Slave trade

/kloc-from the middle of the 5th century to the end of the 9th century, western colonial countries kidnapped a large number of blacks from black Africa and sold them to America and other places in order to provide labor for American colonial plantations and mines. This is the bloody African slave trade. Because the slave trade is mainly carried out on the east and west sides of the Atlantic Ocean, western countries are generally called "Atlantic slave trade".

The slave trade lasted for four centuries, resulting in the death of hundreds of millions of Africans and having a very serious impact on Africa's political, economic and cultural development. This is the darkest period in African history. The slave trade brought huge profits to the capitalists in western Europe and became an important source of primitive accumulation of capital.

In African history, the slave trade appeared very early. There are records of slaves from the Horn of Africa (today's Somalia) in the book Journey to the Red Sea in 1 century. At the end of the 7th century, after Arabs entered North Africa, they also sold the captured blacks to Arab countries, Persia, India and Indonesia. In Europe, in the14th century, the Spanish sold slaves brought from North Africa, and then the Portuguese also started this trade. The first stage: from the middle of15th century to the middle of17th century, the trade in this stage was mainly monopolized by Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands.

144 1 year, Portuguese A. Gonsalves led a boat ashore along the west coast of Africa, bypassing Cape Blanc in the south, and returned to Europe with 10 blacks from there. Since then, Portugal has often sent some ships to plunder the coast of West Africa.

/kloc-in the 6th century, with the discovery of the new continent by Columbus, Spain established a huge colonial empire in the West Indies and the American continent, slaughtered a large number of Indians, and urgently needed cheap labor to develop colonies, so it publicly encouraged the import of slaves from Africa.

15 10, the earliest African blacks (about 250 people) were taken to Hispaniola Island in the West Indies. Since then, the scale of selling black slaves has become larger and larger. /kloc-in the 6th century, Spain and Portugal dominated the sea, and the slave trade brought them great wealth, so other European countries competed to intervene. Britain, the Netherlands and France tried to break the monopoly of Spain and Portugal.

1588, Spain's "Armada" was annihilated by Britain, and the maritime superiority of Spain and Portugal plummeted, and the Netherlands replaced it. From16th century to17th century, the Netherlands almost monopolized the maritime slave trade.

The second stage: from the middle of17th century to the second half of18th century, it was the climax of the Atlantic slave trade. The slave trade has rapidly developed into the largest and most profitable industry in the world, and it is also the only trade activity between Africa, Europe and America. Besides Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands, there are Britain, France, Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, the United States and Brazil.

By the mid-1980s of 18, the number of black slaves exported from Africa was close to 654.38+million on average every year. European colonists organically connected the trade between Africa, Europe and America, and became the prevailing triangle trade at that time. Triangle trade consists of three voyages: the first voyage was from the ports of European countries to the Atlantic coast of West Africa. Europeans exchanged cheap manufactured goods such as wine, arms, cotton cloth and various decorations for slaves, or obtained slaves by various improper means; The second voyage was to transport slaves from Africa to all parts of America and exchange minerals and agricultural products with them; The last voyage was to return to Europe from the United States and sell industrial raw materials and plantation agricultural products brought from the United States in the European market.

The third stage: From the second half of18th century to the second half of19th century, the Atlantic slave trade gradually declined.

/kloc-At the end of 0/8, the European abolitionist movement flourished. Britain passed a law prohibiting the slave trade in 1807, and other countries also announced the ban one after another. However, the desire for profiteering made the slave trade not really end, and the smuggling trade became rampant.

From the first half of the19th century, the United States became the main country selling black slaves. From there, a large number of African blacks were trafficked to countries along the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, and long-distance trafficked to the West Indies and the American continent.

From 65438 to 1950s, Black Africa exported more than 50,000 slaves to Cuba and Brazil every year. /kloc-In the second half of the 0/9th century, the slave trade basically stopped, but it did not eventually disappear. Sporadic trafficking activities continued until the end of 19 and even the beginning of the 20th century. The first African slaves arrived in Virginia, a British North American colony.

186 1 year, the contradiction between the capitalist wage labor system in the north of the United States and plantation slavery in the south intensified day by day, reaching an irreconcilable level. The civil war broke out in April, and the focus of the contradiction was the preservation or abolition of black slavery.

1863 in order to reverse the decline of the union army in the civil war, President Lincoln issued a decree to liberate slaves.

The civil war ended in 1865. President Lincoln was killed. The amendment to Article 13 of the American Constitution outlaws slavery.

1868 the amendment to article 14 of the U.S. constitution grants citizenship to all African-American blacks.

1870, blacks won the right to vote.

1896, the supreme court ruled that apartheid was not unconstitutional, which gave the green light to the apartheid policies of southern States.

1955 On a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks, a black woman, refused to give up her seat to a white man and was arrested as a result. The incident triggered a year-long boycott led by Martin Luther King, a black civil rights leader, and successfully demanded that all buses be desegregated.

