The Beginning of the Slave Trade - Essay Example

Although it started in small scale, after some time, the trade grew to become one of the most significant and lucrative trade in the world. Many countries such as United States, France, Britain, and Germany also joined the trade as they continued colonizing Africa to expand their businesses (Rodriguez 81).  The trade was massive to the extent that it was traded in a certain triangle across the world. The tremendous growth of the trade led to the emergence of various significant slave-trading routes.

  Countries that practiced slave trade developed tremendously; their businesses boomed as they registered incredible profits from their trading activities. This is because they exploited the available cheap labor (slaves) thus significantly reducing their costs of production.  However, their wealth did not only come from the slave trade but also from the resources obtained from African countries.  These countries traded gold and other mineral substances, which was an extremely lucrative business at that time (Rodriguez 81).

After many years passed, late in 1800, slave trade began collapsing after the public, activists and humanitarian bodies established strong campaigns against the trade. The end of the trade slowly began by certain countries such as the United States withdrawing as other countries followed. However, it took some time before European countries such as Portugal to withdraw, despite the United States has done so.