The Atlantic Slave Trade

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The Atlantic Slave Trade

• Origins of Slavery
• Slavery in the Colonies
• Effects of Slavery

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Symbol of the Tragedy of Slavery

• The Door of No Return on Goree Island
• Symbol of the tragedy of slavery
• Of the coast of Senegal stands the House of Slaves

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House of Slaves
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Origins of the Slave Trade

• Shortage of labor in the Americas
• Needed large numbers of workers for plantations,
  estates where crops such as sugar and tobacco
  were grown

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Sources of Labor

• Native Americans-died because of European
  diseases
• Indentured Servants-worked for a period of time
  in exchange for passage to the Americas (TOO
  EXPENSIVE)
• SOLUTIONAFRICAN SLAVES

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African Slaves

• Millions of Africans taken to the Americas from
  1600s until the 1800s
• Came from the Coast of West Africa (between
  Senegal and Angola)

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Atlantic Slave Trade
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Triangular Trade

• 1. First leg consisted of ships carrying
  products from Europe to Africa in exchange for
  slaves
• 2. Second LegMiddle PassageAfricans brought to
  America and sold as slaves
• 3. Third leg consisted of America products such
  as sugar, tobacco, and rice being sent to Europe

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Middle Passage

• Africans were chained together and packed on dark
  ships

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Olaudah Equianoquote page 489
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Middle Passage
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Middle Passage
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Life on the ships

• Life was rough on the slave ships
• Trip lasted 3 to 6 weeks
• 10-20 of slaves died
• Some slaves tried to starve themselves to death,
  refusing to eat either of their two meals
• Some slaves committed suicide by strangling
  themselves or jumping off slave ships

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Where were slaves auctioned?

• Spanish traders took slaves to the Caribbean
  sugar plantations
• Portuguese sent their slaves to Brazil
• English slave ships mainly went to the West
  Indies and to North America
• By the end of the 1600s, England dominated the
  slave trade

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West Indies
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Slave Conditions

• Most slaves worked on plantations
• Some worked in mines, towns, and in the
  countryside
• Skilled slaves continued their skill work such as
  carpentry or metal work
• Female slaves sometimes given domestic duties
  like servant or cook

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What happened to slaves who committed minor
offenses?
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Punishing slaves
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Slave Rebellions

• Slaves were considered property therefore they
  had no rights
• Enslaved people would rebel in different ways
• Cultural traditions
• Religion
• Slow work
• Destroying Equipment
• Attacking slaveholders

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Effects of the Slave Trade

• Last over 400 years with between 15 and 20
  million Africans being shipped to the Americas
• Many more shipped to Europe, Asia and the Middle
  East
• 1. Human Cost
• 2. Problems in Africa
• 3. Expanded the economies of the Americas
• 4. African Diaspora

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• Human Cost

• Problems in Africa

• Countless people died and many others deprived of
  their freedom

• Many of the strong, young leaders were captured
  and sold into slavery
• African tribes began to fight with each other to
  gain captives for trade

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• Economy of the Americas

• African Diaspora

• Expanded because of free slave labor

• African music, art, religion and food introduced
  to the Western world

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