The Amistad Essay Research Paper Property vs — страница 2

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the traingular trade. This system of exchange brought slaves from Africa to America where American goods were taken to Europe and sold. The Europeans then shipped manufactured goods to Africa in exchange for slaves the the chain repeated itself. This business became very lucrative and it was the offer of riches that caused some African tribesmen to organize raiding parties, capture their fellow countrymen and sell them to the European invaders. The offer of riches was too great many to resist even though the property beliefs at the time went against what the Africans were doing. And it was the slave trade that led to the general breakdown of the African society. Those Africans who did take place in the raiding and abduction of fellow countrymen profited from their interaction

with the Portugese but they were just about the only people to have benifited. The of around 16 million people can be attributed to the slave trade alone. This huge loss in demographics wreaked havoc in the traditional African societies. Women had to take charge of those roles men typically fulfilled and the effects of this are evident later on in modern Africa. Societies that were close to the water were especially vulnerable to the ill-effects of the slave trade. Along with destroying governments the slave trade sparked off conflicts and civil wars that had no cuase. The Africans clearly had very different ideas when it came to property and ownership that was destroyed with the arrival of the Portugese and Spanish. A contrast in philosophies on property can be seen through the

Amistad controversey. The people on the Amistad commit actions that call into question several issues of property dealt with in the lower courts. But before these issues can be addressed the passengers of the Amistad must make it to America. Their journey begins in what appears to be the run of the mill tribe which was minding its own business until the stories protagonist, Cinque, is adbucted form the village. He is taken from there to a Portugese slave fortess where the abductees are counted and catalogued. Cinque is then taken on a Portugese ship, the Tecorah, to Cuba. On the journey the viewer appreciates the countless horrors the passengers must endure on the trip to the new world. By seeing what these people had to endure prepares the viewer for what happens later in their

journey to the new world. When the Tecorah reaches Cuba the Africans are then auctioned off to Spanish merchants senors Ruiz and Menez. They take their new purchases from Cuba on a journey to America on the ship Amistad. During the journey Cinque leads a revolt agianst their Spanish captors killing all but two of the ships crew. The Amistad now in control of the Africans is piloted along the American coastline until it is apprehended by a ship of the fledgling United States Navy. The Amistad Africans as they are called are charged