Medium: Brushed Acrylic on 16x20 Stretched Canvas
Beginning in the middle 1400's the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade became the dubious spin-off of the Portuguese government's quest to seize the huge deposits of gold legend to be stockpiled in West Africa. Discovering the tales of these immense caches of gold to be all but fable the Portuguese refocused their objectives and set off on a campaign to obtain human slaves; which was a more plentiful commodity.
By the 1700's the European world powers had come to two dark conclusions; that the slave trade was a very profitable endeavor and that human slavery would be essential to fulfill their visions of New World colonization. Through trial and error they discovered that the Mandingo people of West Africa were biologically more suited to resist the diseases that had overtaken many of the indigenous people first captured and forced into servitude. They also found black people to be more conditioned to withstand the heat and humidity of the tropical climates of the Caribbean and the Southern Americas making them the primary sources of labor for working the mines and plantations.
Undeniably, slaves were abducted primarily with the full assistance of oppositional tribal chiefs and corrupted African merchants. However, it was the need or greed for European capital and weapons that fueled this treachery. On rare occasions, slaves were also obtained through the direct campaigns of European slave merchants.
For the abducted captives, life aboard the slave ship was abominable. Shackles attached to a line of thick chains were cold riveted onto bear ankles. Many slaves suffered severe infections caused by wounds from the metal bracelets. They were herded one on top of the other into the dark and damp cargo holds. So many people were crammed into the holds that they were unable to stand erect. They would be fed malnourishing and sometimes rancid slop. They would receive inadequate portions no more than twice a day. Anyone who refused to eat the slop would be systematically beaten and force fed. When food or fresh water supplies became low, lines of black captives chained together; men, women and children; would be brought up from the hold and thrown overboard to drown. Almost all were in poor health due to being chained in the damp and drafty cargo holds for months. Rat infested and overflowing with human waste they were subjected to extremely unsanitary conditions. Sickness and disease were rampant. Death was an everyday occurrence.
For a captive to have survived the long and arduous Trans-Atlantic journey, making it to the New World, still alive, was a miraculous blessing that would soon turn into a tragic curse.
Written by Carl G. Brown
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