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Atlantic slave trade- effects
Effects of the trans atlantic slave trade
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There is no other experience in history where innocent African Americans encountered such a brutal torment. This infamous ordeal is called the Middle Passage or the “middle leg” of the Triangular Trade, which was the forceful voyage of African Americans from Africa to the New World. The Africans were taken from their homeland, boarded onto the dreadful ships, and scattered into the New World as slaves. 10- 16 million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic during the 1500’s to the 1900’s and 10- 15 percent of them died during the voyage. Millions of men, women, and children left behind their personal possessions and loved ones that will never be seen again. Not only were the Africans limited to freedom, but also lost their identity in the process. Kidnapped from their lives that throbbed with numerous possibilities of greatness were now out of sight and thrown into the never-ending pile of waste. The loathsome and inhuman circumstances that the Africans had to face truly describe the great wrongdoing of the Middle Passage. All were subject to harsh circumstances and the relentless fears of shipwreck and disease outbreaks. It took as long as five to twelve weeks, depending on the weather circumstances and point of departure. The captain and the crew workers treated the slaves like wild animals, giving them barely enough food to survive and leaving them to suffer with lice, fleas, and rats, which led to many diseases (“Middle Passage”). The records stated that about two –thirds of the fatalities were caused by malaria, yellow fever, and intestinal disorders (Postma 25). The enslaved Africans were linked with heavy iron chains around their hands and feet with barely enough room to lie down (Howarth). Constant odors of urine, vomit... ... middle of paper ... ..., 1995. Print. Howarth, J. "Recovered Histories." The Middle Passage. Web. 9 Jan 2010. . Kendler, Adam. "The Middle Passage." Slave Resistance. Edward E. Baptist, Web. 13 Dec 2009. . "Middle Passage." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 13 Dec. 2009 . Postma, Johannes. The Atlantic Slave Trade. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003. Print. Rediker, Marcus. The Slave Ship A Human History. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 2007. Print. "The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie." The Mel Fisher Maritime Museum. 2001. Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society, Inc., Web. 13 Dec 2009. .
One of the major questions asked about the slave trade is ‘how could so Europeans enslave so many millions of Africans?” Many documents exist and show historians what the slave trade was like. We use these stories to piece together what it must have been to be a slave or a slaver. John Barbot told the story of the slave trade from the perspective of a slaver in his “A Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea.” Barbot describes the life of African slaves before they entered the slave trade.
conditions aboard ship were dreadful. The maximum number of slaves was jammed into the hull, chained to forestall revolts or suicides by drowning. Food, ventilation, light, and sanitatio...
Reynolds, Mary. The American Slave. Vol. 5, by Che Rawick, 236-246. Westport , Conneticut: Greenwood Press, Inc, 1972.
Klein, Herbert S. The middle passage: Comparative studies in the Atlantic slave trade. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press , 1978. 282. Print.
In July 1839, fifty-four African captives boarded the Amistad and head to the Americas. During their journey, they were able to break free of their chains and take over the ship. Despite their best efforts to sail back to Africa, they were once again captured and put on trial in the United States. Due to the current progress of the abolishment of slave trafficking, all that were captured on the Amistad were set free. However, this was not the fortune of millions of slaves both before and after the Amistad. Thousands of slaves died before making it to the Americas. Due to the cruelty and sanitation issues of the ship, those who did survive the grueling journey had to do so in unlivable conditions. The victims of the Middle Passage suffered ruthless treatment throughout their journey across the Atlantic Ocean.
Olaudah Equiano wrote a novel about slavery and opened the eyes of many oblivious people around the world. His book was very powerful and it served to help during the abolition movement. He believed that the experience of the middle passage was completely demoralizing to Africans (Andrea 195). Referring to his experience, he writes, “I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me”. He changed peoples mind as he went deeper and deeper into the details of horrible things encountered during the Atlantic Slave Trade. He also informed readers if the slaves needed to go to the bathroom they would have to do so as they lay there. If the person above you went, their defecates would seep through the boards and land below. As the Atlantic Slave Trade was booming, the crew members started to take better care of the slaves knowing the more they brought back, the more money they would make. They didn’t take care for them because they were humans, they took “care” of them because they were property and damaged property means less
Bibb, Henry, and Charles J. Heglar. The Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb: An American Slave. Madison: University of Wisconsin, 2001. Print.
