Discuss how slavery and / or other forms of forced migration affected world development.
The term forced migration has been described by the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) as the movements of refugees, internally displaced people and people displaced from their original residence by natural or environmental phenomenon or developmental projects. Allen (2012) viewed the force migration as the wide-range, complex and invasive set of phenomenon. Studies have – identified three types of casual factors of migration. These factors include conflict, development policies and projects and any kind of disaster. The forced migration is originally a French word, which means uprooting and referred to the movement of the person or a group of persons away from the home or the habitat. If a group or individual is migrating within the country, it is known as the internally displaced person (IPD). It is related to violent coercion and the referred to the term ‘displacement’. From the viewpoint of Anner (2012), the migration is considered as involuntary during the physical transport of the person from a country and there is no scope of escape from the persons transporting the individual. Movement under threat includes the voluntary elements as long as there is opportunity to escape from the part of the country. Migration and refugees throughout the historical period has major impact on the development of world’s economy and social structure.
There are several causes of migration. Natural disaster is one of the cause of displacement or migration of population. It might lead to temporary or permanent displacement of a group of resident from an area, where the natural disaster has been occurred, and the survival strategy becomes migration. The forced migration in the new location results in displacement of entire population and it becomes the social challenge to the community and government (Ayenagbo 2012).
The term environment-induced refugee represents the forced people for leaving their traditional resident for the environmental disruption like biological, physical or chemical change in ecosystem. Other causes of migration include project development, environmental problems, fleeing persecution, human trafficking, slavery, political, civil war or religious conflicts (Bank 2013). These three categories of forced migration are common topic of academic research by different academic communities. The consequences of forced migration have been identified by the governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental agencies.
Conflict-induced displacement is referred to that migration which includes forced migration of people and the state authorities are incapable of protecting them. The example can be the civil war, generalized violence and persecution on grounds of race, religion, political opinion and religion. At the time of Cold war, there has been a growth of number of conflicts – across the world (Black 2012). At the end of the cold war, there was also dramatic increase in frequency of internally displaced persons (IPDs) and they are currently more than the number of global refugee population.
Development-induced displacement can be referred to those people who are forced to move out of their habitat as a result of the projects or policies. Examples include infrastructure projects like dams, ports, roads, airports etc. These kinds of displacements affect indigenous and ethnic minorities and the poor urban or rural population mostly (Chowdari 2013).
Disaster-induced displacement is the category of forced migration, which is due to the natural disasters like floods, volcanoes, earthquake, and deforestation along with human-made disasters. This kind of migration along with the human population also affects agriculture (Brennan and Packer 2012). This kind of migration or displacement is affecting millions of people every year throughout the world. A number of different international organizations assist these affected people by natural disasters like International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Eltis Engerman et al. 2011).
Development-induced displacement occurred throughout the world, but China and India are two most important countries in this context. According to Chakrabarti and Chatterjee (2012), the resettlement in China displaced 45 million people by development projects in the country within 1950 to 2000. The displacement within India from dam projects displaced 21 to 40 million people. It was estimated that 127000 people were displaced during the project ‘Narmada Sardar Sarovar Dam Project’ (Eltis Engerman et al. 2011). It has been estimated that, developmental displacements affected economy of the country also.
Forced migration is occurred during massive disruption of food supply, health service and shelter. The rapid enhancement of members under health service department of the area, where inflation of migrants occur, makes the health service unable to cope with the influx of displaced people, which lead to mortality and morbidity in settlement areas. In 1994, 7 to 9% Rwandan refugees died in the North Kivu region of eastern Zaire (Chowdari 2013). The displaced migrants faced a higher crude mortality rate than the non-displaced population during the time of complex emergencies. The vulnerability of these migrants is due to the loss of social networks and their personal assets, lack of knowledge of the new settlement area, lack of knowledge of the local language, reduced access to the health care services, inadequate shelter, lack of sanitization, decreased food and water security.
