Middle Passage Dbq

The “Middle Passage” as it is called was a huge part in shaping the history of the Americas. In the time of European Colonization the want to for more land, power, and goods was at an all time high and many

One of the most interesting arguments that modern apologists makes for the practice of race-based slavery in the Americas is the fact that slavery existed in Africa during that time period and that Africans were complicit in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. What is fascinating about Olaudah Equiano's discussion of the Middle Passage is that, as a man who had been enslaved in Africa prior to being shipped as a slave to the Americas, he was in a unique position to describe slavery in Africa with his introduction to European-influenced slavery in North America. His perception was that the immense brutality of the Middle Passage foreshadowed the dehumanization of slaves in the Americas, which was more inhumane than the treatment he had received as a slave while in Africa. Furthermore, he did not suggest that this brutality was linked to the race of the traders, though that seemed to have been his initial impression, but to the nature of the Trans-Atlantic trade. Therefore, Equiano's writings suggest that shipping Africans across the ocean for slavery was part of the dehumanizing process that helped fuel the practice of slavery in America.

Everyone has their own understanding of what slavery is, but there are misconceptions about the history of “slavery”. Not many people understand how the slave trade initially began. Originally Africa had “slaves” but they were servants or serfs, sometimes these people could be part of the master’s family. They could own land, rise to positions of power, and even purchase their freedom. This changed when white captains came to Africa and offered weapons, rum, and manufactured goods for people. African kings and merchants gave away the criminals, debtors, and prisoner from rival tribes. The demand for cheap labor was increasing, this resulted in the forced migration of over ten million slaves. The Atlantic Slave Trade occurred from 1500 to 1880 CE. This large-scale event changed the economy and histories of many places. The Atlantic Slave Trade held a great amount of significance in the development of America. Africans shaped America by building a solid foundation for the country.

It is shocking how little humanitarian concern was raised for the slaves, especially with these tight quarters. Slave lives were devalued even more, when sailors were forced to throw living Africans overboard to stop the vigorous spreading of diseases, as shown in the image in Document 4. This image along with Document 5 shows how cruel slaves were treated, and clearly represent the point of view of someone who felt sympathy for the African slaves. The Middle Passage ships restricted slaves to remain motionless for several weeks of

The Middle Passage was a triangular route that was frequently used by many European nations who engaged in the Atlantic slave trade of millions of Africans. One such African slave was a man by the name of Olaudah Equiano, who 's autobiography spoke of the mortality rate on slave ships, what he and his fellow slaves thought of their European captors, and what their captors thought of them.

3. Of course it would be rendered useless because he lied about experiencing the Middle Passage. It’s like a slap in the face to the people that actually had experienced it.

The “Triangular Trade” was the trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. They traded crops, goods, and slaves. The transportation of slaves from Africa to the New World is what has been labeled as the “Middle Passage.” Many accounts have been documented about this transportation, in the eyes of historians, crew members of the actual ships, and even slaves who went through this voyage themselves. All of them have a different way of describing how the Middle Passage was truly experienced. However, when looking at them in a general sense, a very clear conclusion can be made: slaves were kept in a horrific environment, which often affected the crew on board, but the only reason the slaves were kept alive was because the white crews saw them as monetary beings rather than human beings.

The New World in the seventeenth century presented itself in different ways to differing groups of people as portrayed in the accounts written by Olaudah Equiano in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, John Smith in The General History of Virginia, and William Bradford in Of Plymouth Plantation. Olaudah Equiano is a slave through the Middle Passage as a child and spends ten years of his life being traded from owner to owner in Barbados. John Smith is one of the men to lead the first set of colonists to the New World and to establish the first settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. William Bradford is one of the leaders of the Pilgrim colony aboard the Mayflower who settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Each man experiences his own form of fear upon board the ship that will take him to the New World as the anticipation of seeing what the future holds grows. Aboard each ship and in each settlement, conditions worsen as food supplies run low and the chance for illness increases. Dehumanization also occurs in each passage to a group of people who those from a richer, European background deem as a threat to an orderly community or as lesser in quality. As written by Olaudah Equiano, John Smith, and William Bradford, journeying to a new land is a petrifying experience when the level of supplies decreases, the chance of illness increases, and the respect for outside groups decreases.

Throughout the passage many of the Africans go through a developmental situation which goes onto a very physical and mental note to develop defense mechanisms for survival. Some of the most difficult and most used mechanisms of defense that the Africans were put through was the act of starvation, being a hard-working slave, that was treated terribly and had no breaks, and the living environments and environment exposure. Documents A, B, D, F and G will help further explain the hardships African slaves faced, and how the Africans handled the hardships that they faced throughout.

The introduction of international trade throughout the continent provided the Americas with goods once thought unattainable. Different trade routes began to stem from the original triangle route. All of these routes had one goal; to transport the goods in high demand in the most time and cost efficient way. The different branches were trading systems between the America’s, Europe, and Africa. Through these routes, captains traded goods and services such as slaves, sugar, tobacco, cotton, textiles, and many other manufactured goods. One history changing route was the Middle Passage. The course of this route was used to transport kidnapped Africans so they could be enslaved in the Americas. Within a three hundred year period, it is

The Middle Passage was part of the triangular trade that existed between America, Europe, and Africa. It was an extremely harsh boat ride in which slaves from Africa were brought to the West Indies. The Africans were tightly packed

Of all the horrid and cruel events in history that changed the course of the world, the Middle Passage was the worst, both for those who experienced it and their descendants. This journey, between the African continent and the Americas, killed 2 million Africans either due to disease, starvation, suicide, or revolt. In its own way, the Middle Passage was murder for the 12-60 million Africans, who were either captured or sold into slavery, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Of course, for the nations who profited from the horror of the slaves, there was nothing wrong with the process, and the Africans should be happy that they were “rescued” from their drab and unprofitable lives. However, those who took the long and hard journey of

The history of America is encompassed with several instances of violence, wars, and gruesome practices. One of the biggest events of the slave trade during American history was the Middle Passage. It took place between the continents of Europe, Africa, and the Americas from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth centuries. The first part of the voyage carried cargo from Europe to the African coast, where the goods were exchanged for African captives. In the second phase of the trade, Africans were traded for European goods. During this time, the slaves were packed like cargo into the carriages of sailboats and lived in repugnant conditions. The voyages lasted for several months and had severe effects on those onboard the ships.

Equiano is extremely vivid throughout his descriptions. He makes sure to communicate how horrendous everything was from the violence, to the smell. He says that he believes that he was “swept away” through these experiences he encountered. He describes how bad the black people were being treated by the whites, and also how bad some whites were being treated. He make sure to appeal to the readers who are white in such a way that it would negatively affect them. Equiano describes how families were being separated and how many women were left behind. The way he describes the Middle Passage it seems to be the worst place ever. In my mind that would be Hell. The conditions were so horrendous and there was obviously no way out, people wished to die

The trade of Africans was part of Triangular trade, from Europe to Africa, Africa to the Americas, and the Americas back to Europe. The journey from Africa across the Atlantic was known as the Middle Passage. For many months, enslaved Africans were treated terribly on the voyage. Slaves were packed on top of each other into the bottom of the ship. African men wore iron chains around their wrists and legs and had little room to move. The chains and cuffs prevented revolts and escapes. Revolting slaves would be shot or drowned. Women and children were sometimes