Britain and the Carribean

Question 1

how did the slave trade affect Africa

Answer 1

1. Poverty – 11 million Africans taken away – slave traders took youngest and fittest – led to decline in production and wealth
2. European traders took metal and cloth – discouraged Africans from producing goods – local crafts died out
3. Farming lands destroyed by wars – led to famines
4. Misery and suffering – families torn apart
5. European slave traders with guns and other goods encouraged wars and violence to get prisoners of war for selling into slavery
6. Some African rulers and states grew rich and powerful

Question 2

what impact did the slave trade have on the Caribbean

Answer 2

1. New diseases were brought over from Europe and many of the native people died as they did not have the immunity against these new diseases
2. The slave trade brought racism to the Caribbean
3. People lived in fear of slave uprisings and the islands became more violent
4. Many of the native vegetation and animals became extinct as large areas of forest were cleared to make way for plantations
5. Small farms were replaced by large plantations
6. The Caribbean’s economy became heavily reliant on sugar production and began to suffer when the trade lost its profitability

Question 3

the impact the slave trade had on British ports

Answer 3

1. Many banks were set up to give slave merchants loans and insurance
2. Thousands of jobs opened up in the ports involved in the slave trade, such as dockhands, shipwrights and crews for the slave ships
3. The slave trade turned Liverpool into one of the most prosperous and wealthy trading cities in the world.
4. Liverpool’s annual profit was around £300,000
5. The upper classes of Britain grew rich as they often invested and owned plantations in the Americas
6. In Bristol industries such as copper-smelting, sugar refining and glass-making grew as a result of the slave trade
7. Slave cotton provided work in British mills, where textiles/cloth and clothing were produced