Migration is one of the major issues in Africa. The results of migration can be viewed as the essential part of labor markets. During last few decades, in different parts of world, migration has been taken place with different forms. The migration has been cut the class and skill limitations and existed within the diverse geographical and demographic contexts. Migration in that kind of situation proved to be important livelihood strategy for the migrants, especially for the poor households, who seek to diversify their source of income (Eltis Engerman et al. 2011). Estimation revealed 20 to 50 million migrants in Africa; however, the statistical data on migration flows and related data revealed undocumented flows. Evidences showed patterns of internal migration, which has been influenced by economic crisis and structural modification. Sometimes, negative effects on rural livelihoods have also been identified.
Migrants to Europe and United States were mostly educated persons, who gave rise to the significant focus on ‘brain drain’ issues. The Sub-Saharan Africa observed the flows of forced migrants which included internally displaced people and trafficking sufferers. While migration was the key factor for shaping settlement patterns and livelihood, the occupational diversification in rural parts was linked to mobility. In Africa, recent studies revealed that, 50 to 80 % rural residents have at least one migrant member with enhanced involvement of independent women (Fede 2012).
The first and second world wars crisis had major impact on migration. Muslims migrated from Balkan to Turkey and Christians migrated towards other ways during Ottoman Empire collapse. During 1915, the Ottoman government gets on the systematic decimation of the resident Armenian population. This discrimination continued till the replacement of Ottoman Empire by the Republic of Turkey in 1923. In 1915 Ottoman state was reported with two million populations and the estimation revealed one million in 1918, when hundreds of thousand people became homeless and stateless refugees (Franklin 2012). In 1923 approximately the entire Armenian population of Anatolian Turkey departed. The Russian Civil War forced three million Russians, Germans and Poles to migrate out from New Soviet Union. The Decolonization followed by the Second World War led to migration also. The Jewish communities were formed from involuntary and voluntary migrants throughout Europe, Middle East and Mediterranean. The migration to the British Mandate of Palestine was enhanced after the Holocaust and it became the modern Israel state, which was the result of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine (Goings et al. 2012).
Most of the European colonial economies in America within the period of 16th to 19th century were dependent on the African labors transported as slaves for their survival. The European colonial officials discussed that; discovered abundant land was useless without adequate labor force to explore the land. In this context, they preferred exploitation of slavery system, however, the European or Native American were inadequate for the task (Greene 2011). The trans-Saharan slave trade supplied Africa labor for working on sugar plantations in the Mediterranean on the other hand the Russian slaves and Balkans were also included. This slave trade sent 10000 slaves per year for serving owners in North America, Middle East and Iberian Peninsula (Chakrabarti and Chatterjee 2012). They became the major labor force in Western Hemisphere and became the overwhelming majority of the colonial populations in the America. 6.5 million Immigrants survived after crossing the Atlantic and settled in the Western Hemisphere within 1492 to 1776, within them 1 million were European. The remaining 5.5 million slaves were African. In 16th and 17th century the profit made from the goods produced by Brazil and American countries were used to purchase more slaves for strengthening their economy (Hamada 2012).
While looking back to the development of civilization in human history, it can be seen that, it is significantly marked by the appalling crimes. One of the significant and hardened histories was the record of the African slavery; minimum 10 centuries of slavery benefited Muslim countries, since 9th century to 19th century (Chakrabarti and Chatterjee 2012). After the period, more than four centuries, from the end of 15th century to 19th century, the slavery trade built the America and Christian states of Europe. Four million slaves were transported through Red Sea, Swahili ports of Indian Ocean, nine million were transported via trans-Saharan caravan route and 11-20 million slaves were exported through Atlantic Ocean (Johnson 2012). Within these, the Atlantic trade was directed at Africans, but the Muslim countries exported both white and black slaves. This form of slavery contributed to the present structure of Africa. It – disrupted the stability of the continent permanently and lead to the colonization by the Europeans. It created the racism and contempt, which are the reason of suffering of the African countries (Kadish and Massardier-Kenney 2010).
The European slave trade was not originally developed by the Arab trade. However, the Arab slave trade was influenced by for the satisfaction of the domestic needs. Iraq tried to enslave the African labors in the production plants, but it resulted in disaster. The result was widespread revolts. At 19th century the black slaves were used for producing goods like cloves and coconut in plantations of Zanzibar, they were partly exported to Western markets (Kara 2012).
