U1::Q5: Middle Passage

Which of the following events during the 1600s and 1700s led to the development of slavery in the Caribbean?

French, English, and Dutch traders joined Spanish traders in the West Indies.

How did the transatlantic slave trade benefit European plantation owners in the West Indies?

It allowed them to grow and produce goods more cheaply.

How did transatlantic slavery most affect the population of Africa?

There were fewer men to clear fields and hunt.

How did the writings of Olaudah Equiano affect the slave trade?

They brought public awareness to the inhumane conditions on slave ships.

Conditions on slave ships caused

many enslaved Africans to resist.

In the 1600s and 1700s, Europeans established themselves in the West Indies to

search for precious metals and to grow crops such as coffee.

To keep up with European demand, how did African slave traders enslave people?

They took prisoners of war and raided villages.

How did slavery in the Americas affect African society?

Slave labor within Africa became more common, and violence between Africans increased.

How did hunger strikes by enslaved Africans affect slaveholders during the Middle Passage?

Slaveholders knew that an enslaved person weakened by hunger could be sold for less money.

Read the quotation from the writings of Olaudah Equiano, an African who experienced the Middle Passage. "The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us." A conclusion that can be drawn about slave ships from this description is that passengers

suffered greatly during their journey to the Americas.