Reaction to Slavery and African Charts/Graphs

The first graph illustrates the increase in the African population from the 1500s to the 1800s, an augmentation of about 30 million. The increase seems to be steady from year to year. The second graph contains the number of African slaves exported in each century, from the 16th to the 18th. It shows a huge jump from the 17th to the 18th century with an approximate increase of 30000 slaves exported. The final graph demonstrates the regions in which the African slaves were exported to in the western hemisphere. The Caribbean received an amount of slaves just about equal to the amounts that Brazil, Central/South America, and North America all acquired.

From the graphs, I found the most surprising thing to be the continuous increase in the African population, even during the times of increased slave exportation. The first two graphs seem to be contradictory because common sense says that with the more slaves leaving Africa, especially since almost all of them were males, the population should decrease. The first two graphs help to add to the contents of the textbook. The population growth graph supports the book's information about how that despite the slave trade, population rose because of the enriched diets the Africans received from American food crops. The slave export graph defends the book's information that the 18th century was the highest point of the slave trade, in regards to the amount of slaves sent out from Africa. The destination of slaves chart does not coincide with what the book provides. The graph shows that the Caribbean acquired the largest amount of slaves, yet this region of the world is not discussed as strongly in the book as the Portuguese colony of Brazil and the Spanish colonies of Mexico and those in South America.