Is it really worse than say the genocide of First Nations people outside of the “old world” and loss of their lands? We’re looking at ~50 to 100 million dead in the Americas alone compared 12.5 million African slaves.
We’re looking at ~50 to 100 million dead in the Americas alone
That’s an incredibly high estimate, even at 50 million, unless you’re counting people who died because of disease, which was largely not spread intentionally.
compared 12.5 million African slaves.
12.5 million survived being transported to the Americas, and then tens-of-millions of their descendants condemned to the same fate of slavery.
The 50 million is the conservative estimate, the 100 million is the high end.
And that includes deaths caused by disease, warfare, oppression, etc. None of which would have happened without the mercantilist imperialist desire for growth at others expense.
To claim one event is the sole worst ever, is to degrade the suffering of other equally terrible events.
Oh that 12.5 is all African slaves who embarked from Africa, 2 million of which died in transport. 10.5 million survived.
And that includes deaths caused by disease, warfare, oppression, etc.
Okay, but that’s like saying “The number of deaths caused by fascists, civilian riots, and serial killers.”
One of them is providing a horrifically large supermajority of that number. The first, in both cases.
None of which would have happened without the mercantilist imperialist desire for growth at others expense.
… travel and disease don’t happen without mercantilist imperialist desire for growth?
Applying moral blame to Europeans for the crime of being sick when they visited the Americas, in a time when neither pre-Columbian nor Old World cultures had a strong conception of germ theory, is absurd; doubly so to apply that moral blame in the same context as intentional evils committed by Europeans.
To claim one event is the sole worst ever, is to degrade the suffering of other equally terrible events.
I don’t agree, as events are not equally terrible, but that’s a fair take if that’s your objection. My issue here is with the number including the unintentional spread of disease, as mentioned, the vast supermajority of any death count that high, including many peoples the European colonists did not only not meet, but did not even know about, when what is being discussed is ‘crime against humanity’ and genocide.
Oh that 12.5 is all African slaves who embarked from Africa, 2 million of which died in transport. 10.5 million survived.
Current estimates are that about 12 million to 12.8 million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic over a span of 400 years.[19][20][21] The number purchased by the traders was considerably higher, as the passage had a high death rate, with between 1.2 and 2.4 million dying during the voyage, and millions more in seasoning camps in the Caribbean after arrival in the New World. Millions of people also died as a result of slave raids, wars, and during transport to the coast for sale to European slave traders
Is it really worse than say the genocide of First Nations people outside of the “old world” and loss of their lands? We’re looking at ~50 to 100 million dead in the Americas alone compared 12.5 million African slaves.
That’s an incredibly high estimate, even at 50 million, unless you’re counting people who died because of disease, which was largely not spread intentionally.
12.5 million survived being transported to the Americas, and then tens-of-millions of their descendants condemned to the same fate of slavery.
The 50 million is the conservative estimate, the 100 million is the high end.
And that includes deaths caused by disease, warfare, oppression, etc. None of which would have happened without the mercantilist imperialist desire for growth at others expense.
To claim one event is the sole worst ever, is to degrade the suffering of other equally terrible events.
Oh that 12.5 is all African slaves who embarked from Africa, 2 million of which died in transport. 10.5 million survived.
Okay, but that’s like saying “The number of deaths caused by fascists, civilian riots, and serial killers.”
One of them is providing a horrifically large supermajority of that number. The first, in both cases.
… travel and disease don’t happen without mercantilist imperialist desire for growth?
Applying moral blame to Europeans for the crime of being sick when they visited the Americas, in a time when neither pre-Columbian nor Old World cultures had a strong conception of germ theory, is absurd; doubly so to apply that moral blame in the same context as intentional evils committed by Europeans.
I don’t agree, as events are not equally terrible, but that’s a fair take if that’s your objection. My issue here is with the number including the unintentional spread of disease, as mentioned, the vast supermajority of any death count that high, including many peoples the European colonists did not only not meet, but did not even know about, when what is being discussed is ‘crime against humanity’ and genocide.
Or all the other slave trades and genocides. Why does this get all the attention over all the other bad things that have happened?