Do Now
 Why
were the Portuguese explorers first
interested in Africa?
 What
was the Atlantic slave trade?
The Middle
Passage
Triangular Trade
 Other
European countries soon joined
Portugal and Spain in the Atlantic
slave trade
 By the mid 1600’s England, France,
and the Netherlands joined in the
slave trade
 It is estimated that British merchants
imported about 2.5million slaves to
the Americas between 1701-1800
Triangular Trade

The triangular trade was the exchange
of goods and slaves between Europe,
Africa, and the Americas

European merchants would often
exchange manufactured goods such as
guns for African slaves

The merchants would then sell the slaves
for raw materials like sugar and molasses

The merchants would then bring those
materials to Europe
Middle Passage
The Middle Passage was the part from
Africa to the Americas and it was the
most profitable part of the trade
 Most of the slaves were found on the
West African coast
 European slave traders would go to
trading posts and bought prisoners of
war and criminals sold to slavery in
return for goods such as cloth,
weapons, and beads
 Captives were chained and marched
sometimes hundreds of miles and put
on ships

Middle Passage
 The
Middle Passage could take any where
from 3 to 6 weeks
 Slave
owners would pack as many slaves
on board as possible
 One
slave ship called Brookes was
designed to hold 451 captives but was
known to carry as many as 600 slaves
Middle Passage
 Slaves
experienced horrible conditions
aboard the ships
 They
were chained together in pairs and
had no room to move
 Forced
to lie on their backs in unsanitary
conditions
 Disease
and malnutrition were common
Effects of Slave Trade on Africa
 About
10 to 12 million Africans were
shipped to the Americas
 African
communities were devastated by
the loss of their people
 African
kingdoms also became
dependent on European goods
Effect of Slave Trade on Americas
 Slavery
helped the Americas
economically
 The
slave trade spread the African culture
and traditions around the world
 African
diaspora is the scattering of
Africans
 African
diaspora led to the spread of
African culture, music, art, and religion
Exit Ticket
 What
goods were exchanged in the
triangular trade system?
 What
do you think was them most tragic
effect of the Atlantic slave trade? Explain.
Writing activity
 You
are to write a letter to the President or
members of Congress and pretend you
are a citizen at the time and ask these
officials to abolish the Atlantic slave trade.
You should cite specific reasons and
describe the horrors of such a voyage.
 It should be a well written letter with
correct grammar and should be at least
one page long.