The Atlantic Slave Trade

1. The Atlantic Slave Trade • Sugar plantations and tobacco farms required a large supply of workers • Millions of Native Americans, who were used as a cheap form of labor, died from disease and warfare • Europeans in Brazil, the Caribbean, and the southern colonies of North America turned to Africans for workers

2. The Evolution of African Slavery • Began around 1450 to meet their great demand for cheap labor • Slavery existed in Africa for many years • Minor institution • The spread of Islam into Africa ushered in an increase in slavery and the slave trade • Non-Muslim prisoners of war could be sold as slaves • As a result, between 650-1600, 4.8 million Africans, mostly prisoners of war and criminals-to the Muslim lands of Southwest Asia • Primarily domestic servants

3. Desire for Africans • In African and Muslim society slaves had some legal rights for opportunity and mobility • In Africa they could marry into the family they served • Not hereditary, sons and daughters were free • In the 1400s, Portuguese traders were interested in gold • Native Americans began dying by the million from disease, they needed new workers

4. Atlantic Slave Trade • Africans had been exposed to various European diseases and built up an immunity to them • Many Africans had experience in farming large-scale plantation work • Strangers to America, Africans had little knowledge of the land and no familiar tribes in which to hide • Less likely to escape • In time, the buying and selling of Africans for work in the Americas-known as the Atlantic Slave Trade-became a massive enterprise

5. Spain and Portugal lead the way • By the time the slave trade had ended, Europeans had imported about 9.5 million Africans to the Americas • 1511, Africans were working copper mines • Spain moved from the Caribbean to the American mainland • By 1650, nearly 300,000 Africans labored throughout Spanish America on plantations and in gold and silver mines • Portuguese surpassed the Spanish • Brazil dominated the sugar market • As the industry grew so did the demand for slaves • By the end Brazil would receive more than 3.6 million Africans • Nearly 10 times the number of Africans that would arrive in North America

6. Slavery Spreads Throughout the Americas • Other European nations established colonies in the Americas • Majority of slaves labored on sugar, tobacco, and coffee plantations in the Dutch, French, and English coloniesin the Caribbean • England’s presence grew in the Americas, came to dominate trade • Transported nearly 1.7 million Africans to their colonies in the West Indies • Once in North America, the slave population would grow, by 1830, to nearly 2 million

7. African Cooperation and Resistance • African rulers and merchants played a willing role • Saw little difference in selling them to Westerners • Merchants on the coasts would capture them to exchange for gold, guns and other goods • As the slave trade grew, some African rulers would voice their opposition to the practice • Realized the devastating effect on African societies • African merchants developed new trade routes to avoid rulers who refused to cooperate

8. A Forced Journey • Africans transported to the Americas were part of a transatlantic trading network known as the triangular trade • Transported manufactured goods to the west coast of Africa • Africans were transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the West Indies and sold for sugar, coffee, and tobacco • Took back to Europe and sold

9. The Triangular Trade • Another trade route • Merchants carried rum and other goods from the New England colonies to Africa • Exchanged merchandise for Africans • Then, transported the Africans to the West Indies and sold them for sugar and molasses • Sold these goods to rum producers in New England

10. The Middle Passage • The voyage that brought captured Africans to the West Indies and later to North and South America was known as the middle passage • It was considered the middle leg of the transatlantic trade triangle • Africans were packed into large dark ships • Whipped and beaten by merchants • Often lived in their own vomit and waste • 20% of Africans died during the voyage

11. Slavery in the Americas • Many slaves embraced their African culture, while others rebelled against their enslavers • Auctioned off • Worked in fields or as domestic servants • Lived on little food in small huts • Usually lifelong and hereditary • To cope with horrors, Africans developed a way of life based strongly on their cultural heritage

12. Resistance and Rebellion • Kept alive musical traditions and stories of their ancestors • Made themselves less productive to hurt owner’s profit • Would run away or revolt • Revolts in Brazil, West Indies, and North America • Revolts were put down, those who survived were killed • Uprisings continued until the 1800s

13. Consequences of the Atlantic Slave Trade • Africa: numerous cultures lost generations of their fittest members, families were torn apart and never reunited, introduced guns to the continent • African chiefs would trade potential slaves for guns, which helped to spread war and conflict throughout Africa • Contributed to the economic and cultural development of the Americas: their labor and expertise in agriculture, and art, music, and food • Population: substantial African-American population and mixed-race populations