The Atlantic slave trade was important example of forced migration of population in human history. It was documented that, only 10% slaves were imported from Africa were exported to United States, other 90% were distributed through the American countries. Within them half of the slaves went to Brazil or Caribbean (Marcussi 2012). This 10% slaves were maintained by the natural reproduction within the slave population in contrast to the continuous supply of new slaves from African countries. Along with the slave trading in Africa, Portuguese exported few slaves to Europe for working in cities.
While discussing the slavery and world development, significant focus should be given towards the slavery trends and history of United States and Benin. However, in this context, Africa is the notion where the human life was known to begin. One of the dark practices in history of human is the slavery, which is overlooked in Africa (Marques 2012). The studies of slavery with forced migration of slaves are focused on the context of United States and other European powers. However, slavery shaped the development of many African countries. It also played a vital role in introducing the concept of colonization in many African countries; this is important factor for continuous growth of the African countries. Comparison of development in Benin and United States highlights the effect of slavery on the education and the overall national human developmental index (Minardi 2012).
While looking at the African countries in this context, Benin can be considered as this small costal country grabbed attention of European powers with its resources and location since seventeenth century. The exploration of this land was started by Portuguese and then the slave trend involved more foreign involvement (Minardi 2012). The coast of Benin was known as the Slave Coast, because a large number of slaves were exported from the shores of Benin. Many European countries built trading posts and ports in those countries for securing their foothold in the slave trade. French were colonized in Benin and left a major impact on the development of the country (Chakrabarti and Chatterjee 2012). They styled the democratic government with the election of legislative body. The democratic government helped in the development of Benin. Till the nineteenth century, the dominant export element of Benin was slaves. Fellow countrymen also hold the Benin citizen as slaves. This relationship was promoted by kings, who capitalized on slave exportation relationship within the Benin and European countries for being wealthy and powerful (Nafziger 2012).
King Adanggaman used to capture slaves through women warriors and killed those who could not be sold. However, slavery affected Benin’s development negatively. Abolition of slavery trend in Benin created social, economic and political problems. Many foreign countries lost attraction toward Benin except France. The civil war in Benin developed the government of the country and the slave trade became reduced. It affected the sustainability of the economic growth of the nation. After the elimination of slavery they restored the agricultural sectors and cotton became the most dominating export (O’Connell Davidson 2013). The recent recession in United States affected globally. Benin faced severe economic decline within 2009 to 2010. The country is attempting to achieve the global economy standard with resuming the economic growth at very slow rate of about 4%. Though being an unknown country, Benin has a significant history of slavery with reflection on the multi-dimensional consequences of slavery. However, for understanding the detailed history of slavery and development understanding American history is also important besides African history.
In United States the deadliest war has been seen with a root related to slavery. Around 650000 soldiers died in four years of war (Minardi 2012). In spite of the official cause of war depicted by government was the preservation of the union, the actual cause was related to the southern practice of -slavery (Omelaniuk 2012). The southern states built the economy by growing and selling crops via slave labors, whereas northern states concentrated manufactured-based economy. The civil war affected most negatively through slavery and overshadowed the long-term negative effects of the practice. Through the understanding of the development across the nation can help to understand the effects of slavery through the nation. Slavery did not make sense in the Northern states for high population density and competition (Read 2012). On the other hand, 18% of the population in southern states was slaves and it developed the major economic outputs (Graden 2010). The southern parts of the United States produced seven eighths of world’s cotton production. Thus, slaves were not only considered as the labor in those parts but were the vital elements of global economy functioning. In 1860s, the dollar value of all the American railroads, banks and manufacturing industries were less than the dollar value of slave property (Chakrabarti and Chatterjee 2012).
