The Middle Passage ~ Revision Flashcards
what is the middle passage within the triangle trade?
the journey from West Africa (where slaves were bought) to the Caribbean or North America (where the slaves worked).
what were slaves traded for in the West Coast of Africa?
- guns
- gunpowder
- pots
- pans
- cloth
- alcohol
were all traded for people living in the villages.
what were the conditions like below deck on the ships? (overall, basic, short bullet points).
- cramped
- packed with people
- people were chained together
- people would throw up, and go to the toilet where they were.
- barely any oxygen so hard to breath.
- men and women were kept separate
- diseases would travel around quickly
- bad smelling
- loud
- excessively hot
what were the conditions like below deck on the ships? (details, statistics)
- temperature was approximately 35 degrees Celsius
- 130cm headroom space
- 160cm width space
- candles couldn’t burn because of the lack of oxygen.
- diseases like dysentery and scurvy killed many.
how long would the journey take approximately?
- the journey could take up to 3 months
- journey lasted 40-70 days
how many captives could the ships hold? Give an example
- British ships held 230, while the French ships held 400.
- the average slave ship held 400 slaves.
- the Brookes carried 600 captives
give an example of people who experienced the trip
Olaudah Equiano said that he “almost suffocated” and that the “whole scene of horror was almost unbearable”.
a slave smuggler also said that he “hauled 60 corpses out” from below the decks because of disease. And that the space was “as if in a coffin”.
what were the slaves fed?
they were fed yams, biscuits, beans, salted beef and porridge.
what is dysentery?
dysentery is an infection of the intestines leading to severe diarrhoea, death caused by dehydration.
give some punishments the slaves were given.
- they were tied together
- flogging
- cut off a limb if they tried to escape or rebel.
how many voyages saw rebellion?
1 in 10
when did Britain abolish the slave trade?
1807
were Portuguese conditions better or worse? Explain why
Portuguese slaver conditions were better than British and French slavers as there were laws about how the slaves were treated.
what was done with the slaves if there wasn’t enough food to go around for the remainder of the journey?
the slaves that the captain of the ship thought were too weak or useless, were chained together and thrown overboard to drown.
define ‘loose’ packing
loose packing is when less slaves were put onto ships. They would like shoulder to shoulder. More slaves survived the voyage so less money was lost.
