Because the
Africans lagged far behind the Europeans in the arts of war and of
economic exploitation, the Europeans believed at the Africans must
be uncivilized savages. Africa, like the rest of the world outside
Europe, had not made the break-through in science, technology, and
capitalism which had occurred in Europe. Nevertheless, they had
their own systems of economics, scholarship, art, and religion as
well as a highly complex social and political structure. There are
common elements which run throughout the entire continent of
Africa, but to gain the best insight into the background of the
American slaves, West African culture can be isolated and studied
by itself.
The West African economy was a subsistence economy, and
therefore people were basically satisfied with the status quo and
saw no point in accumulating wealth. Also in a subsistence economy,
there is little need for money, and most trade was done through
barter. Because there was no money, there was no wage labor.
Instead, labor was created either through a system of domestic
slavery or through a complex system of reciprocal duties and
obligations.
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