Quote:
Originally Posted by Professor Peabody
African tribes were generally in a perpetual war with each other over territory, hunting grounds and other resources. When the warriors did battle one tribe (the one winning the battle) usually captured warriors from the opposing tribe. They would make slave labor out of the other tribes captives, the ones that weren't needed were typically put to death. When the slave traders showed up, the tribes stopped killing the excess captives and started trading them for things like blankets, wax candles, oil lamps and the oil to run them, fire water, pre made bows and arrows and food.
Think for a second, most slave ships carried a crew of 50 or less. African tribes of the time typically numbered from several hundred to several thousand, there was safety in numbers. The slave ship crews were armed with one shot flintlock pistols, one or two per man. A good man with one of these pistols could fire three rounds a MINUTE , the procedure to reload them is slow. I'm sure there were cannons and rifles aboard the ship. Assuming they would leave 10 crew to protect the ship from pirates. 40 guys with single shot pistols would be quickly overwhelmed by several hundred battle experienced warriors with spears, clubs and knives. So I highly doubt they were able to steal the tribe members for long before the warriors would be waiting to let 'em have it.
Their ancestors were just as responsible for slavery, they could have said NO and ran the traders out. The biggest part of their problem is the unwillingness to accept their own peoples responsibility for history and their willingness to only blame others. Maybe some day than come to grips with it and move on and fit into society.
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Myth, genocide and mass starvation came with civilization so to say as colonizers said they are civilized.Slavery en mass came with the Europeans, but that is past,, it was slavery solely built on race, unlike slavery of Rome, Greece, or even serfdom, this slavery was solely based on race. A warrior society can not afford slaves, they absorb the defeated into society, they can not afford slaves they need every able bodied person, do you know Africa is a huge continent, there was no slavery in Southern Africa, they fought you, they neither enslaved or sold slaves, they needed each other, the children of the spirit. Anybody was welcome to such nations if they adhered to the laws and customs, they would be given land to farm, this humanity is what allowed colonisers in, they claimed they were hungry, and the kind peoples gave them land, not knowing the envy o the colonisers will end up with them having nothing, people gave the colonisers land in the begining, just as the noble north american native also gave land not knowing the imperialist will want everything, even the lifes of those who saved them from starvation.