Forced Migration Of African Americans

Effects and Developments of the Forced Migration of Africans
Europe and the New World:
Though the effect on Africa due to the slave trade was very negative, in the Americas it was the exact opposite. As population decreased in Africa, it increased in the Americas. Even today, approximately one tenth of our population can trace its roots back to an imported slave. The demographic effects of the slave trade varied on the area. In the British West Indies, for example, the proportion of people descendent from slaves in eve greater, since more slaves were needed in this area. Slaves went wherever they were needed, so the distribution of slaves throughout the New World is directly related to slavery. Even after slavery was abolished, most slaves
I used frequently to have different cargoes of new Negroes in my care for sale; and it was almost a constant practice with our clerks, and other whites, to commit violent depredations on the chastity of the female slaves; and these I was, though with reluctance, obliged to submit to at all times, being unable to help
Due to so many males being exported as slaves for the Europeans use in the New World, marriage patterns shifted greatly, and the male to female ratio was very skewed and the number of marriageable men decreased in many African nations. All throughout Africa, populations lost numbers, remained at a constant or had very little growth due to this disproportion between men and women. Fewer men to help reproduce and work meant a slower economic growth, if any at all. This effect played out greatly in the Upper New Guinea coast, in which the slave exports were so severe; population growth stopped up until the early nineteenth century. Africans selling their own people for the slave trade often led to heightened effects of diseases, famine or natural disasters. In place such as New Guinea, famine was a major problem, since the loss in male population meant less males who were able to produce food leading to a higher death rate and an even greater loss in population. African villages were also often forced to interact with one another because of the migration of slaves. This interaction led to a greater spread of diseases from one African village to another which caused even more of a population decrease. One of the regions which lost a great amount of population through this disease spread was Angola. The slave trade turned out to have severe effects on the population of Africa even today. Around