The Slave Trade &
The Age of Exploration
The Slave Trade & The Age of
Exploration
Key Terms
• Age of Exploration
• Columbus
• Bartolomeu Dias
• Consumer Culture
• Vasco De Gama
• Triangular Trade
• Ferdinand Magellan
• Exonerate
• Columbian Exchange
What was the Age of Exploration?
• A time period when Europeans began to
explore the rest of the world.
• Blue water sailing, not just coastal boats.
The Explorers
Bartolomeu Dias
• Sailed around Cape
of Good Hope at
southern tip of
Africa.
Vasco da Gama
• Landed in India in
1498.
• Important trade
route from Europe to
India and East
Indies.
Ferdinand Magellan
• His crew made first
round-the-world
voyage.
•
Magellan was killed in the
Phillippines, did not make it home.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
• Believed a shorter route to
Asia could be found by
sailing westward instead of
around Africa.
• Found the Americas
instead. Oops.
What does this have to do with Slavery?
Dias
Columbus
History of African Slavery
• Slavery has existed in Africa for thousands of years
• African Law did not recognize land ownership
– Therefore, wealth and power in Africa came not from owning land,
but by controlling the human labor that made land productive
– In Africa, Slaves were a form of investment and a sign of wealth
• After Europeans started showing up on shore, coastal
tribes / kingdoms traded slaves with European traders
• Demand for slaves exploded
Why did “The New World” need
slaves?
Consumer Culture
• How could a cup of
tea destroy a
continent?
•
•
•
•
Sugar
Tobacco
Cotton
Coffee
Consumer culture - a culture where social *Not needed for survival
status, values, and activities are centered
on the consumption of goods and services
The Slave Trade
• Europeans began to use slave labor in
their colonies to grow crops, mine, etc.
• Native Americans used for a while, but
Africans began to be brought to the
Americas.
• The slave trade then became the main
focus of Europe’s relations with Africa.
What was the Triangular Trade?
• System of trade between Europe, Africa,
and the Americas.
• Stage 1: Raw materials to Europe
(tobacco, rum, sugar)
• Stage 2: Manufactured goods to Africa
(guns, cloth, rum)
• Stage 3: Slaves to the Americas to make
raw materials.
The Triangular
Trade
Impact of the Slave Trade on Africa
• Simply put… Devastating!
• Social Organization Destroyed
– Imbalance of the sexes: 2/3 women
– Relationships between tribes/kingdoms destroyed
– Africans left cities for fear of being enslaved
• Continent seen as ONLY a source of labor
– Little exchange of ideas
– African economy stunted
• Influx of Guns
– Tribal War changed…
Discussion
• The concept of “Africans enslaving
Africans” has been a hot topic in history for
the last ten years. Why might this be?
– Does this fact exonerate the European slave
traders? The Founding Fathers?
Exonerate – to make free from blame or guilt
Slave Trade Video
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnV_MTFEGIY
Columbian
Exchange
• Definition - widespread exchange of animals,
plants, culture, human populations (including
slaves), disease, and ideas between the Old World
and the New World following Columbus’s voyage.
Why could this Not have existed
before the Columbian Exchange?
1
Slave Trade Video Notes
• Approximately ________ million Africans were forcibly moved
to the Americas.
• About ______ percent of slaves died during the journey to the
Americas.
2
3
• Most slaves went to the _______________ and
______________ America. Only ____ were forcibly moved to
North America.
• Slavery a byproduct of the beginnings of ______________
culture.
• Most slaves were “captured” by ______________________.
4
• Slaves were viewed as an economic _________________.
5
• Slaves were sold and treated similar to ________________.
• Due to terrible conditions, the average slave in Brazil died at
the age of ___________.
6
• Define Slavery:
Biggest Impacts
1. Disease
– Smallpox killed 90% of Amerindians
– Syphilis spread throughout Europe
2. Food!
3. Animals
– Primarily horses and cattle
4. People
– African Slavery
5. Ideas
– Christianity
Why could this NOT have existed before
the Columbian Exchange?
Why could this NOT have existed before
the Columbian Exchange?
Why could this NOT have existed before
the Columbian Exchange?
Why could this NOT have existed before
the Columbian Exchange?
Why could this NOT have existed before
the Columbian Exchange?
Why could this NOT have existed before
the Columbian Exchange?