The image of Africans throughout the western world changed drastically in the span of 200 years. The ways and the rate in which they changed varied in different parts of the world but the view of the African in its most simplistic sense at one point or another aligned with each other. It would b impossible and irresponsible to believe that all areas of all the countries shared one exact point of view at any one time but in a generalization approach, there were a lot of similarities.
Africans at first, in the eyes of the British, its colonies and other Countries in the region, viewed Africans for the most part as brute beasts who were meant to be enslaved and put to work. They were viewed as slow and incompetent but very strong that would make for a very stable and lucrative work force. Through much of the 1400s through the 1600s, not much thought was given to the capacity of what Africans could do and whether or not they should be assimilated into the culture as equals. The English colonies were more stuck in their own ways; possibly due to the fact that they were one of the 1st to initiate such a mass movement but also that it was the largest empire at the time and was very capitalistic. In the Mediterranean European countries, Africans at first were viewed in the same light but not as harshly. The treatment given to Africans was more gentle and humane than many of the other European areas. They were more open to the possibility of having Africans assimilated into the culture and were more accepting of them reaching some sort of status within their society.
Over time, although the views were different in parts of the European world, the view of Africans became virtually universal. As stated in the reading of Africa in Europe and the Americas, Africans were inferior to those of the Europeans. They were still looked upon as barbaric and do not posses the ability to freely think for themselves or reach a specific level of intelligence that they would deem satisfactory. During these 200 years, a lot of changes occurred within the countries partaking in the slave trade. The outlook of Africans seemed to change frequently and when the feelings were felt in one culture, there were many others in the various other cultures that felt the same way. One of the main differences, particularly in the Americas that were slow to change was the length of time it took to promote abolition, as a whole. The South was a main component in the colonies that kept slavery alive and the perception of Africans being inferior. In many other countries such as Brazil and Guyana, people in the area were more welcoming to accept the freedom of slaves and to make a sort of “peace” between the rebellions. They welcomed more of a mixed culture. While it is true that many people in the New World, more so in the North, were moving toward a more cooperating culture, much of the South either refused or simply did not believe that Africans could be “tamed”. A big portion of why Africans were still viewed as they were in that region was due to the production and high demand for cotton that required a lot of manual and physical labor. Much of the European world viewed the need for slave labor as long as it remained lucrative and was cost efficient. As time went on and the industrial revolution began, the need for slave labor began to dwindle down, to an extent. To further help push toward abolition, slave revolts such as those in St. Domingue and in Cartagena became more numerous leading many people to fear such violent uprising that would be both financially costly and deadly. The ability for slaves to unite and rise above helped shed a light upon the fact that these so called ignorant “creatures” were much more than cheap labor. Each area witnessed such things at a different rate based on the amount of labor, the length of time that slavery was going on, and of course the individuals in each area that perceived things differently.
Eventually, views changed in all parts of the European world but just as the rate of change differed between regions of Europe, the colonies of each specific region of Europe also changed at different rates. It would be inaccurate to say or believe that things change simultaneously throughout the known world when so many different views and different kinds of people occupy so many different regions. Just like the changes happened for the better, there are multiple times throughout this time period when things began to revert back to its old ways or where areas began to go away from their beliefs, in a sense, trying something new to possibly become more profitable. Changes toward Africans and slavery were derived from profitability. How much money or worth can be obtained with spending the least amount to achieve it or in essence, the beginning of capitalism was the main goal. In the end, differences between the areas differed drastically at times but in many instances, there was a common viewpoint between them all.
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