First Essay

Victor Mai

HST498

Europeans were able to find explore African culture and the people themselves in the early 1400s. Europeans would easily travel through the Atlantic Ocean and enter Northern Africa. Merchants and traders were looking for new prouducts and exotic items. Most of the traders would run into the African people, who they knew very little about. Europe would develop their economic and start expanding into Africa. Much of Southern Europe would start to have contact to Africa people. One of those ways began with the development of slavery. Many European countries would begin the debate for the ethics and purpose of slavery. Some countries would ban it and others would embrace it for their economy.

Africans were brought to Europe, much of the people would base their opnions from what they read from published books of many travelers. Movement on ship voyages and expansion by many European powers would bring Africa into the picture as a place for profit and competition with other European Powers. Much of the European society would see this subject as a new and different part of life that became unknown yet a challenge to be looked upon. Much of the social and economic benefits and differences would be challenged and thought of what would be right to enact as ethical.

The African people began to become targets for trade, to be brought back to the European countries. Africans were also looked at as being worthy to being slaves. Much of politics and social issues, to include religion would play an important role. Northern Africa would a predominently Muslim region and thus could be enslaved as they were not Christan. This view would constantly debated through the 1400 and 1500s as many did not know how slaves should be treated.

As the European countries were developing, bring Africans from the outside world in would increase a source of labor and was manageable and able to control. been felt before. The growth of what would become the slace trade would being a clash of cultures between the two contients. Everyday life in Europe was becoming used to the idea of having slaves around and the African people began to believe in this way of life also.

Some of the European coutries would try to find equality and rights for these people aftger the 1600s such as Great Britain. Yet around the contient much of the people began to be looked at as a lower class than other men., This culture would begin to become normal and the tought of civil rights would become no existent. Within these 200 years of interactions between Europe and Africa, Europeans were created and controling the aspects and livelihoods of African people for their benefit. Social ethics and class were developed and constantly debated. The identity of the African people and their culture was see to the western world and would become a struggle for hundreds of more years to come.

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