What was the difference between African and European attitudes toward slaves?
1 Answer
The 2 attitudes are whether one is a slave by unfortunate circumstances or that one is a slave because they are naturally inferior. Whether this is a "European" or "African" trait is debatable.
Explanation:
Early Classical views on slavery and those in Africa were often based on the fact that the slave was often a prisoner of war, or someone who owed money or had other legal difficulties, rather than by heritage a slave.
American views were often based that most slaves were children of slaves and there were very few people that were newly slaves as their importation was often restricted.
The Koran encouraged wage labor and the freeing of slaves so slavery was a not a passed on to the next generation. The bible was split by interpretation and could be used to justify slavery as the heritage of an inferior people or to justify the equality and brotherhood of all
It is difficult to assign these views necessarily to "Europeans" or "Africans" since the largest market for slaves was the new world and not in Europe. Most slaves came from Africa. Both Europeans and many Africans were willing participants in the Slave trade. Certainly slave owners were often of European heritage and slaves of African Heritage.
Slaves became a necessity to exploit the resources of the new world their perceived inferiority of heritage developed over time. High numbers of deaths often contributed to this view.
