Answer: Any account of the African slave trade where racism plays a causal role would need to explain why
racism appeared precisely during the early modern period. Indeed, through most of their history
Europeans did not regard Africans as more deserving of slavery than any other foreign people.
Ancient Greeks and Romans, for instance, thought of Africans as one among many tribes of
barbarians that could be traded as slaves. During the Middle Ages the image of African kingdoms
was one of unlimited wealth, as befits the land where so much gold originated, not one of uncivilized
savages. And even in the early stages of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade we see that plantation work
was not regarded as only fit for Africans: indentured white servants were regularly used alongside
black slaves. Europeans developed a sense of superiority towards Africans, and eventually towards
the rest of the world, as their global influence increased and it is probable that racism reinforced
their willingness to engage in slave trading. But it was most likely an endogenous reaction, not an
exogenous cause.
Explanation:
