Slavery

Slavery is a form of subjugation of man by man practiced since ancient times and to the shame of man, continues today in various forms.

In Africa, as in other continents, slavery was not unknown before the arrival of Europeans. Unlike ancient Greece, for example, where the slave was assimilated into the category of "thing" on this continent possessed slave civic rights and property rights, existing in addition, multiple processes of emancipation. It is usually distinguished between slaves and house slaves of war, although the latter ended up being part of the first category after some time. In general, in Africa, the slave quickly integrated into the family that owned it. In Kongo, for example, a parent called his mwana slave (the child, the child). Elsewhere in Africa, the situation was not so favorable, but the patriarchal and community structure prevented the black slave was a well in the Greek sense. On the other hand, there ethnicities in which the slave was unknown, as among the fang of equatorial Africa.

Chattel slavery is distinguished because is the way that they treat the slaves. It is based on the idea that the humans are objects, are objects to trade for other objects. This was the main problem on that era because they were treated as things not as humans and they didn’t have rights or opinion so they were treated as the same as a chair. This helped the owners of the slaves to give slaves instead of something that was worth money like animals or something different.

The Europeans produced a shift in the history of slavery in Africa, exported slaves in alarming numbers to unknown regions for Africans and changed the conception of slavery directly assimilating slave = thing, with all that this characterization implies for human life.

The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and subsequent occupation of this continent by Europeans will impact from the sixteenth century in another part of the world: Africa. The main reason that this happened was because they had so many resources that they needed all the people and slaves to work it. You will be just in Africa in which Europeans put eyes to remedy the lack of manpower to be produced in America after the extermination of the native population. And as result of this approximately 4 millions of people were taken to America to work in the camps and getting all the resources that they had.

The slave trade was conducted through factories surrounding the African continent. At first they were pirates, traders and private boaters who were engaged in that activity, but from the seventeenth century began to be exercised by large companies. These were also responsible for the installation of factories and building strong and warehouses to store the slaves. Note that trying to impose a monopoly company did not exclude the presence of other persons involved in trafficking. For example, in the case of Portugal, traffic continued to be practiced by individuals slave especially from the seventeenth century when relations among the possessions of Africa and Brazil began to be directly due to interference from other Atlantic slave trafficker’s powers.

Overall, African slaves were exchanged for European products generally of poor quality and of little value, such as tissue, alcoholic beverages, mirrors, weapons, necklaces, etc. Once in America also continued barter in general were exchanged for snuff, cotton, timber, coffee, gold, silver, and other precious minerals.

Trafficking developed as a routine schedule: Futures slaves were captured inside or along the coast, an activity that triggered real wars that left a toll of countless injuries and deaths, but almost always a balance "precious": slaves. These, once chained, were transferred to walk to the barracks where they found. He found all the physical effort involved especially for wounded -for let alone children. These sites were dirty, stinking, drinking water was scarce, and heat drowned. Forced to live with the disease, abuse, thirst, hunger and agglomeration looked slowly decimated. Within these structures is carried out one of the nasty activities of trafficking: the separation of parents from children, brothers, husbands, friends, relatives or neighbors, according to the choice to undertake the merchant. In these places waiting weeks or even months until the ship will pick them up, and once on board had to remain on the African coast until loading is complete. On the ship were unspeakable conditions, overcrowding, hunger, filth, pestilence, the sweltering heat, torture, pain and panic was everywhere. As the voyage lasted two months-in the best of cases the mortality that occurred under these conditions was immense. Added to these torments, before arrival, the sick or injured, they risked not be sold, were thrown into the sea.

Once at destination slaves used to be fattened or even drugged to make them look healthy, were subjected again to a detailed anatomical examination and then were purchased by a planter or eager to exploit mining. His ordeal began a new chapter. In plantations or mines,

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