The Atlantic Slave Trade: Middle Passage, Impact, and End

Middle Passage

The voyage of slave ships (slavers) across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to the Americas.

Seasoning

The process through which newly arrived enslaved Africans were acclimatized to the conditions in the Americas.

Atlantic Slave Trade

The trade system that involved the transportation of enslaved Africans to the Americas.

Trans-Sahara Slave Trade

A trade system that made West African cities wealthy, dealing mainly in men who were in high demand as field workers.

Islamic Slave Trade

A slave trade conducted by Sudanese that included both blacks and whites, mainly involving women and children.

European Age of Exploration

A period when European nations sought to colonize Africa and establish trade routes.

Portuguese Interest in Africa

During the fifteenth century, the Portuguese were primarily interested in Africa as a source of slaves for Europe.

Spanish Interest in Africa

During the fifteenth century, the Spanish were primarily interested in Africa as a source of slaves for Europe.

Impact of Diseases on Indigenous Americans

Indigenous Americans died of diseases or fled due to the arrival of Europeans.

Workforce Demand

The demand for labor that caused the Atlantic slave trade to flourish.

H.M.S. Undine

A British warship that enforced the ban on the Atlantic slave trade and rescued people from a slave ship.

Fifteenth Century Trade Importance

Africa was more important as a source of trade and wealth than Asia during the fifteenth century.

Slavery Existence

Slavery existed in all cultures for thousands of years.

African Adaptation

Africans adapted to conditions in the Americas after crossing the Atlantic.

Treatment of Slaves in the Americas

The conditions and treatment that enslaved individuals faced in the Americas.

End of the Atlantic Slave Trade

The factors that led to the conclusion of the Atlantic slave trade.

European Colonization Goals

European nations sought to colonize Africa for trade and to convert populations to Christianity.

Demand for Slaves

The high demand for slaves in Europe that fueled the Atlantic slave trade.

Indigenous American Enslavement

Columbus enslaved indigenous Americans after accidentally landing in the Americas.

Woodcut Illustration

An early nineteenth-century woodcut depicting the rescue of individuals from a slave ship.

African Forest Dwellers

A group involved in the slave trade in Africa, as noted by Europeans upon their arrival.

Berbers from North Africa

A group involved in the slave trade in Africa, as noted by Europeans upon their arrival.

Guinea Coast

The southward-facing coast of West Africa, from which many people caught up in the Atlantic slave trade departed for the Americas.

Chattel

A form of slavery in which the enslaved are treated legally as property.

Asiento

The monopoly over the slave trade from Africa to Spain's American colonies.

Cash crop

A crop grown for sale rather than subsistence.

Industrial Revolution

An economic change that began in England during the early eighteenth century, where industry became the dominant form of enterprise.

Bartolomeo Dias

A historical figure whose voyages drastically changed the slave trade.

Vasco da Gama

A historical figure whose voyages drastically changed the slave trade.

Christopher Columbus

A historical figure whose voyages drastically changed the slave trade.

Antam Goncalvez

A historical figure whose voyages drastically changed the slave trade.

Indigo

A bluish-violet dye produced from the indigo plant.

Sugar cultivation

An extremely profitable agricultural practice in the Americas that increased the demand for slave labor.

Slave trade profits

Financial gains from the slave trade that helped fund the Industrial Revolution.

Tobacco

A crop that increased the demand for slaves during the Atlantic slave trade.

Interethnic warfare

Conflict among different ethnic groups that produced slaves for trade.

Racial solidarity

The lack of unity among Europeans and Africans during the slave trade.

European reliance

The dependence of Europeans on the Atlantic slave trade due to the decline of American Indian populations.

Sixteenth century labor demand

The enormous demand for labor produced by gold and silver mines and sugar plantations in Latin America.

Dominance of Spain and Portugal

The control exerted by Spain and Portugal over the Atlantic slave trade.

Most slaves

The demographic of the enslaved population, which was predominantly men or boys.

Factories

Headquarters for a European company that traded for slaves or engaged in other commercial enterprises on the West African coast.

The Crossing

The forced journey of captives from their native land to the Americas, lasting three to six months.

Slavers

Ships used to transport slaves from Africa to the Americas.

Mortality Rate

High death rate among slaves due to seaboard epidemics during transport.

Bondage Hardware

Equipment included on slavers designed to restrain slaves during transport.

