atlantic slave trade was impacted by the British presence in North America and their settlements.
The impact
The Atlantic slave trade impacted the creation of the colonies in the Americas as the enslaved people were used as the main labor force. Establishing the first settlements, the Spanish and the Portuguese turned to sugar as the main source of income to cover the costs of the conquests (Captivating History, 2021). The colonists were planning to use the native population, but the locals suffered a demographic collapse in the XVI century (Captivating History, 2021). Eventually, the colonists resorted to the African slaves, who were more physically capable of work, were better acquainted with agriculture and metallurgy, and were more mentally weekend than the locals (Captivating History, 2021).
The Atlantic slave trade brought a new workforce to the colonies, which became the main population in certain areas. The first settlements that would much later become the modern US were established by the British and located on the East coast. The earliest expeditions claimed regions in Virginia and nearby territories, and the first colony was in Jamestown in 1607 (Captivating History, 2021). Although slavery was not as impactful on creating the settlements in the region at first, eventually, people in the colonies segregated those enslaved and dehumanized them. This was done by creating a unified code for slavery in 1705 in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and North Carolina (Captivating History, 2021). Later, enslaved people were crucial in the development of the future southern states, where they were brought to cultivate tobacco, cotton, and rice (Captivating History, 2021). The British significantly impacted the Atlantic slave trade and laid the foundation of the modern US.
Formal ending
The formal ending of the Atlantic slave trade can be traced back to the Age of Enlightenment. The Age of Enlightenment was a time of intellectual movement, the followers of which believed in the natural rights of humans (Captivating History, 2021). People started to consider slavery as something inhumane, thinking that it would end only with the end of the slave trade (Captivating History, 2021, p. 109). The change towards the perception of slavery was supported by Quakers and Protestant Evangelicals, who began interpreting the Bible differently and viewing slavery as contradicting Christian ideals (Captivating History, 2021).
The cancellation of the Atlantic slave trade was impacted by those who started thinking that all people were equal and deserved freedom. The endeavors of Quakers preceded the legal end of the Atlantic slave trade. While the followers of the Age of Enlightenment were debating over the issue of slavery, the Quakers wrote petitions and formed anti-slavery societies asking governments to ban the slave trade (Captivating History, 2021). Certain US colonies and later independent states started passing laws restricting the slave trade, and Britain was preparing to forbid it as slavery was less supported by the public (Captivating History, 2021). In 1807 the British banned the slave trade, gradually forcing the same on other countries (Captivating History, 2021). The formal ending of the Atlantic slave trade followed peoples change of mind, although the complete end of slavery was far from over.
Reference
Captivating History. (2021). The Transatlantic slave trade: A captivating guide to the Atlantic slave trade and stories of the slaves that were brought to the Americas. Author.
The colonialist past of Great Britain includes quite a substantial history of slave trade, particularly, the enslavement of Africans. According to the existing records of this shameful page of Great Britains history, over the course of the slave trade, around 3,000,000,000 Africans were transported to Great Britain and forced into slavery.1 However, after the discovery of the economic and political opportunities in North America, Great Britain expanded the scope of its slave trade to include Native Americans.2
Also being viewed as the material for slave trade, Native Americans were captured and sol, yet the resistance that Native American tribes demonstrated led to military confrontations resulting in the First Indian War.3 Although the resistance that Native Americans demonstrated was beyond impressive and inspirational, the strategic advantage of the British colonists defined the outcome, leading to a spike in the British slave trade and the further exploitation of Native Americans.
Delving into the nature of the British slave trade as one of the most atrocious phenomena in the British history one will need to outline several factors that predicated the development of slave trade as a phenomenon. First, the presence of racial biases affected the surge of colonialist ideas and helped build the philosophy that would reify the concept of subjugation of people perceived as inferior into the concept of slavery as a system combining forced labor and institutionalized dehumanization of people of other races and ethnicities.4 Therefore, the European and British point of view on slavery suggested that slavery should be seen as a norm in the relationships between European citizens and members of other ethnic and racial groups.
