1. The Atlantic Economy

2. Mercantilism
The Atlantic economy was based on the Mercantilist System.
Mercantilism is an economic system where all resources should be put to the service of the parent country (the state).
Raw materials were extracted from colonies.
Finished products were furnished in the parent country and sold at home or abroad (other nations or its colonies).
A country’s wealth was measured by its ability to import more gold and silver than it exported to other countries.
The amount of gold in the word was thought to be fixed.
A nation’s ultimate goal was to be self sufficient.

3. Mercantilism in Practice
European empires, such as Spain, England and France, colonized the New World in pursuit of resources.
Resources included precious metals like gold and silver, or agricultural products like tobacco, cotton, sugar, coffee, tea, etc…
Slave labor provided much of the labor force in these colonies.

4. The Columbian Exchange
The trade routes of raw materials, labor and finished products between Europe, Africa and the Americas.
Slaves from Africa to the Americas, raw materials from the Americas to Europe, and finished products from Europe, to the world.
Raw materials, primarily, coffee, chocolate, cocoa, and sugar from the tropics, and fish, tobacco, and furs from further north.
Sugar had the highest demand, and this demand fueled the slave trade.

5. The Slave Experience on a Slave Ship
Slaves travelled the weeks-long voyage through the “middle passage” on slave ships to be sold in the Americas.
10-20 percent of the slaves died on slave ships.
20-25 percent of the crew would die.
Olaudah Equiano’s experience.
Read “Olaudah Equiano Describes Passage on a Slave Ship”.
Answer questions 1-4. Be prepared to discuss.