1. The Atlantic Slave Trade
Section 4-3

2. Slavery in Africa before Europeans
When Europeans arrived in Africa, Africans had be enslaving other Africans for centuries (usually prisoners of war)
Slaves could gain freedom and rise to positions of power in society

3. The Advantages of African Slaves
They had been introduced to European diseases
Many Africans had experience in farming and could be taught plantation work
They did not know the land and couldn’t escape easily
Their skin color made it easier to catch them if they escaped

4. The Atlantic Slave Trade
The buying and selling of Africans for work in the Americas
Spain and Portugal took and early lead in the slave trade
By the end of the 17th Century England exported more slaves than any other nation.

5. The Slave Trade (cont.)
Many African leaders sold Africans into slavery in order to make money (it was very profitable)
Most Africans worked on huge plantations when they arrived to the Americas

6. The Triangular Trade
The exchange of goods between the Americas, Africa, and Europe.

7. The Middle Passage
The voyage that brought captured Africans to the Americas
Was the middle leg of the transatlantic trade
Conditions were very harsh and many Africans died before they reached the Americas

8. Conditions in the Americas
Africans were bought and sold like property to the highest bidders
Conditions on the plantations were very poor, many Africans were stuffed into small huts, fed very little, and forced to work very long hours

9. Resistance and Rebellion
Many Africans clung to traditions in order to remind themselves of life before slavery
They told stories of ancestors and sang African songs
Some of them did things to sabotage their work (purposely breaking tools, working slowly, or running away)

10. Consequences of slavery for Africans
Many cultures lost generations of their fittest members
Many families were torn apart
Guns were introduced into Africa
They introduced their culture to the Americas

11. Consequences of Slavery for the Americas
Many nations today have sizable African populations
There are large populations of mixed peoples in the Americas
And the development of several places in the Americas would not have been possible without the labor of Africans (Southern US and the Caribbean)