Transatlantic Slave Trade

Lecture on 10/01/13

Transatlantic Slave Trade

• The enslavement of people from west Africa by European (Portuguese, Spanish, and British) and African traders, and their mass transportation to the Americas was known as the transatlantic Slave Trade.

Timeline transatlantic Slave Trade

• From 15th century to 19th century.

Foundations of the Slave Trade

• Who were the slaves?• How did it start in Africa?

Slavery in Africa

Even within Africa, there was a history of slavery

Who were these slaves?• War captives • People expelled from the clan

They did not have individual or civil rights.Owners could punish and sell them. Therefore, Africa had its own unique a history of slavery.

Important !!

• However, slavery in Africa was different from bondage in other places (Europe, Asia).

Difference between slavery in Africa different from bondage in Europe?

• Slavery in Africa

1. Wealth= Control over human labor

2. Slaves often became a part of the family.

• Bondage in Europe

1. Wealth= control over land

2. Slaves were never considered a part of family.

Difference between slavery in Africa different from bondage in Europe?

• Slavery in Africa

3. Within a generation, a slave could become an honorable person in a family.

• Bondage in Europe

3. No change in slave status .

The Islamic Salve Trade

• Muslim merchants from (north Africa, Arab, and Persia) also indulged in trading African slaves.

• About 10 million African slaves left Africa because of Islamic slaves Trade.

Remember

• Slave trade was done not just by Europeans but also by Traders from Islamic regions.

Transatlantic Slave Trade

• Portuguese, Spanish and British (Europeans) had colonies all over America.

• European colonizers shipped African slaves to their colonies in America.

WHY?

• African slaves provided a cheap, and sustainable source of human labor in the Americas.

“Black” Gold for Sale!

The Early Slave Trade

• There was an acute shortage of labor in America because the natives were killed by the diseases brought by the Europeans (remember imperial encounter between the Aztecs and Spaniards!!!)

Work for Slaves in Americas

• Slaves from Africa were brought in to Americas to work on plantations.

• Cash crops grown on plantations during this time were:a) Tobaccob) Coffeec) Cottond) Sugar e) rice

Slave Trade: From Africa to the Americas (1650-1860)

Triangular Trade

• the voyage involving slave trade route had three steps:

1. Start in Europe: traders took horses, and other manufactured goods such as firearms that they could exchange for slaves in Africa).

Triangular Trade

2. Stop in Africa

Purchased African slaves to be sold in Americas.

Triangular Trade

3. Arrival in America

Merchants/ Traders sold slaves to plantation owners at two or three times what they had cost in Africa.

Triangular Trade

• During this process economic exchanges (manufactured goods, firearms, slaves, other commodities) took place between Europe and Africa and America.

• See details on the map on the next slide.

The Triangle Trade

The Middle Passage

• Harsh journey conditions• Treatment of slaves on the ship • death rate due to disease

Slave Ship Interior

“Coffin” Position: Onboard a Slave Ship

Onboard the Slave Ship

African Captives Thrown Overboard

Sharks followed the slave ships across the Atlantic!

Important Announcements

NOTE

• See “weekly Schedule” on blackboard • last item under contents.

Important: QUIZ ON THURSDAY

• 4 Multiple choice and 4 True or false questions • Worth 8 points

• Over Aztec civilization from Pp. 317-322, p. 462.

• Also see “Columbian exchange” on p. 465-466.

• Also see relevant power point slides on the topics mentioned on the these pages.