The economic importance of the manufacturing of cotton was not noticed in Civil war but it was noticed that the fight in Civil war was not only for the stability of Union; rather economic necessity was a major factor. It was revealed that, slavery was the cheap and viable way for producing enough cotton for supplying the majority of global cotton trade by the Southern states of United States (Vacron 2012). Therefore, it can be seen that, the slavery trade made the Unite States an important economic player globally. However, the gap was increasing within the economic development structure of North and South parts of United States and it led to the abolitionist movements as the majority of Northern states forced the abolishment of slavery trend in United States (Minardi 2012). In turn, the political, economic and ethical debate lead to the Civil war, this was an economic black hole for both North and Southern part of United States. The cost of Civil war was $74.7 trillion in United State’s current exchange rate. After Civil war the slave owners faced huge economic loss directly (Morgan 2012).
The absolute amount of lost economy was overwhelmed by the incomprehensible deaths in both parties. However, approximately 300000 American died in war as the direct result of slavery trend, which overshadowed the economic achievement could be gained by the South via cotton trading. The United States suffered significantly as the result of Civil war but the entire blame cannot be buried onto institution of slavery, United States could solve this problem in other ways, but the nation selected poorly in the resolution of slavery (Morgan 2012). As a result of this Civil War, main of which is the slavery trend the Southern part of United States was affected more, their major means of economic livelihood was declared illegal and the infrastructure of Southern part was destroyed mostly. Huge number of people were killed which included a major reduction in the labor force of the southern part of United States.
The devastating effects of slavery spread throughout the world. Sears (2012) depicted that, black slavery was the engine of rising global economic dominance of Europe. It was revealed that European’s invasion and settlement of New World was dependent on labor of millions black slaves, most of which are forced migrants of African lands. They helped in the capitalization by financing the industrial revolution (Vacron 2012). The economic progress came at the expense of black slaves who built the foundation of modern European capitalism. However, while concerning the creation of capital financing the industrial revolution, it was revealed that slavery trends did not built the major share of the capital, which financed the industrial revolution on Europe. Tillet (2012) argued that, combined profits of slave trade and West Indian plantation did not contribute at least 5% of the Britain’s national income during industrial revolution. However, the slavery trend was indispensable for development of New World for European. It was unbelievable that, settlement and development of North as well as Southern parts as well as Caribbean was devoid of slave labor. The slaves produced the key consumer supplies, which was the source of the world businesses since the 18th to 19th centuries including coffee, rum, cotton, tobacco and sugar (Sears 2012).
In pre-war United States, slavery played a vital role in economic development as discussed earlier. Only a single crop, cotton used to give the half of the export earning in United States. In 1840, the Southern part produced 60% of the world’s entire cotton production and 70% cotton was consumed by British textile industry (Graden 2010). Therefore, it has been revealed that slavery provided a major share of the capital and manufactured products which were the basis of the American economic growth. Additionally, as Southern parts were specialized with Cotton, the northern parts developed different businesses which provided service for Southern slaves including textile factories, insurance companies, cotton brokers, meat processing industry and shippers.
The abolitionist battle was not the product of the perception that the slavery was the obstruction for economic development. It was not correct that during middle of nineteenth century slavery was declined (Morgan 2012It was an economically efficient system of production, which can adapt huge range of tasks including agriculture and factory works. Slavery produced huge amount of wealth. During civil war, the south Slave gained a level of per capita wealth, which did not matched by the Spain, Italy till World War II or Mexico or India till 1960. Opponents were viewing the economic growth as the obstacle economic growth of the nation (Vacron 2012).
The essay focused on the global trade of migration and slavery and the impact of these on the world development. The discussion revealed a number of major migrations throughout the world, which shapes the economy as well as the infrastructure of different countries with long-term impact. In most of the cases, migrants moved for getting a better life, but the history says that, they faced worst situation. The migration of people affected both the countries where the migrants are entering and from where they were migrating. One of the major negative outcomes of migration was the slavery trade. The -slavery trade affected the African and European economy significantly. The harsh history was migration and slavery was discussed in this essay. The slavery trade was one of the major economic strength in the southern part of Unites States. Most of the slaves were black and exported from African land through seashores. The slavery trend had a major impact on world economy as a whole. South America was mostly dependent on their slave trade till mid-nineteenth when the Civil war caused huge loss of the major way of trading in Southern parts of United States. It was also revealed that, these slaves were – exploited for different purposes mainly in production of cotton, which was the dominant business -of United States – and it was significant for enhancing the economic strength – of Europe in global context. –
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