How did the altantic slave trade impact western africa?

Before Europeans came, Africans had diverse ways of life under different kinds of governments. Kings ruled great empires like Mali and Songhai. Some states had democratic rule. Some groups

slave-trade-1had no central government. However, slavery existed in Africa long before Europeans arrived. Rulers in Mali and Songhai had thousands of slaves who worked as servants, soldiers, and farm workers. Villages raided one another to take captives and sell them. Often, a slave could work to earn his or her freedom. In the 1400s, however, Europeans introduced a form of slavery that devastated African life and society. In the early 15th century, European traders began to sell slaves. They raided towns to capture unwilling Africans. Some Africans captured in wars were sold to European traders by other Africans. According to The Atlantic Slave Trade: Effects on Africa, Karo Kant states that, “10 to 12 million Africans were forced into slavery and sent to European colonies in North and South America from 1520 to 1860” (pg135). Many more were captured but died of disease or starvation before arriving. The Transatlantic slave trade profoundly diminished Africa’s prospective to develop economically and uphold its social and political stability.