Equiano describes an incident in which the white sailors catch some fish, eat their fill, and then toss the uneaten fish back in

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Equiano describes an incident in which the white sailors catch some fish, eat their fill, and then toss the uneaten fish back in

to the sea, instead of offering them as food for the starving Africans. Those Africans who tried to get some of the discarded fish were flogged. Why do you think the sailors acted this way? What does it say not only about how they felt about a resource such as food but also how they felt about the Africans on board? Your response should be at least 150 words.

English

1 answer:

Flura [7K] · Answer 1 · 2026-02-21T14:08:26+03:00

Answer:

European sailors behaved in this manner because they viewed African Americans as commodities that could be owned, traded, beaten, abused, and even killed. They did not regard African Americans as individuals with rights; instead, they considered them as instruments or merchandise, akin to farming equipment like a plow or net.

These beliefs led to the rise of an extensive slave trade involving Europe, Africa, and the Americas. European sailors, merchants, and slave traders (often aided by African leaders) captured enslaved individuals from the African coasts and transported them on ships to the Americas, where they worked on plantations dedicated to cash crops.

The majority of these enslaved individuals were taken to Brazil and the Caribbean, while a significant number were brought to the Southeastern United States. There, a slave-based economy took root in the Tidewater area and the Deep South, where labor-intensive cash crops, including rice, tobacco, and primarily cotton, were cultivated.