Transatlantic Slave Trade (TAST) Vocabulary

Middle Passage

The middle leg of the triangular trade where enslaved Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic to the Americas.

Asiento

A contract/monopoly granted by the Spanish government to other nations (like Britain) to sell enslaved Africans to Spanish colonies.

The Brookes

"A notorious British slave ship; its diagrams showed how ""tight packing"" was used to maximize ""cargo."""

Tight Packers

"Slavers who crowded as many people as possible into the hold

Olaudah Equiano

A formerly enslaved man (also known as Gustavus Vassa) who wrote a famous autobiography detailing the horrors of the Middle Passage.

Alexander Falconbridge

"A ship’s surgeon who became an abolitionist and wrote about the brutal

Doldrums

"A belt of calms and light fluctuating winds near the equator where slave ships often got stuck for weeks

Indentured Servitude

"A contract where a person works for a set period (usually 4–7 years) in exchange for passage or debt; in Africa

The Zong Case

"A 1781 incident where 132 enslaved people were thrown overboard to claim insurance money

Maroon

"A runaway enslaved person who escaped to form independent

Queen Ana Nzinga

Ruler of Ndongo and Matamba who fought Portuguese colonialism through savvy diplomacy and military resistance.