APUSH 2.4 Transatlantic Trade

Human Trade

The Transatlantic Slave Trade lasted for approximately 400 years; the 16th to 19th centuries
One particular group was singled out: Africans
It was intellectualized by the creation of the false idea that Black inferiority justified slavery
The Portuguese started the practice of enslaving Africans as early as 1481
- They did not officially stop until 1869
Dutch trading began in 1612 and ended in 1872
The British entered the trade in 1640
- The American colonies under British rule began in 1619
Traders would initially capture young men from warring clans or those who were already enslaved from previous wars
- A caboceer would keep watch over the captives for a few months as they were taken tot he caves, the baracoons
- The captures were forced to live in these cave-like dwellings until the slave ships set sail on the Transatlantic Voyage

Ships left Western Europe for the African coast
- Goods were loaded to exchange for enslaved people
Arriving in Africa, captains traded goods for the enslaved people
- Weapons, gun power, textiles, pearls, and rum were highly sought after
- Exchange could take weeks or a few months
The ships, loaded with people in abhorrent conditions, crossed the Atlantic to America
- The famous diagram depicting how closely enslaved people were kept was actually a mandate instructing better conditions for the slaves
- This means the amount of space was even smaller when the trade began
Slave traders brought agricultural products produced by enslaved people such as sugar, cotton, coffee, tobacco, and rice back to Europe for the process to begin again
The Middle Passage was the most treacherous part of the voyage
- It took about 2 months to get from Africa to the Americas
- A fourth of the enslaved people were expected to die on the trip

Rough estimates are 20 to 30 million people were forcibly taken from their homes and sold into slavery
Approximately 12 million of those Africans were brought to the Americas
Many would die during the voyage, chained to each other, surrounded by waste and bodies in low light with very little ventilation

Some would try to jump overboard to get back to their homeland
The Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, British, and French had major trading companies in competition

At the time the United States were formed, the Constitution made provisions to continue to engage in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
- There are three provisions for the continuation of the sale and labor of enslaved Africans

By the 19th century, roughly 1/3 of the global Black population lived in the South
Plantation owners usually had no more than 50 slaves
- Around one fifth of the wealthiest owners would have more than 50 enslaved people
Slave Codes, or Code Noir, were enacted to control the enslaved population
- The codes included but were not limited to: Forbidding literacy, forbidding “legalized” marriages, restricting movement (as in migration)

Prior to the triangular trade, Africa had intra-continental slavery
- It was never a benign institution
Enslaved Africans were used in a wider variety of ways than in the New World where they were considered chattel
Enslaved Africans Africans were used as agricultural workers, soldiers, servants, and, at times, officials of state
The Angolan coast supplied nearly half of the enslaved people who were sent to the Americas
The Atlantic Slave Trade carried about two or three men for every woman
The Slave Trade reduced the adult male population by about 20%, dramatically altering the ratio of working adults to dependents and of adult men to adult women
About 14% of enslaved people sent to the New World were children under 14, 56% were adult males, and 30% were adult women