Transatlantic Slave Trade & Plantation System

Question 1

Transatlantic Slave Trade & Plantation System

Answer 1

The forced movement of millions of Africans to the Americas to work on plantations

• Also called the Triangular Trade because it involved three regions:
• Europe
• Africa
• Americas

Question 2

The Middle Passage (Journey from Africa to the Americas)

Answer 2

• Horrific conditions = crowded ships, disease, abuse, and high death rate
• Lasted 1-3 months = many died before reaching America
• Survivors were sold into slavery upon arrival

Question 3

The Plantation System

Answer 3

Large farms that grew cash crops like cotton, tobacco, sugar, and rice.

• Mostly in the Southern Colonies
• Enslaved Africans worked there; life was brutal (long hours, harsh punishments)

Question 4

Effects of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Answer 4

• Increased slavery in the South (cotton plantations)
• African culture & traditions survived (music, food, religion)
• Racism & segregation became deeply rooted in American society

Question 5

Triangular Trade

Answer 5

It involved three regions:
* Europe: Traded guns & goods for slaves in Africa
* Africa: Sent enslaved Africans across the Atlantic (Middle Passage)
* Americas: Sold slaves to work on plantations, shipped sugar, cotton, and tobacco to Europe

Question 6

Slave Codes

Answer 6

Laws that restricted enslaved people’s rights (no reading, no gathering in groups)

Question 7

Resistance

Answer 7

• Revolts (e.g., Nat Turner’s Rebellion)
• Slaves ran away (Underground Railroad)
• Worked slowly or broke tools to resist

Question 8

Economic Impact

Answer 8

• Cotton became “King” in the South = huge profits = more slavery
• Northern factories depended on Southern cotton = economy linked

Question 9

Abolitionist Movement

Answer 9

Grew stronger = people like Frederick Douglass & Harriet Tubman fought against slavery