in slaves, could plant its sterilizing hand". By "sterilizing hand" Davidson is saying that the slave trade surpressed any and all African development. This strangulation adversely affected the political and economical development of Africa by allowing the separation between king/chief and commoners to increase and stiffen. In the beginning, it is this separation that led to the inequality among Africans. In fact, a majority of the years during the transatlantic slave trade with Europe only contributed to the widening of the separation of Africa's social classes. At least in the beginning; however, Africa slowly begins to go through a social upheaval. According to the famous saying, "divide and conquer", and that is exactly what Europe accomplished during the slave trade. Because after the slave trade was abolished, Europe preceded to colonize Africa, which is in accordance with the economical model of the slave trade.. The reason the slave trade worked so well as a stranglehold was because it was a unidirectional relationship, there was no give and take. Davidson explains, "To Europe the trade with Africa was always an enrichment; and this enrichment could and did help Europe into new and more productive forms of society and government". In other words, the labor force from Africa helped the Europeans establish a new social and economical structure, capitalism. On the African side it was all give, Davidson continues, "But to Africans the relationship was incapable of carrying through the social and economic changes that were now required: on the contrary, it steered all those societies that it touched into economical or political frustration". In other words, Europe reaped all the benefits, while any benefits African's sustained worked to strengthen the slave trade. Davidson tells the story of Antonio Vaz Coelho who was a, "free Negro, born in Brazil, who made several voyages to the Slave Coast and became a very respec...
