What word comes to mind? 2. How accurate is this?

The Slave Trade

Exploration Reasons Who? Sea route around Africa to India Hoped to find Kingdoms of West Africa, who had large resources of gold Who? Prince Henry of Portugal(early 1440s) Bartholomeu Dias (1488) sailed around the southern tip of Africa Vasco da Gama (1498) followed Dias’ route and reached India by sea

Trade in Human Beings Why did demand increase? Large labor force needed to make American colonies profitable Native Americans died too quickly, Africans were believed to be better able to survive

Trade in Human Beings, cont History Existed since ancient times Originally slaves were captives of war, sometimes people sold themselves into slavery during times of famine Slaves considered part of community, often rose to positions of power, condition was not considered hereditary

Atlantic Slave Trade

Trade in Human Beings, cont Atlantic Slave Trade Slaves were packed into airless holds of slave ships – many did not survive the “middle passage” Loose Pack/Tight Pack Between 1500 and 1600, nearly 300,000 Africans were transported to the Americas, the next century the number rose to almost 1.5 million

Layout for packing of slaves in cargo area

Trade in Human Beings, cont By the end in 1870, 9.5 million Africans had been imported to the Americas. Majority sent to work on plantations in the Caribbean, much smaller number sent to British colonies Many African rulers/merchants willingly caught and sold Africans to Westerners had been selling Africans to Muslims and other African rulers for years Portugal and Great Britain were active participants in the slave trade

Trade in Human Beings, cont GUNS change everything! Europeans traded guns & manufactured goods for slaves Africans used guns to get more slaves

Ending the Slave Trade Supporters Abolitionists (movement to end slavery) Quakers, Olaudah Equiano, Frederick Douglass King Affonso – Christian African ruler of Congo, who had once traded slaves, but decided it harmed his nation

Ending the Slave Trade, cont Reasons Humanitarian Moral/Ethical Enlightenment

Effects Society Disrupted Economy Suffered East Africa Encouraged wars Increased tensions between neighboring peoples Economy Suffered raiders seized healthy young men and women  no one left to farm & tend land East Africa Africans shipped to Middle East, Asia, North Africa

Effects Diaspora Legacy – Sierra Leone & Liberia African people scattered across globe Spread African ideas, customs, beliefs, musical traditions, proverbs, foods, art to other regions of the world Legacy – Sierra Leone & Liberia Sierra Leone  British set up West African colony for freed slaves in 1787 Liberia  US set up colony for freed slaves, independent in 1847