transatlantic slave trade

SLAVE TRADING CENTERS

The West African Kingdoms of Sierre Leone,
Senegambia, Oyo, Dahomey and Benin became
the centers of the slave trade. The Kingdom of the Kongo also began selling slaves to the Europeans.

HOW SLAVES WERE PROCURED

Muslim Kingdoms in West Africa would raid the interior
of searching for small, non-Muslim villages.
• They would then attack and enslave the inhabitants of
those villages
• In some cases the enslaved would be forced to walk
back hundreds of miles to meet the European slave
traders.

THE WALK TO THE COAST

It was a shocking experience for the enslaved
because many had never seen white people before.
• Many of the enslaved died from hunger, exhaustion
and exposure during the journey to the coast.
• Suicide rates were extremely high as many of the
enslaved killed themselves on the walk to the coast.

SLAVE FACTORIES

Once the captives reached the coast, those destined for
the slave trade went to fortified structures called
‘factories’.
• Portuguese traders built the first factory at Elmina on the
Guinea Coast in 1481. The Dutch captured it in 1637.
• These ‘Factories’ were the headquarters of the traders
and were warehouses for their trade goods and supplies,
and served as dungeons or outdoor holding pens for the
captives.

SLAVE PENS

In these pens, slave traders divided families and ethnic groups
to prevent rebellion
• The Traders stripped captives naked and inspected them for
disease and physical defects
• Those considered fit for purchase were branded like cattle with
a hot iron bearing the symbol of the slave trading company
that purchased them

OLAUDAH EQUIANO

Was kidnapped from West Africa around the age of 11 or
12 and sold to a plantation owner in Virginia.
• He learned to read and write and detailed his horrific
experience from his capture to his destination
• He said the overwhelming fear of the enslaved was that
the white people would eat them.

LIFE ON A SLAVE SHIP

After being held in a factory for weeks or even months,
the slaves were take to the large ships by canoes. *many
of the enslaved attempted to drown themselves at this
point.
• The voyage from West Africa to the Americas could take
anywhere from 3-6 months.

PIRATES

Pirates, like Sir Frances Drake (1580), would attack slave
ships hoping to steal the enslaved Africans and sell them,
themselves.

MISERY ON THE SLAVE SHIP

Most slavers were “tight-packers”. Slave ships that were
designed to carry 300 slaves, would instead take 600
• The cargo space in slave ships was generally only five
feet high
• Ship carpenters cut this vertical space in half by building
shelves (which were really only wooden planks). These
planks were only 5 ½ feet long and 1 ½ feet wide.
*couldn’t turn over

MISERY ON THE SLAVE SHIP (CONT.)

To add to this discomfort, male slaves were chained
together to prevent rebellion.
• Mortality rates were extremely high because of the
unsanitary conditions. 1/3 of the slaves died on the middle
passage.

“FOOD” ON A SLAVE SHIPS

Slave crews usually fed the enslaved once a day. They
ate porridge made of old rice, oats and/or beans. No
seasoning. Basically, slop.
• They were forced to eat this porridge from animal troughs
with their unclean hands. no toilet paper or tampons.
smell

DEPRESSION AND DISEASE

Many slaves died from depression. Many refused to eat
and died of starvation. force feeding
• Because of the filth, diseases were rampant.
1.malaria 2.yellow fever 3.measles 4.small pox 5.
hookworm 6.scurvy 7. *****dysentery (killed most. Bloody
stool)

SANITATION, DISEASE AND DEATH

Sanitation on slave ships was non-existent. Slavers usually only
provided three to four toilet tubs below decks for 300 or more slaves
to use.
• The enslaved had to struggle amongst themselves to reach the
tubs. Men (who were chained in pairs) and children had the most
difficult time reaching the tubs.
• Those too sick to reach the tubs, excreted where they laid and this
allowed disease to run rampant. flies

Alexander Falconbridge, a sailor aboard one slave ship said

“The floor of the slave rooms is so covered in blood, mucus and shit that it is hard to
stand without losing your balance. It looks like the floor of a slaughterhouse. I have never seen anything more dreadful or disgusting.”

SLAVE REBELLIONS

Many West Africans refused to accept their fate as slaves. Some
hurt themselves while most planned to hurt their captors. Slavers
were ALWAYS wary of rebellions.
• Most rebellions took place before the slaves started on the middle
passage because the enslaved were close to home.
• Some, like ****Amistad, took place while the ship was at sea, but
this a challenge because they didn’t know how to get back home.

THE RAPE OF AFRICAN WOMEN (AND SOME
MEN) ON THE MIDDLE PASSAGE

In Europe, due to Christianity, being a non-virgin was considered
whorish. A woman who was not a virgin was looked at in a negative
light.
• Due to this fact, many European men went to brothels to satisfy
their sexual urges, but they had to pay the prostitutes.
• The slave trade and slave women allowed white men to satisfy their
sexual urges without paying or damaging the reputation of white
women.

THE RAPE OF ENSLAVED AFRICAN WOMEN
(AND MEN) CONTINUED*

African women were abused sexually the entire time they were on
the middle passage.
• Most fought back, but were brutally beaten for it. *John Newton (a
slaver) said Black women fought so savagely that ‘gang rapes’
became popular aboard slave ships. He encouraged the men to go
“five at a time” so that each man could hold a limb until his ‘turn’
came up.
• Enslaved men and women were kept separately below decks so
that the rapes would be easier.

RAPE OF ENSLAVED AFRICAN WOMEN

Historians believed this horrid experience
influenced black women’s attitudes towards sex.
• Many had depressed sex drives because of this
trauma. Exhaustion, terror and disgust leads to a
lack of sex drive.