1963 Martin Luther king was arrested and imprisoned in a demonstration in Alabama. He gave a speech entitled "I have a dream" in Washington.

1964, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, abolishing the apartheid policy in public places. Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Malcolm X, the black civil rights leader, was murdered at the age of 39. The Senate passed the Voting Rights Act, breaking the shackles that bound blacks to vote.

Brooke of Massachusetts became the first black senator in 1966.

1967 Marshall was appointed as the first black judge of the Supreme Court.

1968 Martin Luther king was assassinated in Tennessee at the age of 39.

1990 wilder was elected as the first black governor to lead the Virginia government.

199 1, Michael Jackson's single "Black or White" unexpectedly broke the racial discrimination. Blacks and whites have equal status.

In 2008, Illinois Senator Obama became the president of the United States, and he will become the first black president of the United States.

Michael Jackson, the king of American pop music, died of cardiac arrest at about 2 pm local time on June 25th, 2009 and in the early morning of June 26th, Beijing time. Due to the huge number of fans, the news of his death paralyzed many websites (1958 was born at the age of 50).

Before being sold to America, the plundered slaves went through three stages: from inland to coastal concentrated areas; Concentrate on accepting the choice of slave traders; Transshipment on slave ship. Generally, it is a long distance for slaves to be sent from the mainland to coastal concentrated areas. In order to prevent slaves from escaping, slave traders put heavy chains on slaves, and sometimes chains tied them together. Some slave traders also let slaves carry goods weighing dozens of kilograms, such as ivory, hides, sorghum, honey, etc., and even let them carry a big stone or a bag of sand when they can't find suitable products. The final stage is to load slave ship. From the Niger Delta to the West Indies, it takes seven or eight weeks when the wind is good. The slaves were crowded in the sultry cabin, and the sanitary conditions were poor. Various infectious diseases spread widely. Once they were found to be sick, they were immediately thrown into the sea, causing many deaths.

With the continuous expansion of the slave trade, African resistance became more intense. /kloc-At the beginning of the 6th century, King Alfonso I of Congo wrote to King Johan III of Portugal, condemning the slave trade in Portugal. Queen singa of Congo and her father tried to stop the Portuguese from selling slaves there. The slaves put up the fiercest resistance at sea. In slave ship, from Africa to America, slaves kept rioting to get rid of inhuman experiences. They would rather die than be slaves. Helpless with their bare hands, they often choose to jump into the sea to commit suicide or launch a hunger strike. For example, in 1807, the slaves of two ships died of hunger strike in Charleston harbor, USA. In 17 and 18 centuries, the slave trade was condemned by European enlightenment thinkers J. Locke, C. Montesquieu and Voltaire, and religious groups such as Quakers and Evangelicals also criticized its barbaric nature of anti-religion. /kloc-In the second half of the 8th century, under the influence of the North American War of Independence and the French Revolution, the voices against the slave trade and demanding the abolition of slavery merged into a magnificent abolition movement. Some people take part in this movement from a humanitarian point of view, but others also do so from an economic point of view. The latter thinks that frequent riots and high death rate of plantation slaves bring great losses to social economy.

In order to effectively stop the slave trade, Britain sent a navy to patrol the sea. 65438+ Since 1930s, Britain has signed agreements with France, Spain, Portugal and other major European slave countries, stipulating that ships carrying suspected slaves can be intercepted and inspected to punish traders engaged in slave trade. 1862, the United States agreed to sign this agreement. 65438+In the 1980s, Cuba and Brazil, the countries with the largest number of slaves imported by the United States, also announced laws prohibiting the slave trade and liberating slaves. At the Berlin Conference of 1885 and the Brussels International Conference of 1890, western countries adopted general resolutions against the slave trade, which gradually abolished the world slave trade that lasted for four centuries and caused incalculable losses to Africa.

Through years of unremitting efforts, the South African people completely buried the apartheid system in the 1990s, which marked the great victory of the African people in their long-term struggle against racism. At the beginning of the new century, it is of great symbolic and historical significance for us to gather in South Africa, which has a glorious anti-racism tradition, to discuss and formulate anti-racism strategies and measures together.

Colonialism, foreign aggression, slave trade and apartheid are typical manifestations of racism, which have brought profound disasters to countries and people in Asia, Africa and Latin America in history. In Asia, innocent people were ravaged by colonialism and foreign aggression. From the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to the Middle East, the birthplace of ancient human civilization was spared. In Africa, the iron hoof of colonialism trampled almost every inch of land, and the slave trade wrote the darkest page in human history with the blood and tears of countless Africans. In America, the discovery of the new continent broke the simple and peaceful life of indigenous people, and a large number of Indians were slaughtered, and the land on which they lived was almost deprived. However, light will overcome darkness, and justice will overcome evil. Through the long-term hard struggle of the people in Asia, Africa and Latin America and the joint efforts of the international community, nearly 100 countries have got rid of colonial rule and achieved national liberation and national independence. After the founding of the United Nations, it has been carrying out anti-racism activities for 30 years, and adopted important documents such as 1963 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which greatly promoted the global anti-racism process.

