Slavery, the treatment of human beings as property,
奴隶制度视人为私人财产，
deprived of personal rights, has occurred in many forms throughout the world.
剥夺其基本人权，曾以多种形式存在于世界各地。
But one institution stands out for both its global scale and its lasting legacy.
但是有一条贸易路线，以其国际规模与深远影响而闻名。
The Atlantic slave trade, occurring from the late 15th to the mid 19th century and spanning three continents,
大西洋奴隶贸易始于15世纪末，直至19世纪中期结束，横跨了三个大陆板块，
forcibly brought more than 10 million Africans to the Americas.
强行将超过千万的非洲人民带去美洲。
The impact it would leave affected not only these slaves and their descendants,
因此贸易影响的不仅仅是这些奴隶以及他们的后代，
but the economies and histories of large parts of the world.
更是对世界大部分地区的经济与历史造成巨大影响。
There had been centuries of contact between Europe and Africa via the Mediterranean.
数百年前，欧洲和非洲就通过地中海地区有了交流。
But the Atlantic slave trade began in the late 1400s
但是大西洋奴隶贸易却是于十五世纪末，
with Portuguese colonies in West Africa, and Spanish settlement of the Americas shortly after.
通过在葡萄牙所属的西非殖民地以及西班牙稍后在美洲建立的殖民地而开始的。
The crops grown in the new colonies, sugar cane, tobacco, and cotton, were labor intensive,
新殖民地种植甘蔗、烟草、棉花都需要大量的劳力，
and there were not enough settlers or indentured servants to cultivate all the new land.
然而新殖民地的移民和契约佣工不足以开垦整个新大陆。
American Natives were enslaved, but many died from new diseases, while others effectively resisted.
美洲原住民被奴役了，但是很多人死于新型疾病，也有一部分人成功反抗了奴役。
And so to meet the massive demand for labor, the Europeans looked to Africa.
于是，为了满足劳作力的巨大需求，欧洲人开始觊觎非洲。
African slavery had existed for centuries in various forms.
在数世纪以前，非洲奴役便以各种形式出现了。
Some slaves were indentured servants, with a limited term and the chance to buy one's freedom.
一些奴役是契约制的，有着契约期限和赎身的机会。
Others were more like European serfs.
其他的则更像欧洲的农奴。
In some societies, slaves could be part of a master's family, own land, and even rise to positions of power.
在一些社会体制中，奴隶能成为主人家庭的一部分，可以拥有土地，甚至获得权力。
But when white captains came offering manufactured goods, weapons, and rum for slaves,
但是当白人船长带着工业产品、武器和朗姆酒来交换奴隶时，
African kings and merchants had little reason to hesitate.
非洲的国王与商人毫不犹豫地出卖了人民。
They viewed the people they sold not as fellow Africans but criminals, debtors, or prisoners of war from rival tribes.
他们不认为自己出售的是同胞，而是罪犯、欠债者或者敌对部落的战犯。
By selling them, kings enriched their own realms, and strengthened them against neighboring enemies.
国王通过出售奴隶来增强国力，使他们有能力与邻国的敌人对抗。
African kingdoms prospered from the slave trade,
非洲国家通过奴隶交易变得繁荣昌盛，
but meeting the European's massive demand created intense competition.
但是欧洲巨大的奴隶需求为非洲国家带来了竞争。
Slavery replaced other criminal sentences, and capturing slaves became a motivation for war, rather than its result.
奴役取代了其他刑罚，掠夺奴隶成为了战争的原因，而非后果。

To defend themselves from slave raids, neighboring kingdoms needed European firearms, which they also bought with slaves.
为了保护自己不受奴隶掠夺的侵扰，非洲各王国需要欧洲的武器，而他们通过奴隶来交换武器。
The slave trade had become an arms race, altering societies and economies across the continent.
因此，奴隶交易也成了一场武器竞争，改变了整个大洲的社会秩序与经济。
As for the slaves themselves, they faced unimaginable brutality.
但是对奴隶来说，他们面对的是无法想象的残酷。
After being marched to slave forts on the coast,
奴隶抵达海岸边的交易站后，
shaved to prevent lice, and branded, they were loaded onto ships bound for the Americas.
