The Atlantic Slave Trades Effect on Africa's Economy
             The African continent has long been a source of slaves for
             different regions of the earth. From as early as the ninth
             century Muslim countries benefited from the use of African
             slavery. Furthermore, the use of slaves has a long history
             within the continent of Africa itself. In the latter half of
             the fifteenth century, the meaning of slavery changed forever
             with the discovery of the New World and European trade on the
             coast of Africa. In 1472, Portuguese explorers became the
             first Europeans to arrive in Africa. They brought with them
             brass and copper, and exchanged these goods for pepper, cloth
             and slaves. For a short time the Portuguese enjoyed monopoly
             over the trade with Africa, then in the sixteenth century the
             English arrived followed by the French and other European
             nations. The English soon dominated the business of
             removing young Africans from their native soil to work in
             mines or on plantations in the New World. This triangular
             trade between Europe, the New World and Africa allowed the
             European countries to develop their economies at the expense
             of the African people. The effects of the Atlantic slave
             trade on Africa's economy were devastating because it
             permanently created an economic system that diverted
             resources from the indigenous people.
             Africans became the ultimate solution to the labor shortage
             in the New World. The demand for African slave labor arose
             from the development of plantation agriculture and the demand
             for miners. Africans had a higher immunity to malaria and
             yellow fever compared to the Europeans and Native Americans.
             They were also skilled laborers with experience in tropical
             agriculture. These factors made them well suited for
             plantation life and the demand for them continued to increase
             from the seventeenth century onwards.
             At first, the E...