Chapter 15: The Atlantic Slave Trade (section 4)

What threats did slave ships face?

- storms at sea - raids by pirate ships - mutinies/ revolts by captives

Why was the Middle Passage so bad for slaves?

1. before slaves even set sail, they were forced to march as much as a thousand miles to coastal ports bound with ropes and chains. Sometimes they were even forced to carry heavy loads and mens necks were encircled with thick iron bands 2. many captives died and some tried to escape but were quickly recaptured and brutally punished 3. those who survived were put in holding pens or warehouses in shipping ports and were held there until European trade ships arrived 4. once purchased, slaves were packed below decks of slave ships usually in chains. Men, women, and children were packed in single vessels for a voyage from 3 weeks - 3 months

What was the impact of the slave trade?

1. it brought merchants and traders wealth 2. provided the labor that helped profitable colonial economies to grow 3. African states and societies were torn apart 4. lives of individual African Americans were either cut short or forever brutalized 5. African lost people, culture, and language

Who profited from the Triangular trade?

1. merchants grew very wealthy 2. industries that supported trade thrived including shipbuilding and colonial industries 3. port cities became successful including Nantes, France, England, and Bristol

what percentage of slaves died on board a slave ship?

50% - this is why slaves ships became "floating coffins"

what is a mutiny

A conspiracy to overthrow a captain

Olaudah Equiano

African who was sold into slavery and bought his way out-kidnapped as a boy (age 11) from his home he was sold into slavery and sold amongst slave traders many times-he served in the Seven Years' War as a captain's boy and was then sold to a slave trader where he went to the Caribbean-from there a white colonist bought him and he eventually bought his way out of slavery-he went to England to live and published a book about slavery and his experiences-his message was widespread and helped to inspire the abolition of slavery

Where did the majority of slaves go?

Caribbean and Brazil

What was the biggest threat to the death of slaves?

Disease! Mostly of dysentery or smallpox

How many slaves were involved with the slave trade?

Historians debate but they believe that 2,000 were enslaved and were sent to the americas every year. When the slave trade was at its peak in the 1780s, they approx. 80,000 per year. After the slave trade ended, they estimated around 11 million reached america and 2 million died under the brutal conditions of the Middle Passage

Traingular Trade

It was a triangle-shaped series of Atlantic trade routes linking Europe, Africa, and the America's (another name for the Atlantic slave trade)

Who were the first major European partners in the slave trade?

Spain

3rd leg of triangular trade

Went from the Americas back to Europe taking sugar, cotton, molasses, and other American goods including furs, salt, fish, and rum with them and sold them for a profit.

Commodities

a valuable product

1st leg of triangular trade

merchants ships brought European goods including guns, cloth, and cash, to Africa. In Africa, merchants traded these goods for slaves

When did the slave trade end?

mid 1800s - stopped by William Wilberforce!

Middle Passage - 2nd leg

slaves were transported to the Americas on slave ships. There, the slaves were exchanged for sugar, molasses, and other products manufactured at plantations owned by Europeans

_______ was more common than mutinies

suicide - African believed that after death, they would return to their home countries: hung themselves, starved themselves, and leapt overboard