Growth of Slavery and the Slave Trade Slavery in Africa, the Middle Passage, Limiting Rights
Slavery in Africa Slavery existed in Africa and elsewhere around the world. –Usually they were people captured in war Slaves were a part of the community and often treated as servants rather than property. Slave traders sold African slaves into Europe and the Middle East. As the slave trade grew, Europeans promised traders guns and goods in exchange for slaves from the interior of Africa.
The Middle Passage The passage of slave ships west across the Atlantic Ocean Conditions on the ships were horrible –Slaves were chained to each other. –They were allowed above deck to eat and exercise once a day. –Many tried to resist by revolting, others refused to eat or jumped overboard to avoid slavery About 10% of Africans died during the voyage by illness or mistreatment.
Detailed plan of the Brookes, 1789 Below the plan was a detailed description of the Brookes and information about the ship's trading history.
Limiting Rights Colonists passed laws that set out rules for slave behavior and denied slaves basic rights. Slave codes – treated enslaved Africans not as human beings but as property The colonists believed blacks were inferior to whites – known as racism (believing one race is superior to another).
Ad for slaves
Primary Source- a firsthand account Interior of a Slave Ship, a woodcut illustration from the publication, A History of the Amistad Captives, reveals how hundreds of slaves could be held within a slave ship.
Questions What time period were these pictures/excerpts made? Who created them? Why were they made? Why are they important?
Published in the June 2, 1860 issue of Harper's Weekly, The Slave Deck of the Bark "Wildfire" illustrated how Africans traveled on the upper deck of the ship.
Excerpt from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, The African “Besides, the crew used to watch us very closely who were not chained down to the decks, lest we should leap into the water, and I have seen some of these poor African prisoners most severely cut, for attempting to do so, and hourly whipped for not eating. This indeed was often the case with myself.” - Equiano, 1789