Exclusive: As the world ignores the ignominious 500th
anniversary of the buying and selling of slaves between Africa and the
Americas, historians uncover its first horrific voyages.
David Keys Archaeology Correspondent.
Almost completely ignored by the modern world, this
month marks the 500th anniversary of one of history’s most tragic and
significant events – the birth of the Africa to America transatlantic slave
trade. New discoveries are now revealing the details of the trade’s first
horrific voyages.
The royal document which launched the Africa to
Americas transatlantic slave trade exactly 500 years ago. Issued by the Spanish
King, Charles I, its horrific consequences lasted for 350 years (Ministry of
Culture and Sports of the Government of Spain/Archivo General de Indias).
Exactly five centuries ago – on 18 August 1518 (28
August 1518, if they had been using our modern Gregorian calendar) – the King
of Spain, Charles I, issued a charter authorising the transportation of slaves
direct from Africa to the Americas. Up until that point (since at least 1510),
African slaves had usually been transported to Spain or Portugal and had then
been transhipped to the Caribbean.
Charles’s decision to create a direct, more
economically viable Africa to America slave trade fundamentally changed the
nature and scale of this terrible human trafficking industry. Over the
subsequent 350 years, at least 10.7 million black Africans were transported
between the two continents. A further 1.8 million died en route.