Martin Luther King, a famous American black civil rights leader, led the blacks in Montgomery to successfully resist the discrimination of local buses. 1In August, 963, Martin Luther King organized the "March for Freedom" movement with far-reaching influence in American history, and led more than 200,000 black people to March to Washington, D.C. to fight for human rights for black people in the United States. On August 28th, he delivered a famous speech "I Have a Dream" in front of Lincoln Memorial Hall, and issued a just call to fight against racial discrimination and strive for equality.

1960 On March 2 1 day, Africans in Shapewell Town, transvaal province, South Africa held a large-scale demonstration against the "passport law" of racial discrimination by the South African authorities. The Pass Act is one of hundreds of decrees on racial discrimination promulgated by the South African authorities. It is stipulated that non-whites above 16 must carry their passes with them, and those with incomplete documents will be arrested at any time. The marchers were brutally suppressed by the South African authorities. More than 70 people were shot and 240 injured, which caused a tragedy that shocked the world.

1966165438+1On 9 October, the 2nd1session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to designate 2 March1day every year as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This was determined to commemorate the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa on March 2 1960 and to oppose racial discrimination.

1973165438+1On October 30th, the United Nations adopted the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, which clearly declared once again that any organization, institution or individual that practices apartheid is a crime and should bear international responsibility. In the influx of immigrants into North America, African groups are reluctant. Among them, between 16 19 and 1808, 500,000 people were sold as slaves. With the outbreak of the American Civil War in the northern free state and the southern slave-holding state (in which 1 1 has left the union), the process of ending slavery began in April/2008. 1863 65438+ 10 1 In the middle of the war, President abraham lincoln issued the The Emancipation Proclamation, announcing the abolition of slavery in those states that left the union. With the adoption of the 13th Amendment to the American Constitution in 1865, slavery was abolished throughout the United States.

However, even after the end of slavery, black Americans were still hindered by apartheid and low-level education. In order to find opportunities, black Americans set off a wave of domestic immigration, that is, from rural areas in the south to cities in the north. But black people in many cities can't find jobs; According to laws and customs, they must live separately from whites and in a shabby neighborhood called a slum.

In 2002, the net assets of white families were $88,000, which was 1 1 times that of Hispanic families and nearly 15 times that of African-American families. According to statistics, the number of blacks living below the poverty line is three times that of whites. The average life expectancy of blacks is six years less than that of whites. American minorities are discriminated against in employment and occupation. In 2003, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received 29,000 allegations of racial prejudice in the workplace. Statistics released by the US Department of Labor show that in June 2004, the black unemployment rate was 1 10.8%, while the white unemployment rate was 4.7%, the former was more than twice that of the latter. Minors in at least 38 countries are engaged in slave labor. Of the 45 million people in the United States who can't afford medical insurance, 7 million are African-American, accounting for nearly one-fifth of the total African-American population and 77% higher than whites.

The human rights record of the United States in 2005 shows that racial discrimination exists in the fields of justice, medical care, employment and occupation in the United States, and ethnic minorities such as blacks are at the bottom of American society. On June 28th, 2005, a group of young people from Asia took part in a protest against the "Tsunami Song" broadcast by local radio stations in new york, USA. Hundreds of Asians, some New York State Councillors and new york City Councillors gathered at the location of "Mania 97" radio station in Manhattan, new york, and strongly protested that the station had broadcast "Tsunami Song" with racial discrimination for four consecutive days in the previous week, demanding the end of "Morning".

Racial prejudice and paranoia in the United States have intensified social contradictions and increased hate crimes. According to the statistics of 1 16% law enforcement unit report published by the FBI on October 22nd, 2004, among the 7489 hate crimes in the United States in 2003, 3844 were related to racial hatred. The Los Angeles Times reported on May 3, 2004 that in 2003, influenced by the "911"incident and the Iraq war, there were10/9 hate incidents against Muslims in the United States, up 69% year-on-year. There were * * * 2,265,438+0 hate incidents against Muslims in California, a year-on-year increase of nearly three times. Racial discrimination is very common in American judicial field. Since whites discriminate against blacks, there is also reverse discrimination against whites.

A survey conducted jointly by Washington post and ABC shows that only over a quarter of Americans still regard racism as a "big problem", which is less than half of the 54% in 1996. At the same time, a large number of respondents believe that race relations in the United States will be improved during Obama's administration. 20 12 165438+ In the U.S. general election held on10.7, the incumbent president and Democratic candidate Obama defeated * * * and the party challenger Romney and was re-elected.