The Trans-atlantic
Trianglular Trade
Slave Trade – How Did It Start?
• Europe developed a Sweet Tooth for SUGAR
• Sugar grew VERY well in the Caribbean & Brazil
• Sugar Plantations (later Tobacco) in the
Americas required a large supply of workers to
make them profitable
• Native Americans were used first but:
– many died from diseases, wars, suicide, & couldn’t do
farm labor
• So, Europeans in the Americas turned to Africa
for cheap labor
Why Africans as Workers?
• Muslims already established precedent of
using Africans as slaves:
– In India as soldiers, in Muslim ports as dock
workers, in China as household servants
• Why else did they choose Africans?
1.Had immunity from European diseases
2.Experienced farmers
3.Less likely to escape land they don’t know
4.Skin color made it harder to blend in if they
escaped
Atlantic Slave Trade Definition &
Slaves in Numbers
– Buying and Selling of Africans for work in the
Americas by Europeans
– 1500-1600 = 300,000 slaves
– 1600-1700 = 1.3 M slaves
– Total # of Slaves imported = 10-12 million
– Total # to N. America = 500,000
A fact to also know: Muslims enslave and
transport 17 million black Africans to S.E. Asia
& Muslim-controlled North Africa!
Who took part in the Slave Trade
• Portuguese were original transporters
• English later take over major role in
transporting slaves
• Spain, France, Dutch, Italians also
transport
• African rulers & merchants catch and keep
slaves (w/o them, slave trade would not
have been possible)
Middle Passage
• Sickening Cruelty, a passage straight to
Caribbean, Brazil, or N. America
– Loose Packers/Tight Packers
– ~ 15-20% loss of life enroute
– Whippings, beatings, always chained below
decks
– Exercise & food to ensure health
– Sanitation below decks was horrendous,
spread of disease, infections, etc.
Triangle Trade
Movement of Triangular Goods
• To Africa: Guns, Cloth, Manufactured Goods,
Tobacco, Rum
• From Africa: Slaves, Gold
• To Europe: Sugar, Molasses, Cotton,
Tobbaco,
Key Questions
1. What was transported from W. Africa to West Indies (Car., and then to America?
2. Raw materials like sugar is used to make what? Tobacco used for what?
3. What were the manufactured goods from Europe to Africa?
EFFECTS OF SLAVE TRADE
IN AFRICA
• LOST GENERATIONS OF ITS FITTEST
MEMBERS
• TORE FAMILIES APART
• INTRODUCED GUNS TO CONTINENT
• WHEN SLAVERY ENDED IN 1800’S,
AFRICAN SLAVE KINGDOMS
COLLASPED, MAKING IT EASIER FOR
EUROPEANS TO TAKE OVER THE
CONTINTENT (IMPERIALISM)
EFFECTS OF SLAVE TRADE
IN AMERICA
• CREATED A MAJOR INDUSTRY THAT
HELPED AMERICA GROW (TEXTILES)
• CREATED A DIVIDE THAT LED TO A
DESTRUCTIVE CIVIL WAR 1860-1865
• CREATED OVERT AND COVERT
RACISM
• BROUGHT AFRICAN CULTURE INTO
AMERICA (FOOD, MUSIC, ART,
RELIGION)