African Slave Trade
• Southwest Asia – used slaves as domestic
servants
• Existed in European countries
• Late 1400’s – 1,000 slaves taken to Portugal
per year
Discovery of the Americas
• Increased slave trade
• Sugarcane plantations
• Natives died from European diseases
• Slaves were shipped from Africa
• Owners didn’t encourage reproduction,
thought to be cheaper to buy slaves than raise
them
Growth of the Slave Trade
• 1518- 1st time a ship carried slaves directly
from Africa to the Americas
• Triangular Trade- connected Europe, Africa,
and the Americas
Europeans- guns, cloth, rum, etc. in exchange for
slaves. Then sold slaves in Americas
Europeans- bought tobacco, molasses, sugar,
raw cotton and took back to Europe
Question
Which part of Africa do you think was the
greatest source of slaves?
Why?
Slave Trade
• As many as 10,000,000 slaves were brought
to the Americas
• Middle Passage- brought a high death toll
Middle portion of triangular trade route
• Most slaves were prisoners of war
• Many local slave traders from Africa
Slave Ship
From looking at these pictures, what
conclusions can you draw about the
conditions that slaves endured
during their voyage to the
Americas?
Effects of the Slave Trade
• Cost the lives of many victims and families
• Depopulated some areas- deprived
communities of youngest/strongest men &
women
• Many areas in Africa became corrupted by the
slave trade- increased warfare