Unit 3 / Note Page 4 African Slave Trade West African Kingdoms & The Rise of Sugar Plantations Yes, I know theirs a plane here, tough! Look at the boat…. Fill in the blanks on your Note Sheet! You Tube Intro Clip: 7 mins HBO’s “The Middle Passage” First part of film, skip the first 1 & ½ minutes just credits.

Kingdom of Kongo Kingdom on West coast of Africa. People lived much like America’s natives. Long tradition of trading goods along coast. Tradition using seashells, feathers, stones as charms. Traded and sold slaves among themselves.

Long History of Slavery Africans routinely enslaved other Africans Tribal competition over land, captives of war, sold for profit or pay off debt, criminals.

Since the 700’s, Muslims from the Middle East journeyed to Africa to buy slaves from local African leaders. So the Africans were exposed to European viruses over hundreds of years.

By the 1500’s, the Spanish and Portuguese start establishing large plantation farms to grow luxury items such as sugar, coffee, and cocoa. All crops that need warm climates and lots of labor to grow. Europe had developed a lust for all things sugar.

The Spanish and Portuguese tried first to enslave the Native American Indians but with their low tolerance to viruses like small pox, they died by the dozens. They also had little to no experience with agriculture.

Okay, I give up, what is Sugar Cane? Very tall tubular plant that grows tall. Slaves cut it down, run the stalks through a press to squeeze out all the plant juice. Then boil the plant juice down to molasses or dry it further into eventually sugar crystals (pure sugar is brown crystals). In Brazil, the average slave only lived for two years on a sugar cane plantation, it was extremely dangerous, commonly cutting or hacking into your own leg while harvesting. Boiling huge vats. And of course lots of mesquites carrying malaria to bite you….

Processing sugar cane

1500’s – Spanish & Portuguese start importing African slaves to their colonies in the Americas More immune to diseases, experienced farmers, less likely to run away. Africans sold other Africans into Slavery. Europeans simply went to coastal port cities along Africa’s coast to established markets.

African Rulers and Merchants captured slaves, transported them to coastal towns to sell to waiting Westerners. Entire regions of inter-Africa were depleted of people. They were held in castles / slave forts in dungeons.

Shama, Ft. St. Sebastion Ghana Africa

Portugal’s Brazil → Sugar Cane: Imported 10 times more slave than would be shipped to United States.

Atlantic Slave Trade 1500 to 1600 → 300,000 transported to New World 1600 to 1700 → 1.5 million shipped over Ended around 1870 → 9.5 million total shipped

Triangular Trade: Africa → Colonies / West Indies → Europe Middle Passage: Trip from Africa to North America was middle of triangle. Estimated that 20% died en route, disease, cruel treatment, suicide. You Tube : Clip from Amistad Middle Passage

Slave Auction / Market Day

Auctioned off like cattle, harsh life, poor diet, and hereditary. Turned to music and stories of ancestors for support, runaways very common..but harsh punishment. Slave revolts common, but rarely large & rarely successful. Millions of African-Americans live in South and North America today as a result of slavery.

Video Clips TED-ed Video Clip World History Crash Course Video Clip