The African Holocaust

by Sandhya Matturah

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

In the Mid-1400’s, the first Africans were taken out of Sierra Leone on Africa’s West Coast as a present for a Portuguese king.

The capture and removal from the African continent of these ten men marked the beginning of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the wholesale exploitation and death of at least two hundred million (conservatively estimated) Africans.

The Africans who were forcibly removed from their homeland came primarily from West Africa; from Senegal down to Nigeria and all the countries in between.

Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of the Caribbean islands, and later, the shores of the Americas created a need among colonists for the strong, dark-skinned strangers who seemed tireless yet frightened in their peculiarity.

Human lives became one of the largest sources of trade for the Dutch, Spanish, English, Portuguese and French.

The trans-Atlantic slave trade lasted from the mid-1400’s until the late 1800’s. The West Coast of Africa became known as the Gold, Ivory and Slave Coast, named for the “items” of trade that were being ripped from the continent.

Many did not survive the treks from inland villages to the coastal forts created by the slavers.

Women heavy with child, very young children and elders were routinely taken along with young men and women of able body. Those the slavers believed too frail to make it through the grueling fifty-six day journey through the middle passage were thrown into the bays on which the forts were built.

Consequently, shark infestation problems exist in many of the areas on these coasts even today.

Branded with the initials of the shipping company or the captain himself, the enslaved Africans were often herded into prisons-like forts where they were chained to each other and to walls or floors to await the arrival of one of the many slave ships.

Many of the enslaved Africans actually willed themselves to die or committed suicide by purposely choking on objects rather than endure the horror for which they had no frame of reference. Many more lives were lost on board the slave ships, some to suicide and others to the dysentery and other illnesses rampant on board the ill-equipped ships.

If one actually survived the passage, the degradation of the auction block, the overseer’s whip and a life of misery, then grueling work, strange food and little sleep became the lot of the deposed Africans. Families were torn apart and a mother could not count on keeping or raising her own child in this system, nor could a husband depend on a life with his spouse.

Marcus Mosiah Garvey once said, “If we, as a people, realized the greatness from which we came (Africa) we would be less likely to disrespect ourselves.

“Our lives did not begin in slave shanties on plantations in the United States and the Caribbean, we, as deposed Africans have a responsibility to our youth to reinforce this fact.”

African Holocaust is observed every year October, 12 when Afro-Guyanese and others will remember those who perished in the days of slavery.

Many Afro-Guyanese will gather at the Sea-Wall at 2 pm Tuesday to pay tribute to their ancestors.

  Back...

  Most popular articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed

  Printable version