The profitability of human trafficking in the form of slavery was a critical component that shaped the world economy. Indeed, slavery was a lucrative business in the 16th century where merchants used to exchange slave with manufactured goods from Europe. Industrialization which was labor intensive prompted wealthy businessmen to source for free labor from Africa where slaves used to work in their industries and plantation farms for nothing thus reaping a lot from the benefit of the labor. The trading of slaves for manufactured goods and the massive profits those merchants made from the trade qualified slavery to be regarded as an economic system.
The immense rate of returns gained by those people who invested in slaves is an indicator that the "slave capital" brought more returns than those people who invested in the conventional form of investment like the rail bonds. Also, the process of transporting slaves from their country of origin was a booming business which facilitated not only the transportation of trade but also enhanced the movement of other goods which were used as a medium of exchange. For instance, Britain traded slaves with the textile products which were in high demand in northern Africa. The process of financing and procurement involved a raft of activities whereby money had to exchange hands a fact that formed the basis of the international trade.
The financing and transportation of slaves to Europe and America became so lucrative to an extent that the merchants used to transport about 70,000 slaves every year a fact that made some of them fabulously wealthy. A lot of money was generated from the trading in sugar. Individual businessmen increased their production due to free labor a fact that not only enhanced economic development but also enhanced the establishment of urban centers on the main routes that were used by the merchants.
Tobacco was the key slave-produced crop in the United States during the colonial era. Most of the tobacco plantations were concentrated in Maryland and Virginia and used the largest concentration of slaves from Africa, who were imported to the US during the period of the American Revolution. Besides, Tobacco, Indigo, and rice plantations were among some of the crops that were produced in large quantities due to free labor from slaves.
Despite the fact that most of the slaves in the South worked on the plantation farms, some slaves of the African decent worked in the urban areas like the New York and Charleston. The occupations of slave varied from domestic servants, carpenters, masons and tailors. Although some slaves worked directly for their owners in the urban areas, a small fraction hired them out and paid their masters a percentage of their total earnings.
Most of the tobacco plantation in the United States was a component of a larger international and national political economy. For instance, the cotton plantations in the south were seen as the regional economy since exportation of cotton to Europe was among the leading American foreign exchange earner in the 17th century. Besides, the south was competing with other countries to gain the global leadership in the production and the sale of cotton in the world market.
Industrialization in the United States was also enhanced by the slave trade. For instance, the American ship manufacturing industries highly depended on the slave trade. The increase in the slave-produced cotton in the South called for the need of manufacturing more ships so as to help in transportation of cotton to other parts of the world. The British textile also thrived as a result of the slave trade as it necessitated the provision of free labor for the industries. Also, cotton was not shipped directly to Europe directly from the South. First; the cotton was shipped to the New York after which it was transshipped to Europe. This process led to the establishment of the New York as the world's leading trading center to date.
The expansion of cotton enhanced economy in the southern states in the United States stimulates financial institutions to provide investment and loan capital for the purchase of more slaves and land to the wealthy merchants in the south. Although slavery was considered as an inexpensive source of the workforce, slaves of the African decent in the US became an essential political and economic capital in the political economy of America. African slaves were a legal form of property.
Many rich individuals in the south frequently used the slaves as collateral in many business transactions or even as security to access financial resources from the banks. Also, slaves were traded for other forms of goods and the services that the masters’ needed. In some states in the US, slaves were used to by the owners to settle outstanding debts. The impact of slavery on the US economy in the 26th Century is also manifested during the calculation of the value of land. The cost of land included the number of slaves who were serving in the given piece of land. The state government benefited from the collection of tax from merchants who has slaves. Slave transactions have also levied a fact that helped in boosting the revenue for the both state and national government.
Conclusion
Slavery was an economic system which played a critical role in shaping the world economy and international trade. Slave the enhance textile industries in Europe through the provision of free labor. Also, the agrarian economy of the southern US benefited from the slave trade through the provision of labor in the cotton plantations. Shipping industries and development of major towns like the New York was stimulated by the slave-produced commodities thus making the era of slavery critical in the shaping of the world economy.
