Like many forms of human cruelty slavery is difficult to explain.  It has existed since virtually the beginning of civilization and continues to be practiced even now.  Scholars have explained it in a variety of context, including economics, politics,  and racism.  Yet each of these explanations is ultimately unsatisfying, because they cannot fully account for how one person could thoroughly deny the humanity of another.  Still, whatever the limits of these explanations, they can tell us a great deal about how slavery works as an institution and why it persists.  For example, the intersection of economics and racial ideology goes a long way toward explaining the unique characteristics of the Atlantic slave trade.  Further, the combination of economics and certain cultural attitudes toward women and sex help to explain the contemporary slave trade in some parts of the world.  Use the links below to deepen your historical understanding of the global slave trade and its effects.

1. Studying the slave trade can often abstract the experience of slavery.  To visualize that experience examine the pictures included in the Slavery Images Data Base
2. At the risk of abstraction, consider the statistics on carriers and destinations depicted at Atlantic Slave Trade.
3. During the nineteenth century, governments and private institutions tried to reverse the effects of the Atlantic slave trade by establishing countries in Africa and populating them with freed slaves.  For example, in 1808 Britain made Freetown the center of the colony of Sierra Leone; and in 1820 the American Colonization Society founded Liberia.  Study these maps of Liberia to familiarize yourself with the geography of that portion of West Africa.  Then go to History of Liberia: Timeline and consider the important events in Liberia's history. 
4. The vast Atlantic slave trade often overshadows slavery in other parts of the world.  For some insight into slavery as practiced by the Dutch in southern Africa, go to Batavia.  When you arrive, examine the "Timeline" and "Historical demography."  Then read the "Cape slave code of 1754" and "Social conditions of slaves at the cape."
5. A small, often overlooked participant in the slave trade was Denmark.  During the eighteenth century Denmark acquired the Virgin Islands from France and then set about developing a sugar industry.  History of the Virgin Islands offers additional information about Denmark's Caribbean colony.  To see a typical Danish slave-worked sugar plantation go to Annaberg Ruins.
6. Most of the well-known slave uprisings occurred on land in the places of captivity.  Consider, for example, the great slave revolts in Italy during the late Roman Republic, or the Nat Turner rebellion in Virginia in 1821.  One famous uprising, however, occurred at sea.  To learn more about this event go to The Amistad Incident of 1839.  As you read the history of the uprising and its aftermath, note how the legal case unfolded in the United States.
7. The Atlantic slave trade generated many works of literature.  Among the most important of these are the slave narratives that tell of life in captivity and, in some cases, the joys of freedom.  The first of these narratives was written by Oloudah Equiano near the end of the eighteenth century.  Go to The Life of Gustavus Vassa (a.k.a. Equiano's Travels) and read Equiano's account of the so-called Middle Passage from Africa to America.  Another famous slave narrative is The Life of Frederick Douglass.  In the chapter How I Learned to Read and Write Douglass reflects on the nature of freedom.