The Atlantic Slave Trade PDF

The A tl a n ti c Slave Trade 1 , I "' -...

The A tl a n ti c Slave Trade 1 , I "' - / 1 t\ I Atlantic De sce nda nts of ens lav ed CULTURAL INTERACTION To Africans rep res ent a signifi cant slave trade nee ds, me et the ir grovving lab or part of the Americas' pop tioula n triangular mil lion s of Eu rop ean s ens lav ed today. trad e Africans in the Am eric as. d a large Pia."". E ST AG E Su gar pla n~ tio ns and to~acco fanns require SETTING TH ners. European owners (l)C:; them profitable for their ow supply of workers to make or. But millions of enr,.-; d to use Na tive Am eri cans as a source of cheap lab olc;:·: had pla nne refore, can s die d fro m dis eas e, wa rfare, and brutal treatment. The Native Ameri colonies of North kin{;;, Caribbean, and the southern the Europeans in Brazil, the ap labor resulted Jarr-c:i· ca soo n tur ned to Af ric a for workers. This demand for che (RVi)r , Ameri [::: trade. in the brutalities of the slave Clv&oc:t cott·'.! avery The Causes of African Sl sts in the Americas who needed cheap oni to ts.: 150 0, Eu rop ean col Beginning around ms. Difg! cs ilf.tl!ifflf''"'! Use the graphic organizer lab or Slaver beg y an in usi Afr ng ica ens Sla lav ver ed y Af had ricans on plantations and far existed in Africa for centuries. In most regions, during the ingf:et ely mi nor ins titu tio n. Th e spread of Islam into Africa online to take notes on it was a relativ y and the slave trade. the effects of the slave tur y, how eve r, ush ered in an increase in slaver sev ent h cen belief that non· trade. rul ers in Af ric a jus tifi ed enslavement with the Muslim Muslim. As a result, betwe_en ld be bought and sol d as slaves Muslim prisoners of war cou ricans to the Muslun 0 and I 60 0, Mu slim s tra nsported about 17 million Af 65 uthwest Asia. lands of North Africa and So al rights and an societies, slaves had some leg occr In mo st African and Muslim slaves even In the Muslim world, a few ls in the ~~~d~ rtu nit y for soc ial mo bil ity. op po power. Some served as genera pied positions of influence and ero us ways, inc ld escape their bondage in num African societies, slaves cou th int o the fam ily the y ser ved. wer e e ing ma rry ing exp lor e Afr i ca. rest ed The first Europeans to The Demand for Africans Po rtu guese traders were.th more mte10 _;.,8"'- g the 140 0s. Ini tially, the co IJ..'""' Portuguese durin. Th at cha nged WJ cap tur ed Af ric ans in trading for gold than for began dying by the million s.. t rnaIIY eri cas , as nat ive peo ple s as f JTS ',....rr111· tion of the Am · usm · g Afri cans m · the Americ ·som e u,,.... 1 d van tag es m.I Europeans saw a and ~ad bUJ t up id be taug11 had bee n exp o~e d to Eu ropean diseas_es Africans and co ; theY did not had experien~e m farmmg nity. Second, many_ Af ric ~s becaus 1·t easier to ans were less likely to escape plantation work. Third, Afric color made new land. Fourth, their skin know the ir way around the tried to live among others. catch them if they escaped and I 32 Chapter 4 ;- ,.....,;-~···. ~.,~-~ - -. 1n time, the buying and selling of Africans for work in the Americas-known as the Atlantic slave trad~became a massive enterprise. Between 1500 and 1600, nearly 300,000 Africans were transported to the Americas. During the next century, that num- ber climbed to almost 1.3 million. By the time the Atlantic slave trade ended around ·111 f110lives J 870, Europeans had imported about 9.5 million Africans to the Americas. ~ VJhal advan· did Europeans Spain and Portugal Lead the Way The Spanish took an early lead in importing ~enslaving Africans to the Americas. Spain moved on from the Caribbean and began to colo- Africans? nize the American mainland. As a result, the Spanish imported and enslaved thou- sv,er Slaves sands more Africans. By 1650, nearly 300,000 Africans labored throughout A.AIi tiadbu1·1t up. ni~' to rnanv Spanish America on plantations and in gold and silver mines. 