When assessing the factors that predetermined the specified despicable perspective, one must mention the presence of the perceived sense of supposed intellectual superiority. Being confined to the context of European culture, its representatives could not grasp the idea of an alternative perspective on art, nature, and science, hence the immense feeling of intellectual and cultural superiority.5 Additionally, the military factor was another crucial constituent of the slave tared development process. Although the military progress did not supply additional fuel for the racist ideology that British colonists upheld, it assisted in subjugating indigenous people due to a significant military advantage.
Finally, the religious factors need to be mentioned as a massive contributor to the development of slave trade. Driven by the same idea of superiority, British colonists viewed the idea of slavery as acceptable since it was mentioned in the bible without evident condemnation of the practice.6 Given the massive impact that Christian standards and values had on the British community at the time, the role of the Bible in shaping British peoples attitude toward slavery can be considered unmistakably high.7
Arguably, it should have occurred to British colonists that the ethical standards and perceptions of cross-cultural relationships should progress and need not be lifted from millennia-old cultural practices. However, the Biblical references to slavery as an acceptable practice were far too useful an instrument for promoting the same power dynamics based on inequality and subjugation of other races.
The propensity of the British slave trade to expand and become even more ruthless could be observe d as British settlers established their presence on the North American continent. Specifically, the East India Company could be seen as an attempt at expanding the British slave trade by starting a colony slave trade in Virginia8. Representing a frontier hub, South Carolina was also included in the range of locations where slave trade was prevalent.9 Affecting primarily Cherokee tribe members, who inhabited the territories of Virginia and South Carolina, British slave trade defined the further genocide of indigenous Native American people.
Examining the relationships between British colonists and the Yamasee community, one should mention the propensity among British people to encroach upon the rights and freedoms of Native Americans. Known as the European encroachment, the specified change involved gradual appropriation of the lands belonging to Native Americans by British settlers.10 Therefore, the very philosophy of British settlers was built on the ideas of colonialism and racial superiority, therefore, defining their attitudes toward Native Americans. In turn, the resistance demonstrated by the latter challenged the specified perspective significantly, therefore, causing British slave trade to become even more ruthless toward ethnicities perceived as inferior.
Culminating in a massive military resistance, the conflict between British colonists and Native Americans finally took the shape of the confrontation that would, later on, be known as the Yamasee War. Representing the Native Americans unwavering intention to resist the colonialist attitudes of the British Empire and, ultimately fight the slavery into which Native Americans were subjugated, the Yamasee War can be considered one of the prime examples of how the slave trade affected the British Empire, causing countless deaths of British troops and the continuous conflict with Native American tribes.11
What made the Yamasee war particularly remarkable was tat, due to the fragmented state of Native American tribes, it never factually ended, as Bossy explains.12 As a result, the effect that the war had on Great Britain could be described as devastating, costing the empire a tremendous amount of resources. Thus, Native Americans affected the British slave trade in a multitude of unexpected ways due to their uncompromising resistance.
Over decades of slave trade and attempts at subjugating native residents of north America, Great Britain participated in multiple tared wars. Among the most notable ones, one should mention King Philips War (1675-1676) occurring in the areas of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which resulted in the tragic defeat of Chief Metacom.13 The Battle of Tippecanoe, which would occur in 1811, also defined the settlers further foray into the north American continent.14
However, the wars occurring on the North American continent were not confined to the confrontations between Native Americans and colonists. Due to the desire to seize control over as much area as possible, British colonists opposed French ones actively, which resulted in multiple military conflicts in the area.15 The described confrontations emphasized the archeological nature of the colonists interest toward the continent as opposed to the social perspective that would have allowed them to see Native Americans as human beings deserving their irrefutable rights and freedoms.
Due to the colonialist strategies and the dehumanizing perspective that British settlers applied to Native Americans, the latter were quickly included in the British slave trade as another product to be sold, therefore, causing the relationships between British settlers and Native Americans to deteriorate and result in numerous wars.
Therefore, native American were primarily seen as the object for slave tared, yet the specified perspective was not devoid of consequences for British settlers since Native Americans demonstrated massive resistance and engaged in military confrontations culminating in the First Indian War. Despite the eventual loss of the Native American population due to the tactical advantage and the greater range of resources available to the colonists, Native Americans would not capitulate to the reign of British settlers, which defined the aggravating relationships between the two sides.
