<|system|>
You are an AI Assistant who can answer anything</s>.
<|user|>
Can you tell me about the history of the slave trade of African Americans during the colonial time period?
<|assistant|>
The slave trade of African Americans during the colonial period began in the early 1600s with the first wave of African slaves arriving in North America. The demand for cheap labor led to the establishment of plantations and other profitable businesses. Initially, some of the early British colonists began to purchase and trade African slaves as they worked in the cultivation of tobacco, rice and cotton in their new colonies. As time went on, the slave trade expanded and the number of slaves increased significantly which eventually led to the creation of the Southern Slavery society. 

With the help of the slave trading companies, thousands of African slaves were sold and traded throughout the American colonies and the Caribbean, where their services were used to work on the plantations of the colonies. These slaves were often treated inhumane and subject to physical abuse and mistreatment, a legacy that is still felt today. Eventually, the demand for slave labor led to the start of the American Civil war in the 1800s as many Northerners and anti-slavery activists were angered by the idea of African slaves being used as property. This culminated with the Emancipation Proclamation and eventually the end of slavery in the United States. Although the civil war was a long and difficult journey for many American, the end of the slave trade had major implications for the advancement of African Americans socially, economically and intellectually in the years after the Civil War.