11f111lU es they were By this time, however, the Portuguese had surpassed the Spanish in the impor- d1sea~e;ced in farm· tation of Africans to the Americas. During the 1600s, Brazil dominated the ~hey were in an ing. environment European sugar market. As the colony's sugar industry grew, so too did European alien d thern less colonists' demand for cheap labor. During the 17th century, more than 40 that ma e percent like~ to escape. of all Africans brought to the Americas went to Brazil. Slavery Spreads Throughout the Americas As the other European nations established colonies in the Americas, their demand for cheap labor grew. Thus, they also began to import large numbers of Africans. England Dominates the Slave Trade As England's presence in the Americas grew, it came to dominate the Atlantic slave trade. From 1690 until England abolished the slave trade in 1807, it was the leading carrier of enslaved Africans. By the time the slave trade ended, the English had transported nearly 1. 7 million Africans to their colonies in the West Indies. African slaves were also brought to what is now the United States. In all, nearly 400,000 Africans were sold to Britain's North American colonies. Once in North America, however, the slave population steadily grew. By 1830, roughly 2 million slaves toiled in the United States. History Depth l Slavery Slavery probably began with the I development of farming about 10,000 years ago. Farmers used prisoners of war to work for them. I Slavery has existed in societies around the world. People were I ensla~ed in civilizations from Egypt t~ China to India. The picture at the nght shows slaves working in a Roman coal mine. Race was not always a factor in 51 ~ery. Often, slaves were captured ~:oners of war, or people of a ~rent nationality or religion. owever, the slavery that developed. th. based la in e Americas was vi rge1Y on race. Europeans in7'e~d black people as naturally nor. Bee.. the Arn. ause of this' slavery in encas was hereditary. The A tlantic World 133  -- ww· c·een:c:::B!!lnt't':D!WV!ft~wONl L au African Cooperation and Resistance Many African rulers and rnerchan1g played a willing role in the Atlantic slave trade. Most E_uropea~ traders, rather than travel inland, waited in ports along th~ coasts of Africa. African rnerchants with the help of local rulers, captured Africans to be enslaved. They then deliv~ ered them to the Europeans in exchange for go!~ guns, ~nd oth~r- goods. _.., As the slave trade grew, some African rulers voiced th e~r opposition to the p tice. Nonetheless, the slave trade st~adily grew. Lured by its profits, many Afri':;~ rulers continued to participate. African merchants developed new trade routes to avoid rulers who refused to cooperate. A Forced Journey After being captured, African men and women were shipped to the Americ. part of a profitable trade network. Along the way, mt·11·tons of Africans died. as as The Triangular Trade Africans transported to the Americas were part of a tran lantic trading network known as the trianplar tradt. Over one trade rout sat. Europeans transported manufactured goods to the west coast of Africa. There, traders exchanged these goods for captured Africans. The Africans were then trane, S- ported across the Atlantic and sold in the West Indies. Merchants bought sugar, cof. fee, and tobacco in the West Indies and sailed to Europe with these products. On another triangular route, merchants carried rwn and other goods from the New England colonies to Africa. There they exchanged their merchandise for Africans. The traders transported the Africans to the West Indies and sold them for sugar and molasses. They then sold these goods to rum producers in New England. 40'-N 40% Caribbean lsl1nds - (Dutch, French, British) 4% British North AmericJ - 2% Europe. Asi.l 16% Spanish Ameria and Spanish Caribbe1n PA CIFIC OCEAN 38% Portuguese Bruil IJ< Equator - Primary slave tr1de routes 1 JNDJA fiOC._ Other trade routes Tropic of Capucorn GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER:....___.. 1 1. Movement What items were tra~;-r---. ~ps Africans' ported to Africa and traded fi ·. or captured 2. Resion According to the graph ~h.ch st Afri 7 1 region of the rvrrericas _._ imported th mo cans Which imported th e second most? e 134 Chapter 4 N: ENGLISH LEARNERS North America is the numb of the total slaves transport:~ r;resented by 4 percent :lantic column represents a Partic-i,i,.: ~· en Point out th,... _ _.  primary sources f the Middle Passage This diagram of a O e t1orrors E uiano, recalled the inhumane British slave ship f1I.i.;can, 01aud~h f qm west Africa to the West Indies at shows how slave c,oe ~·. on his trip ro traders packed r,ditJOOS ~., in 1762, Africans onto ,ge 1~ slave ships in the ~ - v souRCE ,:°;',~AR hold below decks t,:..· doWfl under the decks, and there I for the brutal __,s saon put lutation [greeting] in my nostrils middle passage. 1..,...jve