Editing Atlantic slave trade (section)

===Cultural effects===
The cultural effects of the transatlantic slave trade in Africa are the reduction of traditional African religious practices. According to research in a 2021 census of religions practiced in Ghana published by the Office of International Religious Freedom, in 2021 the Ghana Embassy reported "71 percent of the population are Christian, 20 percent Muslim, 3 percent adhere to indigenous or animistic religious beliefs, and 6 percent belong to other religious groups or have no religious beliefs". Historian Nana Osei Bonsu argued that the transatlantic slave trade not only took millions of Africans from the continent but also caused a decline of [[traditional African religions]] and Ghanaian indigenous culture as Europeans believed African people's culture and religions were irrelevant and inferior. The slave trade resulted in the colonization of Africa and its people forcing many Africans to convert to Christianity.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ghana 2022 International Religious Freedom Report |url=https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/441219-GHANA-2022-INTERNATIONAL-RELIGIOUS-FREEDOM-REPORT.pdf |website=www.state.gov |publisher=Office of International Religious Freedom |access-date=15 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231010112500/https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/441219-GHANA-2022-INTERNATIONAL-RELIGIOUS-FREEDOM-REPORT.pdf |archive-date=10 October 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bonsu |first1=Nana Osei |title=The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: An Examination of the Incorrectness of the Ghana Senior High School History Syllabus |journal=Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies |date=2016 |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=375, 378 |url=https://jpanafrican.org/docs/vol9no4/JuneJuly-23-Bonsu.pdf |access-date=15 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714052655/https://jpanafrican.org/docs/vol9no4/JuneJuly-23-Bonsu.pdf |archive-date=14 July 2020}}</ref>

[[File:Castle Elmina.jpg|thumb|[[Elmina Castle]] was a slave fort in Ghana built in 1482 by the Portuguese and later used by the British colonial administration as its headquarters from 1872 into the 20th century, following which they used it as a prison to incarcerate African citizens.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Womber |first1=Peter Kwame |title=From Anomansa to Elmina: The Establishment and the Use of the Elmina Castle – From the Portuguese to the British |journal=[[Athens Journal of History]] |date=2020 |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=368–369 |url=https://www.athensjournals.gr/history/2020-6-4-4-Womber.pdf |access-date=15 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240710084707/https://www.athensjournals.gr/history/2020-6-4-4-Womber.pdf |archive-date=10 July 2024}}</ref>]]

The transatlantic slave trade affected traditional trade routes in West-Central Africa. Africans traded goods and slaves using trade routes in the interior of Africa that connected to the [[Sahara|Sahara Desert]] and the [[Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean]] coast where other commodities and enslaved people were traded. These trade routes were used by Africans for centuries and societies and kingdoms developed as a result. Europeans chose to trade primarily along the Atlantic coast because they did not have immunity to [[malaria]] that was endemic to the region and "they could not dominate further than their guns could fire, from ship or fort". The slave trade also left warlords in charge in African societies as they wanted to trade with Europeans to obtain guns to defeat their enemies and sell them to Europeans.<ref>{{cite web |title=The development of foreign colonies |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zxt3gk7/revision/6 |website=[[BBC]] |access-date=15 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240416190849/https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zxt3gk7/revision/6 |archive-date=16 April 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Read |first1=Sean |title=The Archaeology of Slavery in Atlantic West Africa, 1450–1900 |journal=African History |date=2023 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.837 |isbn=978-0-19-027773-4 |url=https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-837?d=%2F10.1093%2Facrefore%2F9780190277734.001.0001%2Facrefore-9780190277734-e-837&p=emailAWL4gsirLpkag |access-date=20 April 2024 |archive-date=26 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726161720/https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-837?d=%2F10.1093%2Facrefore%2F9780190277734.001.0001%2Facrefore-9780190277734-e-837&p=emailAWL4gsirLpkag |url-status=live}}</ref>

The European system of monetization implemented with the slave trade replaced cowrie shells, the currency traditionally used among Africans. According to research from the [[National Park Service]]: "European trade goods supplanted former African reliance on indigenous material goods, natural resources and products as the economic basis of their society. At the same time Europeans increasingly required people in exchange for trade goods. Once this stage was reached an African society had little choice but to trade human lives for European goods and guns; guns that had become necessary to wage wars for further captives in order to trade for goods upon which an African society was now dependent".<ref>{{cite web |title=The Transatlantic Slave Trade |url=https://www.nps.gov/ethnography/aah/aaheritage/histcontextsc.htm |website=Park Ethnography Program |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=20 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240503083908/https://www.nps.gov/ethnography/aah/aaheritage/histcontextsc.htm |archive-date=3 May 2024}}</ref>

[[File:Scramble-for-Africa-1880-1913-v2.png|thumb|Africa before and after colonization]]

