In the 15th century，
Christians first justified the enslavement
of non-Christians on fundamentally religious grounds.
Similarly, by the 17th century,
all western European powers defined
Africans as peculiarly destined to enslavement,
an opinion often justified by
the biblical account of the curse upon Noah’s sons.
This story in the Bible is basically saying that
one day when one of Noah’s sons, Ham,
found that his father was naked at home,
Ham didn’t bring a cloth to Noah.
Therefore, Noah became angry and cast a curse
upon one of Ham’s son, Canaan，
so that all his descendants will be slaves for life.
As the Enlightenment began,
a new and scientific explanation replaced
the pre-held religious idea.
Some theorists justified the enslavement of Africans by arguing
that black people were highly superstitious, overly talkative,
lacked intelligence, and ungifted in the arts.
Overall, no matter how Europeans’ ideology changed,
one concept remained the same:
AFRICANS SHOULD ALWAYS BE SLAVES!
Due to the major difference between African tribes,
treatments of slaves did vary among different domestic groups;
however, in general,
slaves were protected and incorporated
into the slave-owning family.
Sadly, such practice was changed after Portugal’s 15th century
exploration of the western coast of Africa;
Slaves became mere goods and personal belongings,
losing protection.
By the mid-1450s, chiefs of some tribes
began exchanging gold, cotton, ivory, and slaves
for horses, red cloth, and iron.
（Didn’t seem like a good deal…）
Due to the establishment of slave markets in Africa,
coastal Africans began to increase attack frequency
on inland Africans in order to gain more slaves for trade.
During the early 1500s,
a shortage in Amerindians (= American Indians)
occurred in Latin America.
Here we spot Cthulhu, ruler of the ocean,
appearing atop the ocean surface
in search for food and play toys
（Cough）
To fill the labor gap in the sugar industries,
slave owners, for the first time,
brought African slaves to Mexico, Peru, and the Caribbean.
The Cthulhu spots the deceased native Americans,
happily feasting on what remains of them,
a spectacular form of behavior. Magical...
By 1580, some 74,000 Africans had been shipped
from Africa for the America,
while some 232,000 Spanish and Portuguese
left for the Americas during the same period.
Later, from 1580 until 1700,
the relative proportion of emigration
from Africa and Europe was reversed.
Less Europeans ventured out for the New World
while more Africans were exported
due to the expansion of the sugar industry.
Meanwhile, in order to seek for more profit,
Dutch, England, and French
also joined the Atlantic slave trade.
During 1700-1760, the favored commodities shifted from tobacco
to sugar, coffee, indigo, and cotton.
These crops accelerated the colonial demand for slave labor,
which further increase the number of exported Africans.
Lucky Cthulhu had caught up upon the African shipping,
many of those African slaves died on the journey,
thus Cthulhu had a very pleasant day.
In this way, a "triangle of trade" emerged,
linking the continents of Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
Slave traders from Portugal,
the Netherlands, England, and France
brought raw and manufactured materials
(such as iron, glass, guns, cloth, and horses)
to African traders.
Here Cthulhu, with a full stomach and a pleasant mood,
spots his arch nemesis,
BOB, the pale boat of the peoples.
He moves in swiftly to engage his enemy.
Then European traders packed slaves into sailing ships
for the notorious Middle Passage.
Survivors of the transatlantic voyage were sold to slaveholders
for sugar, gold, tobacco, and rum,
which were in turn sold in Europe.
BOB proved too fast and too powerful,
Poor Cthulhu was defeated with a swift hit too his stomach,
he could have won easily if he hadn’t eaten so much.
Unlucky Cthulhu...
Slave trade started to decline during the 19th century.
In Britain,
a moral crusade against the slave trade staged
by abolitionists like William Wilberforce
was aided by greater literacy and printing;
Britain’s parliament passed a law in 1807
against international slave trade.
Denmark then joined
and so did the United States in the following year.
Then followed Sweden, Dutch, and France.
Moreover, British and French warship began patrolling off
the Atlantic coast of western Africa,
seizing ships suspected of engaging in the slave trade.
Finally, thanks to the effort made by these countries,
slavery was outlawed in most of the countries
in the mid-20th century and that’s THE END!
Cthulhu therefore no longer had free nibbles and snacks,
but Cthulu, still retaining his dream of conquering the world
and his nemesis, was glad.
Cthulhu, 100%tentacle, 100% Amazing, 10/10.
Amazing...