Mercantilism and Atlantic Slave Trade

What was mercantilism?

An economic system in which European countries tried to increase their wealth and power by exporting more goods than they imported, collecting precious metals, and controlling colonies and trade.

What was the main goal of mercantilism?

To make the mother country wealthy and powerful by building up its supply of gold and silver, controlling trade, and gaining more exports than imports.

How did colonies benefit the mother country under mercantilism?

Colonies provided raw materials and valuable resources to the mother country and served as markets where the mother country could sell its manufactured goods.

What was the relationship between a mother country and its colonies?

The mother country controlled the colony's government and economy, often restricting its trade so that most economic benefits went to the mother country.

How did mercantilism create competition between European countries?

European countries competed for colonies, resources, trade routes, and wealth. They wanted to prevent rival countries from gaining economic and military advantages.

What is a tariff?

A tax placed on imported goods to make foreign products more expensive and encourage people to buy goods produced in the home country.

What were subsidies?

Financial support provided by a government to businesses or industries to help them produce goods, lower costs, and compete in trade.

What was smuggling?

The illegal movement of goods into or out of a country to avoid taxes, trade restrictions, or government controls.

Why was silver important under mercantilism?

Silver was a valuable form of wealth that European countries tried to collect through mining, trade, and colonial expansion.

What were raw materials?

Natural resources such as cotton, sugar, timber, and metals that were used to make manufactured goods.

What were Poor Laws?

British laws designed to provide limited assistance to poor people, including support for those unable to work. They also reflected the government's attempts to manage poverty and the workforce. These laws often just gave people te choice to be poor in jail or get paid almost nothing while they work very hard.

What was a mother country?

A country that controls and governs colonies, often using them as sources of raw materials, wealth, and markets for manufactured goods.

What was a merchant marine?

A country's fleet of privately owned commercial ships used to transport goods and support international trade.

What were manufactured goods?

Products made from raw materials, usually in factories or workshops. Under mercantilism, colonies were often expected to buy manufactured goods from their mother country.

What was a joint-stock company?

A business owned by multiple investors who each contributed money and shared the profits and risks. These companies helped finance expensive overseas trade and colonization.

What is an import?

A good or product brought into a country from another country.

What is an export?

A good or product sold and sent from one country to another.

What was the role of gold under mercantilism?

Gold was considered a major source of wealth and economic power. European countries tried to increase their gold reserves through trade, mining, and colonial expansion.

What was the role of monarchs in mercantilism?

Monarchs supported mercantilist policies by controlling trade, granting colonial charters, collecting taxes, and trying to increase their country's wealth and power.

What was the role of investors in mercantilism?

Investors provided money to joint-stock companies and overseas trading ventures in hopes of earning profits from trade and colonization.

What was the role of navies in mercantilism?

Navies protected merchant ships, defended trade routes, supported colonial expansion, and fought rival countries for control of trade and resources.

What was the role of pirates in mercantilist trade?

Pirates attacked merchant ships and stole valuable cargo. Some were privateers, who had government permission to attack enemy ships and weaken rival economies.

What was the Atlantic Slave Trade?

The forced transportation of millions of Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, where they were enslaved and forced to work, especially on plantations and in mines.

What was the Atlantic System?

A trade network connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas. It involved European manufactured goods, enslaved Africans, and American raw materials and crops.

How were multinational corporations connected to the Atlantic Slave Trade?

Large trading companies operated across different countries and regions, organized slave-trading voyages, controlled trading posts, and made profits from the buying and selling of enslaved Africans.

Where did the Atlantic Slave Trade originate and how did it develop?

European involvement expanded during the 1400s as Portuguese traders established coastal trading posts in West Africa. Other European powers later joined, and the trade grew into a large international system.

Which groups benefited financially from the Atlantic Slave Trade?

European merchants, shipowners, investors, trading companies, plantation owners, and governments collected profits and taxes. Some African rulers and merchants also participated and profited, although many African communities suffered from the trade.

What was the Middle Passage?

The forced voyage across the Atlantic Ocean that transported enslaved Africans from Africa to the Americas. It was part of the larger Atlantic Slave Trade.

What were conditions like during the Middle Passage?

Enslaved Africans were held in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, with limited food, water, and space. Disease, abuse, and high death rates made the journey extremely dangerous.

Why might historical accounts of the Middle Passage differ?

Accounts may differ because they were written by different people, including enslaved survivors, sailors, merchants, and ship captains. They may describe different voyages, experiences, and perspectives, and some accounts may be biased or incomplete.

What forms of resistance did enslaved Africans use during the Atlantic Slave Trade?

Enslaved people resisted through rebellions, escaping, preserving cultural traditions, slowing down work, sabotaging equipment, and refusing to cooperate with enslavers. They also sometimes refused to eat but they were usually forced to or flogged brutally in that case.

Which parts of Africa were most affected by the Atlantic Slave Trade?

West Africa and West Central Africa were especially affected, including regions around present-day Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Angola, and the Congo.

What was the French Compagnie du Sénégal?

A French chartered trading company involved in trade along the Senegal River and the West African coast. It participated in the Atlantic trading system, including the slave trade.

What was the English Royal African Company?

An English trading company established in 1672 that held a monopoly on much of England's African trade for a period. It played a major role in transporting enslaved Africans across the Atlantic.

What was the Dutch West India Company?

A Dutch chartered company founded in 1621 that controlled trade and colonial activities in parts of the Americas and West Africa. It was heavily involved in the Atlantic Slave Trade.

What was the Danish West India Company?

A Danish chartered company involved in trade and colonization in the Caribbean and West Africa. It participated in the Atlantic Slave Trade and helped support Denmark's colonial economy.

Who were the enslaved people in the Atlantic Slave Trade?

Primarily African men, women, and children who were kidnapped, sold, or captured and forcibly transported to the Americas. They were treated as property and forced to work without freedom.

What role did ships play in the Atlantic Slave Trade?

European ships transported manufactured goods to Africa, enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas, and colonial products such as sugar and tobacco to Europe.