The Atlantic Slave Trade

Question 1

What is a summary of the Slave Trade?

Answer 1

-Between 9-12 million Africans brought to the New World
-Captured from West Africa and transporting them across the Atlantic
-Started by Portugal, followed quickly by other European Countries
-People were generally sold by African slave traders to European Slave Traders and sold to plantations
-Slaves were forced to harvest products that were not needs, but wants from the plantation owners

Question 2

What was it like for Slaves on the ships?

Answer 2

-Voyages took between 1-6 months, depending on weather
-Slaves were crammed so tightly on the ships that many did not survive
-Often chained together, on a good day one meal & some water
-Kept below deck, considered to be cargo, not human
-Disease spread quickly
-In some cases, if the ship was too heavy & food & water were scarce, slaves were considered less desirable & drowned. The owner could then collect insurance on them.
-Pregnant women who delivered on the ship, newborns drowned because they couldn’t be sold
-Cat O’ Nine tails were often the punishment for “unruly behaviour”

Question 3

What is an estimated % of people who died while on the ships?

Answer 3

-15% died en route
-Between 2 & 4 million people during the course of the trade

Question 4

What was the Economics of the slave trade?

Answer 4

-For each slave, African rulers would receive European goods like guns, etc.
-Many desired crops could not be grown in Europe, therefore return of goods from Americas to Europe
-Shortage of labour in Europe
-Investors would buy shares in many slaver ships
-Some historians argue that for Britain, the profits of the slave trade basically financed the Industrial Revolution
-The Royal Africa Company could buy an enslaved African with trade goods worth $3 and resell that person for $20 in America