Transatlantic Slave Trade Research Paper

The conditions on the Middle Passage were horrible. The space allotted to each slave was often too small to move the shoulders and the neck and legs were chained down. Many slaves died on the voyage and never made it out of the hull of the slave ships.

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.

One of the most horrendous acts to have occurred throughout history is the Atlantic Slave Trade, starting in the early 17th century and not ending until the late 19th century. One of the reasons that this forced migration ha such a lasting impact is due to the fact that the new world, where these slaves were being sent to, had never before been colonized by the Europeans. This meant that only the native populations cultures were in place in both North America and South America, along with the Caribbean islands. As the Western European peoples colonized the territories, alongside the slaves that worked the plantations there, a new culture never before seen began to emerge. It was during this time that the diaspora of these African people created new prosperity and a blending of the two cultures of the old world and Africa to produce a new lifestyle in the Americas unlike anything henceforth seen in history.

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 transatlantic slave trade began in the 15th century, after the Portuguese started exploring the coast of West Africa. This had a long term effect on Africa because even though it started out benefiting the upper class in Africa, the long term effect was devastating. When Europeans started to enter Africa, they enjoyed “the triple advantage of guns and other technology, widespread literacy, and the political organization necessary to sustain expensive programs of exploration and conquest”(Doc 4). Africa’s relations with Europe depended on common interests, which Europe did not share. Europe’s contact with Africa, involving economic exchanges and political relationships, was not mutually beneficial.

To really show the horrendous conditions that the slaves endured, the author includes a 1787 replication drawing of the slave ship Brooks. Built in 1781 with a lower deck intended to accommodate 294 slaves, giving each slave a space comparable to the size of a coffin. Adult males were allocated a space six feet long and fifteen inches wide and allowing even less space for adult women, boys, and girls. The height of the same area was just five feet, and did not include any toilet facilities for the slaves. In most cases, the captains would load double the number of slaves their ships were designed for leading to even worse conditions onboard with more mouths to feed but not enough provisions to compensate. Those slaves who died during the journey through the Middle Passage were simply thrown overboard, where their bodies were eaten by ravenous sharks.

The two majors drivers that led to the transatlantic slave trade was the European desire for the agricultural products of the Americas and the need for laborers to work the land in the Americas. All participants, besides for the slaves, benefited from the trading.

The changes in African life during the slave trade era form an important element in the economic and technological development of Africa. Although the Atlantic slave trade had a negative effect on both the economy and technology, it is important to understand that slavery was not a new concept to Africa. In fact, internal slavery existed in Africa for many years. Slaves included war captives, the kidnapped, adulterers, and other criminals and outcasts. However, the number of persons held in slavery in Africa, was very small, since no economic or social system had developed for exploiting them (Manning 97). The new system-Atlantic slave trade-became quite different from the early African slavery. The

The transatlantic slave trade first began in 1502, with records of the first slaves in the New World, lasting nearly four centuries. It connected the economies of three continents. The route began in West Europe, where it continued to Africa, trading manufactured goods such as rum, textiles, weapons, and gunpowder for slaves. From Africa, the ship went along the Atlantic to America, distributing slaves, and bringing agricultural products such as coffee, cotton, rice, and sugar back to Europe. The entire route typically lasted eighteen months. The slave trade ended in 1867, seventeen years after Britain began arresting slave ships.

Not only was Transatlantic Slavery of demographic significance, in the aggregate population losses but also in the profound changes to settlement patterns, epidemiological exposure and reproductive and social development potential. The attack on African history manifests in blame reassignment, normalizing (everyone had slavery), and statistical downsizing. In terms of how this had affected the cultural stand point, Africans became Black or Negro once enslaved. This was the first indentity cloth to be stripped from enslaved Africans in America, this process was critical in disconnecting any notion of having a Motherland.

Millions of lives were forever changed by the Atlantic Slave trade. Some were affected positively, in the case of slavers and wealthy slave owners. Others, the men, women, and children captured and sold into slavery were affected in an overwhelmingly negative way. Slavery was perceived and experienced in two distinctly different ways by Africans and Europeans.

Slavery in America caused African families to live under brutal living condition and living under another power. In America, an African family has live under vastly different circumstance. They are forced into slavery that destroyed their national origin and religion that couldn’t be replicated in the New World. The slave trade was responsible for breaking up African families and occurred more problems in their life. African slave’s life, they are not legally married between men and women. They had no right to live or stay together, no right to have own children, and slave parents and children will be separate. Parents could not protect their children from the will of the master, who could separate them at any time. Form Countries Quest, “About

With the advancements in technology and the invention of the sailboat, exploration gave way to the “discovery” of America. Crop production grew and soon after colonists began importation and deportation of goods. Because production was so great, the demand for laborers was even greater. Although a form of slavery existed in Africa prior to the Atlantic Slave Trade, the trade gave way to the dehumanization of African-Americans. Enslaved Africans were stripped from their land, brought over to the New World, and then sold off like cattle led to the slaughter. Slavery lasted for almost a century, however the effects are still seen in the African American community today. Slavery started in the mind and then presented itself in the physical form. Slaves were made to believe they were less than human and that they needed someone to rule over them. Without the slave trade the New World would not have grown to the America it is

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

The slave trade impacted America and the future of the world completely. It killed millions of people and the wars also caused damage to the land. Africans were kidnapped out of their homes and took after wars if they lost. It caused a major drop in population and many people were homeless and starving or hiding from the people who want them as slaves. They were bringing the slaves to America to work for the plantation owners and selling them for money.