The Atlantic Slave TradeThe changes that occurred in African life during the era of the slave trade constituted an important element of the economic and technological development of Africa. Although the Atlantic slave trade had a negative effect on both the economy and technology, it is important to understand that slavery was not a new concept in Africa. In fact, internal slavery has existed in Africa for many years. Slaves included war captives, kidnapped people, adulterers, and other criminals and outcasts. However, the number of people held in slavery in Africa was very small, since no economic or social system had developed to exploit them (Manning 97). The new system – the Atlantic slave trade – became very different from the first African slavery. The influence of the Atlantic slave trade brought radical changes to Africa's economy. At the time of the Atlantic slave trade, Africa was a region that had far-reaching interests based on agriculture, industry, and commerce (Curtin 54). Complex stratified societies based on sedentary village agriculture developed across the continent. “Primarily agricultural, the peoples of Africa demonstrated a remarkable degree of specialization in this ancient economic activity,” writes John Hope Franklin, the author of From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans (p. 18). . Besides agriculture, art was an important area of ​​the economic community. Even the less complex communities included some with diverse skills.Furtherm...