The Slave Trade

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The Atlantic Slave Trade

When?•1450 - Spanish & Portuguese start slaving in Africa

•1865 - still smuggling slaves until the end of the civil war (technically illegal in 1808)

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The Atlantic Slave Trade

Why? (3 reasons combined)•Labor shortage (not enough workers)

•Ethnocentrism –(feelings of superiority)

•Greed

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The Atlantic Slave Trade

Where to?

5%

60%

35%

65%

30% 5%

Where from?

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Number of people enslaved•30 million taken from their homes

•10 million die during capture phase•10 million die during middle passage

•10 million survive to make it over the ocean

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Phases of the Slave Trade

Capture:

•Tribes often did not have a choice in helping capture neighbors “divide and conquer”

•Most captured 50-100 miles inland

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Phases of the Slave TradeWest African expectations about slavery:

•A slave’s child would not be a slave

•Slaves were not slaves for life

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Phases of the Slave Trade

Capture:

Christiansborg Castle, Gold Coast, ca. 1750 Cape Coast Castle, Gold Coast, 1727

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Phases of the Slave Trade

2. The Middle Passage

•Journey over the Atlantic Ocean

•400-500 people in a boat with little air & much disease

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Phases of the Slave Trade

2. The Middle Passage - Tight Pack

•Higher mortality, higher profits

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Phases of the Slave Trade

2. The Middle Passage - Loose pack

•Lower mortality, lower profits

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Phases of the Slave Trade3. “Seasoning” -

•Brutal work camps, 4-5 months in Caribbean•Meant to train people to be slaves

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Thinking Question:

(Don’t write down – just think!)

Given how many people died during the “Capture phase” or on the “Middle passage,” what do you think went on in the minds of the slave catchers and slave traders?

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Triangle Trade

North America

The Carribean

Africa

Molasses Rum, weapons

Slaves

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Growth of Slavery

Why Africans?

•Americas are desperate for labor

•Harder for Africans to run away than Native Americans

•African strengths - agricultural practices, resistance to diseases

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Growth of SlaveryHow did African slaves fight back?

•Open revolt (rare)

•Work slowdowns

•Breaking Tools

•Poisoning food

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Thinking Question:

(Don’t write down – just think!)

While many slaves resisted, not all of them did. What did they have to lose?

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Growth of SlaveryHow much did it grow?

•1800 - 1 million in slavery

•1860 - 4 million (1/3 of Southern population)

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Growth of Slavery

Why?

•Invented 1793 - made slavery VERY productive•100x faster than by hand

•More efficient = more $ (so need more slaves)

Cotton Gin