The Slave Trade

Flashcards about the history of the slave trade

What was the slave trade?

For thousands of years, humans have captured other humans and forced them to do their work; from about 1500, some men started to turn slavery into a profitable business.

What did slave traders do?

Took people away from their homes in Africa and sailed them across the Atlantic Ocean to plantations in North/South America and the West Indies.

What were the conditions of enslaved people?

Enslaved people had no rights; plantation owners tried to take their identities, giving them new names and forcing them to learn English; they worked long hours and were punished violently for rebelling.

What was the Triangular Trade?

A trade system where ships loaded with goods sailed from England to Africa, exchanged goods for captured people, then sailed to the Americas to sell the enslaved; ships then returned to Britain with sugar, cotton, tobacco, and rum.

What cheap goods were popular in Africa?

Guns, cloth, kettles, pots and pans, necklaces.

Where were captured people held?

They were often held in camps and forts until a slaver and his ship arrived.

What was the Middle Passage?

The journey across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and America that could take two months with terrible living conditions, high temperatures, sickness and disease.

What were the living conditions like on slave ships?

They were packed together in chains below decks in terrible conditions, with temperatures reaching 35°C, and suffered from sea sickness, heat stroke, and diseases.

What was nasty form of diarrhoea, was a real problem?

Dysentery

How long did the journey across the Atlantic last?

Between 40 and 70 days.

How many enslaved people were taken between 1510 and 1833?

Approximately ten million.

What happened at slave auctions?

Enslaved people were paraded in front of potential buyers and examined, then sold to the highest bidder.

What happened at slave scrambles?

The slave trader would set a price for the enslaved people and buyers would rush in to grab the ones they liked best, often separating families.

What was life like for enslaved people on plantations?

Field workers would labour from dawn to dusk, domestic labourers worked inside the houses for very long hours; they were provided with poor quality food, clothes, and housing.

What was the average life expectancy for an enslaved person?

26 years old

What happened to enslaved people who tried to run away?

They were punished very harshly, including removal of limbs, wearing muzzles, flogging, burning, and hanging.

What were some of the serious rebellions of enslaved people?

Barbados (1816), Demerera (1823) and Jamaica (1831)

What happened on the island of St Dominique (Haiti)?

In 1791, enslaved people led by Toussant L'Ouverture revolted, setting fire to sugar cane fields and murdering the masters.

Why did some British people not care about the treatment of enslaved people?

Ordinary British people often had racist attitudes towards Africans, and the Bible was used to justify slavery.

Why did slavery make a lot of money for Britain?

It created jobs and supplied cheap raw materials.

What factors led to the abolition of slavery?

Religious groups, economic reasons, and resistance/rebellion.

What religious groups believed slavery was wrong?

The Quakers and Methodists.

What did Adam Smith argue?

He argued that people worked harder if they were rewarded for their work.

What happened during resistance and rebellion

There were mutinies on slave ships.

What was the Haitian Revolution?

Thousands of enslaved people rioted, burned plantations, and killed owners, leading to St Dominigue becoming an independent black state and the first to end slavery in the New World.

Who were some important European anti-slavery campaigners?

Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce, and Josiah Wedgwood.

Who was Granville Sharp?

He defended enslaved people in law courts and prosecuted the owners of the slave ship Zong.

Who was Thomas Clarkson?

He visited slave ships and collected objects used to punish enslaved people to show the public what slavery was really like.

Who was William Wilberforce?

MP who introduced bills for the abolition of the slave trade in Parliament.

Who was Josiah Wedgwood?

A pottery maker who designed and sold anti-slavery medallions.

When did Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp formed the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade?

in 1787

Who were some important former enslaved people who campaigned against slavery?

Oluadah Equiano and Ignatius Sancho.

Who was Oluadah Equiano?

He wrote an autobiography that showed the horrors of slavery.

Who was Ignatius Sancho?

Sancho wrote an account about the horrors of slavery and was the first known Briton of African heritage to vote in the general election.

What was the name of campaign group set up by educated African people living in London?

The Sons of Africa.

Which women make their voices heard?

Hannah More and Elizabeth Heyrick

What did Elizabeth Heyrick start?

Began a sugar boycott.

What actions were taken to change opinions about slavery?

Meetings, campaign groups, boycotts, posters, letters, newspaper articles, stories, poems, badges, petitions, talks, donations, legal cases, and parliamentary efforts.

When was the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade passed?

On 25th March 1807, the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade became law, making it illegal for British ships to carry enslaved people.

When was slavery abolished in the British Empire?

Parliament agreed to a bill abolishing slavery in the British Empire in 1833, with enslaved people working as 'apprentices' for four to six years after 1834.