Those that were able to withstand the grueling conditions of the middle passage were than divided and redistributed for the economic gain of others. They were treated like savages, as slave owners strapped heavy metal shackles that covered their body. Linked together by chains, these slaves were again loaded and transported to the place they would call "home". A home quite different from what they were used to abroad.
On the second leg of this trade slaves were transported to the West Indies, this leg was called the middle passage. This part was horrible for the slaves. About 50% of all the slaves on one ship would not make it to the West Indies because of disease or brutal mistreatment. Hundreds of men, woman and children were cramped together for most of the journey, occasionally able move an almost decent amount.
The Middle Passage was a long voyage that African Americans endured just to get sold into slavery when the voyage was done. According to ushistory.org African Americans in slave ships were fed twice a day, and holes were cut in the deck to allow slaves to breath, but these holes were closed in bad weather such as storms, regardless of the attempts to keep the African Americans Alive and well most of them died of lack of water, food, and air. According to (pbs.org) slaves were stuffed between decks in spaces too low to stand, the heat was unbearable, and the air almost unbreathable. The women were used sexually, and the men were chained in pairs, slave ships were very crowded for the slaves, and slaves were forced to lie in their backs with their heads in between the legs of others, slaves would have to lie in each others feces,urine, and maybe even blood. In these slave ships diseases would spread very quickly, and sick slaves would of usually been thrown overboard to prevent an epidemic. Upon reaching the end of the voyage the remaining slaves that survived were cleaned, and checked by a doctor to see if they would make a good price at the ports, those slaves that were declared unfit to be so...
During the 1860s, the African Americans were forced to migrate across the Atlantic. The reason behind this was slavery, and it lasted between middle of the sixteenth century until 1980, making it the largest movement across the Atlantic before the 19th century (Lovejoy, 2002, pg. 141). The origin of the name ‘Middle Passage’ came about the crossing from Africa to America, and it acquired the name since it was the central point of the trade routes taken by many of the ships. This passage took imprisoned Africans from their motherland. The economies of the colonies in America such as the Carribean and Latin America were making development progress.
First of all it is important to examine how many African slaves were brought to the New World. The Middle Passage is infamous route of the ships that carried slaves to the Americas. After the arrival to the New World, the slaves were sold or exchanged for the valuable goods. The term Middle Passage might sound somewhat romantic, but in reality it stands as a one of the most terrible events in history. The Middle Passage is the passage of bonded slaves from West Africa to the Americas. In the beginning, there was a trade between Europeans and African leaders who sold their enemies and disabled people in exchange for unique gifts such as guns, tobacco, iron bars and etc. But at the later stages of slavery, Europeans often kidnapped Africans at the costal area of Western Africa and then sent to ships that sailed them to the New World where this new free work force was needed to help stabilize the new nation.
The transport of black Africans to the Americas by slave ship became known as the Middle Passage because it was the middle leg of the Triangular Trade route used by the European merchants. The African slaves were viewed as cargo by the merchants and were packed into the ships with no regard to their basic human rights. Slave ships could be either 'tight pack' or 'loose pack'. A 'tight pack' could hold many more slaves than the 'loose pack' because the amount of space allocated to each slave was considerably less, but more slaves would die on route to the Americas. The famous diagram above shows how slaves were tightly packed into the slave ships. Other slaves were forced to spend the voyage sitting on deck, as on the ship 'Wildfire', pictured
The Middle Passage (or Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade) was a voyage that took slaves from Africa to the Americas via tightly packed ships. The trade started around the early 1500s, and by 1654 about 8,000-10,000 slaves were being imported from Africa to the Americas every year. This number continued to grow, and by 1750 that figure had climbed to about 60,000-70,000 slaves a year. Because of the lack of necessary documents, it is hard to tell the exact number of Africans taken from their homeland. But based on available clues and data, an estimated 9-15 million were taken on the Middle Passage, and of that about 3-5 million died. While the whole idea seems sick and wrong, many intelligent people and ideas went in to making the slave trade economically successful.
Northup, Solomon, Sue L. Eakin, and Joseph Logsdon. Twelve years a slave. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968. Print.