How Did The Transatlantic Slave Trade Affect West Africa

The mass import of Africans to the Americas is known to be one of the most devastating and cruel events in all of humanity. The transatlantic slave trade ruined so many lives, especially of those who still lived in West Africa, the most heavily targeted region to collect slaves, and lost family and friends. It also left a sizable mark on West Africa’s economy, political system, and social structure. Three historians wrote of how big this mark was, and whether or not it was helpful or damaging to West Africa. The transatlantic slave trade definitely had a negative effect on West Africa, as it hindered the continent’s overall growth, but it was not as detrimental as some historians, such as Walter Rodney, believed. Walter Rodney proved that West
The economic decline can be expressed through Rodney’s admittance to the abundance of arguments from European and American scholars that oppose his. These scholars argue that the slave trade was a trade of goods, so African rulers were given many goods from the Europeans in exchange for their people. Rodney proves this argument to be severely flawed and downright “ridiculous” as he states that these scholars leave out important aspects of this trade, such as the poor quality of the goods that the Africans were traded for and how this brought a new competition to the already struggling African markets that sold the same products. Rodney successfully exploits a false argument that opposes his and thus proves that the African economy did not grow. Also, the gold industry took a major fall during and after the transatlantic slave trade, as West Africans would rather fight people around them for slaves to sell to Europeans than work for gold. Rodney supports this claim with the use of a primary account from a European in West Africa: “’as one fortunate marauding makes a native rich in a day, they therefore exert themselves rather in war, robbery and plunder than in their old business of digging and collecting gold.’” Because West Africans saw the temporary wealth in selling slaves, they dropped their mining, a more permanent source of income, to steal from and fight with others. The remaining people who continued to mine and sell gold soon stopped, for it soon became unsafe to carry gold due to the violence. This not only damaged the economy, as the only steady flow of money and trade slowed down severely, but it also damaged the social structure and stability of West Africa. With people fighting with fellow community members and power being instituted with how easily one could obtain