Bibliography
Aremu, Johnson Olaosebikan, and Michael Ediagbonya. Trade and Religion in British-Benin Relations, 1553-1897. Global Journal of Social Sciences Studies 4, no. 2 (2018): pp. 78-90.
Beghdadi, Farouk. Economy and the Shaping of the Immigration Policy of the British American Colonies (1624-1775). Traduction et Langues 17, no. 1 (2018): p. 98-111.
Gallay, Alan. The Yamasee Indians: From Florida to South Carolina (Lincoln. NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2018.
Micheletti, Steven J., Kasia Bryc, Samantha G. Ancona Esselmann, William A. Freyman, Meghan E. Moreno, G. David Poznik, and Anjali J. Shastri. Genetic Consequences of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the Americas. The American Journal of Human Genetics 107, no. 2 (2020): 265-277.
Norton, Mary Beth, Carol Sheriff, David W. Blight, Howard Chudacoff, Fredrik Logevall. A People and a Nation: A History of the United States. Thousand Oaks, CA: Cengage Learning, 2014.
Petley, Christer. Slaveholders and Revolution: The Jamaican Planter Class, British Imperial Politics, and the Ending of the Slave Trade, 17751807. Slavery & Abolition 39, no. 1 (2018): pp. 53-79.
Footnotes
Micheletti, Steven J., Kasia Bryc, Samantha G. Ancona Esselmann, William A. Freyman, Meghan E. Moreno G., David Poznik, and Anjali J. Shastri, Genetic Consequences of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the Americas, The American Journal of Human Genetics 107, no. 2 (2020): 267.
Ibid.: 269.
Christer Petlkey, Slaveholders and Revolution: The Jamaican Planter Class, British Imperial Politics, and the Ending of the Slave Trade, 17751807. Slavery & Abolition 39, no. 1 (2018): 58.
Ibid.: 59.
Ibid.: 61.
Johnson Olaosebikan Aremu and Michael Ediagbonya. Trade and Religion in British-Benin Relations, 1553-1897. Global Journal of Social Sciences Studies 4, no. 2 (2018): 82.
Ibid.
Farouk Beghdadi Economy and the Shaping of the Immigration Policy of the British American Colonies (1624-1775), Traduction et Langues 17, no. 1 (2018): p. 101.
Ibid.
Ibid., 103.
Alan Gallay, The Yamasee Indians: From Florida to South Carolina (Lincoln. NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2018): 236.
Ibid.: 238.
Ibid.: 251.
Mary Beth Norton, Carol Sheriff, David W. Blight, Howard Chudacoff, Fredrik Logevall. A People and a Nation: A History of the United States (Thousand Oaks, CA: Cengage Learning, 2014): p. 219.
Trans-Atlantic African slave trade remained worlds major long-distance involuntary migration of persons. About 12 million African males, females, and kids remained confined, transported towards Americas, also credited and traded mainly by European also European-American slaver receptacles as chattel stuff aimed at their labor and services beginning the 1619 centuries. When Portuguese sailors cruised in West Africa in the 1440s to hunt for wealth, spices, and friends in contrast to Muslims and the Ottoman Empire, the one who exacts Mediterranean Sea trade, the initial stages towards an Atlantic African slave trade remained. When Lusitanians arrived on the African beaches, they discovered cultures involved in a network of trading routes that transported a range of items across Sub-Saharan Africa. Slave traders from Europe arrived in Africa eight centuries after Muslim slave traffickers. Muslims who came from North Africa also additional Mediterranean countries recognized trade routes into Saharan as well as Sub-Saharan Africa early 17th century, obtaining golden, pepper, tusk, dehydrated meat as well as skins, and slaves, which were transported towards North Africa, Central East, and outside.
