Colonisers and Genocide
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Welcome to The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Level 1, Lesson 1: Colonisers and Genocide
In this lesson, you will learn about:
The beginning of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
The genocide of the Indigenous Americans
Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you will understand:
When the first slave ship sailed to Africa
Which European nation began the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
What the terms “Maangamizi” and “Maafa” mean
When Christopher Columbus reached America
In 1441 the very first slave ship from Europe sailed to West Africa.
The Portuguese took to the oceans and arrived on what is today the Moroccan coast, taking with them a group of enslaved Africans. They then journeyed further south to the Guinean Coast on West Africa, capturing more Africans. They sailed back to Portugal, using the newly acquired enslaved as translators for further expeditions. The Portuguese also brought back with them gold, ivory and other goods from Africa. This was the start of what became known as the “Maafa” or “Maangamizi”, the African Holocaust.
Looking at history, it is no surprise that this area of Europe was the first to take to the oceans and sail towards Africa for the enslavement of people. As the Moors had ruled this area for centuries and had transferred scientific, engineering and navigational knowledge, the Iberian Peninsula was the most technologically advanced area of Europe. In a cruel twist of fate, the African Moors whose culture reverberated throughout Spain and Portugal led directly to the largest forced migration and genocide in human history
In 1492 Christopher Columbus, sailing on behalf of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, arrived in what today is known as the Americas (the North and South American continents as well as the Caribbean). European scholarship offensively calls this the “discovery of America”, but this ridiculous statement is simply the falsification of history. The Indigenous people of what today is called America had sophisticated civilisations for thousands of years and interacted with people from Africa and quite possibly China years before a European set foot on the continent.
However, Columbus’ arrival signified the beginning of the worst atrocities in human history. Millions of Indigenous Americans were murdered during wars with Europeans, who used biological and psychological warfare as well as newly developed weapons.
Gunpowder technology was thousands of years old, but Europeans had developed devastating weapons using it. The genocide of the indigenous population was then followed by the importation of poor white servants across the Americas. After this, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was born.