As the European slave trade grew more profitable, the demand for slaves increased, which affected African coastal societies in the following ways: "Commerce with the world outside Africa changed from overland to sea and coastal villages whose main trades had been fishing and salt production became ports and trading posts". The trans-Atlantic slave trade resulted in the colonization of Africa. Colonization in Africa continues to have negative effects as some traditional African cultures are erased, along with traditional languages and traditional African religions. After the trans-Atlantic slave trade had ceased, European colonial powers fought over the land and resources in Africa. The development of the [[Antimalarial medication|antimalarial drug]] [[quinine]] in 1820 enabled Europeans to colonize the interior of Africa.<ref name="Malaria and French Imperialism"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Achan |first1=Jane |display-authors=etal |title=Quinine, an old antimalarial drug in a modern world: role in the treatment of malaria |journal=Malaria Journal |date=2011 |volume=10 |page=144 |doi=10.1186/1475-2875-10-144 |doi-access=free |pmid=21609473 |pmc=3121651}}</ref>

By the end of the 19th century, European powers laid claim to 90 percent of land in [[Sub-Saharan Africa]] during the "[[Scramble for Africa]]". In this invasion and subsequent colonization, the seven European powers (Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and Italy) removed African kingdoms of power, created national borders that did not align with the already existing ethnic borders in Africa and forced diverse tribal ethnic groups to coexist and be controlled under one colonial power. This caused an unnatural division of people and was the groundwork for the instability in the African continent beginning in the 20th century into the present day.<ref>{{cite web |title=Implications of the slave trade for African societies |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zxt3gk7/revision/6 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=15 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518105335/https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zxt3gk7/revision/6 |archive-date=18 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=European and African interaction from the 15th through the 18th century |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Southern-Africa/European-and-African-interaction-from-the-15th-through-the-18th-century |website=Britannica |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=15 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240416190849/https://www.britannica.com/place/Southern-Africa/European-and-African-interaction-from-the-15th-through-the-18th-century |archive-date=16 April 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Learning from Slavery– The Legacy of the Slave Trade on Modern Society |url=https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/learning-slavery-legacy-slave-trade-modern-society |website=www.un.org |publisher=[[United Nations]] |access-date=15 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220318224828/https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/learning-slavery-legacy-slave-trade-modern-society |archive-date=18 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Colonial Powers in Sub-Saharan Africa |url=https://geopoliticalfutures.com/colonial-powers-in-sub-saharan-africa/ |website=www.geopoliticalfutures.com |date=3 June 2016 |publisher=GeoPolitical Futures |access-date=15 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240520125511/https://geopoliticalfutures.com/colonial-powers-in-sub-saharan-africa/ |archive-date=20 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Scramble for Africa |url=https://learn.saylor.org/mod/book/view.php?id=67316&chapterid=60954 |website=saylor.org |publisher=Saylor Academy |access-date=15 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240416191012/https://learn.saylor.org/mod/book/view.php?id=67316&chapterid=60954 |archive-date=16 April 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The slave forts built along the [[Gold Coast (region)|Gold Coast]] in Ghana during the years of the slave trade were owned and used by the British colonial administration as their headquarters well into the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Apter |first1=Andrew |display-authors=etal |title=Hidden Histories of Ghana's Slave Forts and Castles 1482-2022 |url=https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/58a14ac530fa48c7be9f50f25651a62b |website=www.storymaps.arcgis.com |date=2 June 2021 |publisher=Story Maps |access-date=20 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240420190558/https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/58a14ac530fa48c7be9f50f25651a62b |archive-date=20 April 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> British forts in Ghana were vacated after Ghana gained independence in 1957. The placement of these forts dislocated African societies that lived and fished along the coast. British colonists used the fort to imprison African resistance leaders who organized resistance movements against colonization. In 1900, [[Yaa Asantewaa]] (Queen mother and war leader of the [[Asante people|Ashanti people]]), was imprisoned at [[Elmina Castle]] because she led a war against the British for possession of the [[Golden Stool]], or Ashanti royal throne.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hove |first1=Jon |title=Forts and Castles in the Colonial Period: Uses and Understandings of the Pre-colonial Fortifications |journal=Forts, Castles and Society in West Africa |date=2018 |volume=7 |pages=243–264 |doi=10.1163/9789004380172_011 |hdl=11250/2596833 |isbn=978-90-04-38014-1 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004380172/BP000010.xml |access-date=15 April 2024 |hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Womber |first1=Peter Kwame |title=From Anomansa to Elmina: The Establishment and the Use of the Elmina Castle – From the Portuguese to the British |journal=[[Athens Journal of History]] |date=2020 |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=368–369 |url=https://www.athensjournals.gr/history/2020-6-4-4-Womber.pdf |access-date=15 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240710084707/https://www.athensjournals.gr/history/2020-6-4-4-Womber.pdf |archive-date=10 July 2024}}</ref>