为了预防跳蚤，被剃了光头，还打上了烙印，被装上船送去美洲。
About 20% of them would never see land again.
他们中约20%的人再也没能见到陆地。
Most captains of the day were tight packers, cramming as many men as possible below deck.
那时的船长都希望节约空间，所以将尽可能多的人塞在甲板下。
While the lack of sanitation caused many to die of disease,
不卫生的环境使奴隶染病死亡，
and others were thrown overboard for being sick,
其他的则由于疾病被抛入大海，
or as discipline, the captain's ensured their profits by cutting off slave's ears as proof of purchase.
或者是为了杀鸡儆猴，船长为了保证自己的利益，会割下奴隶的耳朵，作为购买的证据。
Some captives took matters into their own hands.
一些俘虏决定自决生死。
Many inland Africans had never seen whites before, and thought them to be cannibals,
许多非洲内陆居民从未见过白人，认为白人是食人魔，
constantly taking people away and returning for more.
不停地带走居民，并且返回索要更多。
Afraid of being eaten, or just to avoid further suffering,
非洲居民害怕被吃掉，或者只是不想继续受折磨，
they committed suicide or starved themselves, believing that in death, their souls would return home.
很多人选择了自杀或者绝食，他们相信死后能魂归故土。
Those who survived were completley dehumanized, treated as mere cargo.
活下来的那些则完全失去了人权，被像货物一样地对待。
Women and children were kept above deck and abused by the crew,
女性和孩子被留在甲板上，让船员欺凌，
while the men were made to perform dances in order to keep them exercised and curb rebellion.
男人则被要求表演舞蹈，这样可以使奴隶活动身体，也可以抑制奴隶的反抗。
What happened to those Africans who reached the New World
这些非洲居民到达新大陆以后的事，
and how the legacy of slavery still affects their descendants today is fairly well known.
以及时至今日奴隶制如何依旧影响着他们的后代，都广为人知。
But what is not often discussed is the effect that the Atlantic slave trade had on Africa's future.
但是鲜为人知的是大西洋奴隶交易如何影响了非洲的未来。
Not only did the continent lose tens of millions of its able-bodied population,
非洲大陆不仅失去了数千万青壮年，
but because most of the slaves taken were men, the long-term demographic effect was even greater.
而且由于大部分被带走的奴隶为男性，人口结构上的长期影响更为严重。
When the slave trade was finally outlawed in the Americas and Europe,
当美洲与欧洲最终禁止了奴隶交易后，
the African kingdoms whose economies it had come to dominate collapsed, leaving them open to conquest and colonization.
曾经由于奴隶交易而发达的非洲国家垮了，变得易于被征服及殖民。
And the increased competition and influx of European weapons fueled warfare and instability that continues to this day.
直至今日，愈演愈烈的竞争及欧洲武器的流入，依然是非洲大陆上战争与动荡的种子。
The Atlantic slave trade also contributed to the development of racist ideology.
大西洋奴隶交易同时促进了种族歧视的发展。
Most African slavery had no deeper reason than legal punishment or intertribal warfare,
在非洲，奴隶制的基础无非是法律惩罚或者是部落战争，
but the Europeans who preached a universal religion, and who had long ago outlawed enslaving fellow Christians,
但是鼓吹普世宗教的欧洲人，以及长久之前将奴役基督教徒视为于法所不容的那些人，
needed justification for a practice so obviously at odds with their ideals of equality.
需要为明显违背他们平等理念的做为来找理由。
So they claimed that Africans were biologically inferior and destined to be slaves,
他们声称非洲人生来就比自己低贱，所以注定被奴役，
making great efforts to justify this theory.
欧洲人竭尽全力地证明这一理论。
Thus, slavery in Europe and the Americas acquired a racial basis,
这样，欧洲与美洲的奴隶制就建立在了种族歧视的基础上，
making it impossible for slaves and their future descendants to attain equal status in society.
使得这些奴隶以及他们的后代都不可能在社会上获得平等的地位。
In all of these ways, the Atlantic slave trade was an injustice on a massive scale
在以上所有方面，大西洋奴隶交易是一场大规模的不公正，
whose impact has continued long after its abolition.
它的影响在奴隶制被废除后依然延续着。