Cause of Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Africa
Many Africans finished up in Portugal and Spain by way of an outcome of the Portugueses initial West Africa slave trade. Some had been set free, while others had paid for it. Some of the children remained the result of African-Portuguese weddings and relationships. Seville, Spain, required a populace of 6,000 Africans (Landers). Some Africans traveled towards the North American continental with Spanish explorers. Entirely of societies in Sub-Saharan Africa were involved in the slave trade, either as confined or as salivates. While Europeans generated the request for slaves, African partisan and monetary leaders conducted the majority of the exertion in arresting, conveying, and marketing Africans towards European slave traffickers and the coastal areas of Africa.Because European brokers( Bohorquez pp. 403-429) remained outstripped by Africans from the West who exact trading along with coastal areas, they first needed to convert with authoritative African heads, which frequently required praise and impartial-interchange relationships. Solitary before were African slaves available to European traders.
Individuals who had contributed to local, long-distance trade remained among the enslaved and were transported to new places. They remained accomplished agriculturists, textile artisans, sculpture, golden, tusk sculpture, jewels, also religious matters artisans, artisans of impassive gears, fittings, and architectural essentials, in addition to ceramicists and blacksmiths, depending on their resources. Others were linguists who could speak an additional African language and single or other European languages. In some circumstances, they had established trade languages, which permitted inter-group contact even among Africans who did not speak their language.
After Portugal also Spain showed that slave trade in Africa remained gainful, extra European states followed ensemble. After William Hawkins, broker from Plymouth, remained in Coastal Guinea in 1530 also returned with limited captives, also the English started their first excursion of slave trade in Africa. Hawkins child, John, made a cruise aimed at the Coast of Guinea three decades later, in 1564. He instructed four prepared crafts, also a troop of 170 males, with the support of Queen Elizabeth. Through his efforts towards securing Africans to enslave, Hawkins misled numerous males in skirmishes through black man in the Coastal Guinea. Later, he seized 300 Africans in a Spanish ship through piracy, making it gainful for him sailing to the West Indies, somewhere he could trade them for cash and swap them for necessities. Queen Elizabeth dubbed him as well offered him a top depiction the head of black man (Dowlah) also derelict with arms intended firmly as a reward aimed at launching slave trade aimed at the English.
Economic factors can only explain a portion of European involvement in African enslavement. Slavery remained not extensive in Europe at the close of Mid Ages. It was primarily isolated on the Mediterraneans southern outskirts. They saw them as ordinary slaves, rude, heathen individuals whose black color long-established their God-intended lowliness towards Christian Europeans. As per consequence of their contribution in the transoceanic slave trade also a system of discrimination entrenched in law also strategy and motivated through a wish aimed at riches also income, Europeans established a nascent knowledge of race and racial difference.
Conclusion
According to Western and African historians, war detainees, sentenced convicts, pledgers, immigrants (Ogu), starvation fatalities, and partisan protestors remained enslaved in West African communities. Internal conflicts, crop catastrophe, famine, starvation, partisan unsteadiness, limited raids, taxes, and legal or spiritual retribution contributed to the enormous number of enslaved persons in African governments, countries, and princedoms throughout the transatlantic slave trade. Scholars agree that the capturing also selling of Africans aimed at enslavement remained mostly accepted out amongst Africans, particularly the coast of monarchs also seniors, in addition, that limited Europeans always trooped interior and arrested slaves. The greatest common source of enslavement remained African conflicts. However, it is crucial to note that throughout the initial steps of the Transatlantic African slave trade on coastal West Africa, African peoples did not share a common African identity. As a result, most traders from West African kingdoms may have believed they remained vending strangers, relatively to corresponding Africans, when they traded males, females, and progenies towards European slave dealers.
Works Cited
Bohorquez, Jesus, and Maximiliano Menz. State contractors and global brokers: the itinerary of two Lisbon merchants and the transatlantic slave trade during the eighteenth century. Itinerario vol. 42, no. 3, 2018, pp. 403-429
Dowlah, Caf. Slavery in the New World: The Saga of Black Africans. Cross-Border Labor Mobility. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2020. 81-118.
Landers, Jane. Transforming bondsmen into vassals: arming slaves in colonial Spanish America. Yale University Press, 2008.
Ogu, Patricia Ihuoma. Africas irregular migration to Europe: A re-enactment of the transatlantic slave trade. Journal of global research in education and social science 10.2 (2017): 49-69.