Olaudah Equiano

An African captured and sent to the West Indies, who documented his experiences.

Voyages

Journeys that lasted three to six months, often delayed by human and natural causes.

European Brutalization

The systematic destruction of self-respect and identity among captured Africans.

Tight Packed

A method of loading slaves onto ships where they were chained together to maximize space.

Hurricanes and Doldrums

Natural causes that could delay slave voyages across the Atlantic.

Desperation of Slaves

Some slaves preferred drowning to enduring the conditions aboard the slavers.

Crews' Control

Slavers forced captives to sing and dance as a means of control during the voyage.

Industrial Revolution Delay

The profits from the Atlantic slave trade delayed the Industrial Revolution by at least a century.

Improvement of Conditions

The profits from the slave trade contributed to the improvement of conditions on slavers.

Slavers as Useful Machines

By the eighteenth century, slavers were built to resist storms and better ventilated.

Branded Like Cattle

Captives were marked to signify ownership, similar to livestock.

Engraving of Slave Traders

A depiction of African slave traders conducting bound captives toward European trading posts.

John Newton

Indentured servant who became a crew member and then captain of a slaver, purchased West African slaves, sailed to the West Indies, and after retirement, repented his involvement in the slave trade.

Indentured servant

A person who sold his or her freedom to a master for a term of years.

Provisions for the Middle Passage

Slave captains purchased African staples for slaves but skimped on supplies to save money, leading to many deaths from malnutrition and refusal to eat.

Sanitation, Disease, and Death

Death rates were astronomical on slave ships due to diseases like dysentery and smallpox, which killed most slaves.

Ship surgeons

Rewarded for delivering healthy slaves, often disregarding African remedies as superstitions.

Resistance and Revolt at Sea

Africans often rebelled against bondage, and failed slave mutineers could expect harsh punishment.

Cruelty

Debate among scholars about how much cruelty enslaved Africans suffered, with the primary cause of death being uncertain.

African Women on Slave Ships

Women were worth half the price of men and were often sexually abused by crew members.

Epidemic disease

Identified as one of the primary causes of death at sea during the Middle Passage.

Starvation

Another primary cause of death at sea during the Middle Passage.

Overcrowding

A condition that contributed to the high mortality rates during the Middle Passage.

Harsh treatment and beatings

A factor that led to deaths at sea during the Middle Passage.

Slave rebellions and mutinies

Rare events during the Middle Passage, leading slaver crews to generally feel safe.

Landing and Sale in the West Indies

Crew prepared human cargo for sale, where slaves suffered close inspection at market.

Martinique

An island in the eastern Caribbean Sea that was a French sugar-producing colony from the seventeenth into the nineteenth centuries.

Barbados

An island nation in the Lesser Antilles, located to the southeast of Puerto Rico.

Physical inspections

The humiliating process Africans endured before being sold in the market.

Preparation for landing

Slaver captains cleaned, exercised, and rested slaves in preparation for landing in the West Indies.

Creoles

Persons of African or European parentage born in the Americas.

Acculturated

Change in individuals who are introduced to a new culture.

Slave ship owners

Sold their cargo at the first port of call in order to return to Africa as soon as possible to pick up another cargo.

Weak or unhealthy slaves

Thrown overboard by slaver captains in preparation for landing in the West Indies.

Disciplinary process

To make slaves effective laborers.

New Africans

Provided labor for slave lands and learned building and agriculture skills.

Survival criteria

Adaptation to new foods, climate, and language for successfully seasoning new slaves.

Bonds with shipmates

Created by slaves similar to family relationships when their ties to their villages and families were broken.

English abolitionists

Crusaded against slavery as the industrialized economy became less dependent on the slave trade.

Guinea, West Africa

Fought to keep the slave trade going as their economies depended on it.

Adaptation to new foods

One of the primary criteria for successfully seasoning new slaves.

Surplus crops

Slaves saved for future use.

Planters' preference

Preferred new arrivals from Africa, women and children, and those from the coastal regions of West Africa.

Creole dialects

Africanized versions of French and English produced by slave society.

Industrializing economy

In the early 1800s, it was less dependent on the slave trade.

Growing number of English abolitionists

Had little effect on the slave trade at the end of the 1700s.

11 million Africans

Brought to the Americas over three centuries of slavery.

40 million Americans

Of African descent are alive today.

Reasons for decline of slave trade

Thrive for over three hundred years, then declined and ended in about fifty years.