Final answer:
The establishment of the transatlantic slave trade was primarily influenced by the substantial demand for labor in the Americas and the economic interests of European colonial powers. To satisfy these needs, millions of Africans were forcibly transported to America under severe conditions. Other sociopolitical factors such as the portrayal of Africans as non-Christians also played an essential role.
Step-by-step explanation:
The establishment of the transatlantic slave trade was indeed influenced by multiple factors. Primarily, the demand for labor to work on plantations and in other industries in America led Europeans to turn to enslaved Africans as a source of labor. From the late fifteenth to early nineteenth centuries, about twelve million Africans were forcibly transported to the Americas under severe conditions to satisfy this labor demand.
The European nations primarily cultivated cash crops like sugar, rice, and tobacco which were crucial to the economy but could not be produced in their home countries. This cultivation was supported by the brutal exploitation of the enslaved Africans. The triangular trade system encapsulated this pattern, beginning with European countries trading manufactured goods for slaves in Africa, transporting the slaves to the Americas (known as the Middle Passage), and finally returning to Europe with the agricultural products produced by the enslaved Africans. All these activities culminated in immense economic benefits for the European colonial powers at the expense of the enslaved Africans and their homelands.
Other sociopolitical factors that contributed to the establishment of the transatlantic slave trade include the justification of enslavement by European powers on the basis of Africans being non-Christians. The Portuguese led the way with the 'factories' for keeping and transporting enslaved people, a trend soon followed by other European powers. Therefore, the transatlantic slave trade was heavily influenced by the economic benefits of enslaved labor in the Americas, and the economic interests of European colonial powers.
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