The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

1. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

2. 1. Analyze the pictures below. For each picture, describe what you see, including as many specific details as you can. What do you think was the original purpose of these images?

3. Triangular Trade: a historical term indicatingtradeamong three regions, specifically, Africa, Europe and the Americas. 2. Write the definition for triangular trade (above) in your notes. 3. List several of the resources each continent traded with one another.

4. What caused the Triangular Trade? • Define natural resources in your notes. • Africa had resources that could be traded with other nations, such as gold and silver, but they were lacking manufactured goods that England and the New World could provide. This created a trading system between the three continents.

5. What caused the Triangular Trade? • Pretty soon, European countries such as Great Britain, Portugal, France and the Netherlands began establishing permanent colonies in Africa as well as the New World. • This gave Europeans access to natural resources that created great wealth…

6. …however, while the European countries were becoming more and more wealthy, Africa was being stripped of resources – human resources.

7. What caused the Transatlantic Slave Trade? • There was an incredible need for strong laborers to help build and pioneer this new land. • Also, there was a need for plantation workers so that additional natural resources (such as sugar, molasses, and tobacco) could be traded with Europe.

8. The Transatlantic Slave Trade • The need for labor created the beginning of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, where millions of Africans were sold by African tribes or captured into slavery and sold for a massive profit. • Slaves could be bought for $20 and sold in the Americas for up to $120 dollars. • Eventually, the demand for labor was so strong Europeans no longer traded manufactured goods for slaves, but began capturing Africans against the will of the African people.

9. Transatlantic Slave TradeEuropean nations would capture or trade manufactured goods for African people and sell them in the New World for profit.

10. Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade • Slavery was not new to Africa. Various kingdoms would force people into labor. • However, the number of slaves skyrocketed when Europe began exploiting Africa. • Nearly 12 million people were sold into slavery. http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=7F138E7E-5E26-430D-9BAB-478C16F64B0F&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US#

11. Stops Along the Transatlantic Slave Trade Stop 1: West African Villages 5. What emotions do you see in these pictures? 6. How can you tell some men are supervisors? 7. Why are these supervisors not white? 8. In conclusion, what do you believe is happening in these pictures?

12. Stops Along the Transatlantic Slave Trade Stop 1: West African Villages

13. Stops Along the Transatlantic Slave Trade Stop 2: Trading Post/Cape Coast Castle

14. Stops Along the Transatlantic Slave Trade Stop 2: Trading Post/Cape Coast Castle Europeans set up trading posts to trade manufactured goods for the natural resources of Africa. The one pictured above was located in Ghana and called the Cape Coast Castle. Eventually, these sites became places to house thousands of slaves who awaited their dreaded journey to the new world. Around 1000 male slaves and 500 female slaves occupied the castle at any one time in separate dungeons. Each slave would be locked up for 6-12 weeks, waiting for their turn to board one of the ships. The dungeons must have been unbearable with hundreds of slaves crammed in together and no toilet facilities. The picture above (to the left) is a picture of “The Cave of No Return” where slaves would exit the trading post and board their ships.

15. Stops Along the Transatlantic Slave Trade Stop 2: Trading Post/Cape Coast Castle 9. What was your first impression of the Cape Coast Castle? 10. Why is this trading post located on the coast? 11. How can you tell this trading post was built by Europeans? 12. At this point in the journey, what would you be feeling if you were one of the captured slaves?

16. Stops Along the Transatlantic Slave Trade Stop 3: Middle Passage The Middle Passage was the journey from Africa to the Americas. Ship captains were known as “tight packers” or “loose packers” depending on how many people they were willing to fit on a ship. Most ships held 400, but it was not unusual to have 600-700 people per ship. People were treated as cargo. The trip would take nearly 50-90 days. Due to their packed conditions, Africans would have to lie in each other’s sweat, urine, feces, and blood. The heat was unbearable and un-breathable. Many people would refuse to eat; some even committed suicide. The ship’s crew would brutally force the slaves to eat so that they would not die, because if someone died they could not be sold for profit. The slaves would often be beaten with a device called a cat-o-nine-tails, which would leave horrible wounds on the slaves.

17. Stops Along the Transatlantic Slave Trade Stop 3: Middle Passage This diagram shows how slaves would be transported aboard a ship.

18. Stops Along the Transatlantic Slave Trade Stop 3: Middle Passage Slaves were treated as cargo, and packed as tightly as possible onto the ship to maximize potential profits.

19. Stops Along the Transatlantic Slave Trade Stop 3: Middle Passage This photograph from the 19th century shows the scars of a slave who had been severely beaten with a whip.

20. Stops Along the Transatlantic Slave Trade Stop 3: Middle Passage 13. What was your first impression of the Middle Passage? 14. Why were slaves beaten during the Middle Passage? 15. With that many people in such a small area, what types of problems do you think occurred? 16. If you were on the Middle Passage, how would you cope with the conditions?

21. Stops Along the Transatlantic Slave Trade Stop 4: The Slave Auction

22. Stops Along the Transatlantic Slave Trade Stop 4: 17. What are these images communicating? / What is the purpose of these images? 18. Where would these images be found? 19. Note the color of the man by the stage in the picture above. How could he have gotten a job at a slave auction? 20. What was the purpose of the Transatlantic Slave Trade?

23. Effects of the Transatlantic Slave Trade • 10-16 million African people were sold into slavery, leaving a significant portion of African without its strongest men. • Families were torn apart. • European colonies thrived and became extremely wealthy while Africans were exploited and lost great wealth.

24. Effects of the Transatlantic Slave Trade • The southern colonies (later US states) became economically reliant on slavery. • Ironically, the American ideals of liberty and equality were born from a culture that believed in and relied upon a system of slavery that was based on race. • Tensions over slavery would plague the colonies and new United States of America from the time of its inception until the American Civil War in the 1860s. • Racial tensions between European Americans and African Americans remains a prevalent issue in modern American culture.