African Slave Trade Diaspora

The history of the United States is tainted by many terrible incidences of diaspora. US history research papers are often needed on the African slave trade diaspora and Paper Masters can help you write your project exactly as you need it.

The African slave trade diaspora is one of the largest displacements in history. Begun in the fifteenth century, African slave trade did not peak until the seventeenth century, when plantation economies were booming. Philip D. Curtin notes that this diaspora rose from two reasons: the demand for new sources of labor in tropical colonies and the need to replace existing workers perishing from European disease.

When examining diaspora in a research paper, you will want to examine the following:

• You will want to focus particularly on the diasporic group's relationship with the wider society in which they were/are situated.
• You will want to know their reasons for being in this place and what motivated the move – although that should not be the focus of your paper.
• You will also want to be aware of whether they were intent on or interested in a return “home.
• You will also want to paint a picture of their socioeconomic status and what did they do for a living and why? How were they positioned vis-à-vis the wider society?
• You will also want to think about how or whether they worked to retain a sense of cultural or religious community/identity: what institutions did they establish and how did they use them?
• Finally, you will want to think about how and whether the lives of the group you have chosen were interwoven, if at all, with those of the wider society around them. Most importantly, you will want to think about why.

The Slave Industry

For the most part, Africans were sold to European slavers by African brokers. Many nations, like the Ashanti, sold slaves captured during military conquest to European slavers. Other African groups sold their criminals as slaves. These slaves were then transported to tropical plantation colonies in Asia or the New World. Because these slaves were seen as property, not humans, they arrived at their destinations at extreme social disadvantage.

The slave industry ranged from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, with the peak in the seventeen century. This broad period allowed social categories to develop based on societal position. The abolishment of slavery in the nineteenth century did not rid the Africans of the slave stigma. Even today, their descendants suffer the stereotypes created during the period of African slave trade and a part of the history of slavery.

Forced Diaspora

The past couple of centuries have seen many diasporas, both forced and voluntary. These migrations are a perfect opportunity for different cultures to learn to live together and validate foreign cultures. However, the probability of this happening depends on the cause of the migration. In these three examples, migration resulted in a negative interaction between the two groups.