7.5 Transatlantic Slave Trade

Atlantic World

The system of connections linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas through trade, colonization, migration, and slavery.

Cash Crop

A crop grown mainly to be sold for profit rather than used for local consumption.

Chattel Slavery

A form of slavery in which people are legally treated as property that can be bought, sold, and owned for life.

Middle Passage

The brutal Atlantic voyage in which enslaved Africans were transported from Africa to the Americas.

Plantation

A large farm that grows crops for sale, usually with a large labor force.

Portuguese Sugar Plantations

Early plantation systems developed by the Portuguese, especially on Atlantic islands and in Brazil, relied on enslaved African labor to produce sugar.

Resistance

The many ways enslaved people fought back against slavery, including rebellion, escape, sabotage, and preserving culture.

Transatlantic Slave Trade

The forced movement of millions of Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas to work as enslaved laborers.

Triangular Trade

The trade network connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas through the exchange of goods, enslaved people, and raw materials.