1. Middle Passage
Chapter 2

2. Iron Tools
West Africans were making iron tools long before Europeans arrived in Africa.

3. I. The Age of European Exploration and Colonization
Western European countries expand during 15th century
Explore, conquer, and colonize
Trade
Eastern markets of India, China, and Japan
New World
Demand for laborers led to Atlantic slave trade

4. II. The Slave Trade in Africa
Ancient and universal phenomena
African kingdoms and Islamic nations conduct brisk commerce
Not race based
Arab merchants and West African kings imported white slaves from Europe
West African slave trade dealt mainly in women and children who would serve as concubines and servants
European demand for agricultural laborers changed slave trading patterns

5. Katharina
Although the overwhelming majority of Africans who were caught up in the Atlantic slave trade went to the Americas, a few reached Europe. This sixteenth-century drawing by German artist Albrecht Dürer depicts Katharina, a servant of a Portuguese official who lived in Antwerp.
SOURCE: Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), “Portrait of the Moorish Woman Katharina.” Drawing. Uffizi Florence, Italy. Photograph © Foto Marburg/Art Resource, NY.

6. III. The Origins of the Atlantic Slave Trade
In 15th century, slaves used as domestic servants on Iberian Peninsula
Other European countries had large work forces and little need for slaves
Purchased from African traders
Portugal and Spain dominated slave trade in 16th century
Dutch dominated 17th century
English dominated 18th century

7. Bronze Sculpture
West African artists recorded the appearance of Europeans who came to trade in gold, ivory, and human beings. This Benin bronze relief sculpture, dating to the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, portrays two Portuguese men.
SOURCE: Werner Forman, Art Resource, NY

8. IV. Growth of the Atlantic Slave Trade
Demand for labor in 16th century
Spanish gold and silver mines
Portuguese sugar plantations
Tobacco, rice and indigo
See Figure 2-1 and Table 2-1

9. Estimated Annual Exports of Slaves from Western Africa to the Americas, 1500–1700
Figure 2–1. Estimated Annual Exports of Slaves from Western Africa to the Americas, 1500–1700.
Source: John Thornton, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400–1680 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 118.

10. Estimated Slave Imports by Destination, 1451–1870

11. The Atlantic and Islamic Slave Trades
Map 2–1. The Atlantic and Islamic Slave Trades.
Not until 1600 did the Atlantic slave trade reach the proportions of the Islamic slave trade. This map shows the principal sources of slaves, primary routes, and major destinations.

12. Growth of the Atlantic Slave Trade (cont.)
Harsher in the Americas
Based on race
Most were males
Believed they were stronger laborers than females
West African women did farm work
Often withheld from trade
Agricultural workers
Chattel
Lost rights as human beings

13. Slave Colonies of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Map 2–2. Slave Colonies of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.
This map indicates regions in North America, the West Indies, and South America that had, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, significant populations of enslaved people of African descent.

14. Luanda
The Portuguese established the city of Luanda in This eighteenth-century print portrays the city when it was at its height as a center for the shipment of enslaved Africans to Brazil.
SOURCE: The Granger Collection

15. Growth of the Atlantic Slave Trade (cont.)
Triangle trade and profits
See Map 2-3
Slave, tobacco, and sugar profits funded Industrial Revolution

16. Atlantic Trade Among the Americas, Great Britain, and West Africa During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Map 2–3. Atlantic Trade Among the Americas, Great Britain, and West Africa During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Often referred to as a triangular trade, this map shows the complexity of early modern Atlantic commerce, of which the slave trade was a major part.

17. V. The African-American Ordeal from Capture to Destination
Slavery: byproduct of war between kingdoms
European traders provided firearms
Did not instigate fighting

18. Late-Eighteenth-Century Drawing
In this late-eighteenth-century drawing, African slave traders conduct a group of bound captives from the interior of Africa toward European trading posts.
SOURCE: Culver Pictures, Inc.

19. The African-American Ordeal from Capture to Destination (cont.)
High mortality
Exhaustion, suicide, murder
Long, forced marches from interior to coast
Factories served as
Headquarters for traders
Warehouses for trade goods
Pens or dungeons for captives

20. The Crossing Canary Islands to the Windward Islands
40 to 180 days to reach the Caribbean
Pirates attacked Spanish ships
Frightening experience

21. The Slavers Small and narrow ships Two slaves per ship-tonnage formula
Most captains were “tight packers”
Ignored formula in the name of profits

22. The Slavers (cont.) Crowded, unsanitary conditions
Slaves rode on planks 66” x 15”
only 20”– 25” of headroom
Males chained together in pairs
Kept apart from women and children
High mortality rates
One-third perish between capture and embarkation

23. British Slave Ship
Plan of the British Slave Ship Brookes, This plan, which may undercount the human cargo the Brookes carried, shows how tightly Africans were packed aboard slave ships.

24. A Slave’s Story Olaudah Equiano Conditions Suicides Smells Feedings
Writes autobiography of his capture/voyage
Conditions
Suicides
Smells
Feedings
See PROFILE

25. A Captain’s Story John Newton Evangelical Christian Slaver captain
Anglican priest
Repentance
Amazing Grace

26. Provisions for the Middle Passage
Slaves fed twice per day
Poor and insufficient diet
Vegetable pulps, stews, and fruits
Denied meat or fish
Ten people eating from one bucket
Unwashed hands spread disease
Malnutrition, weakness, depression, death

27. Sanitation, Disease, and Death
Astronomically high before 1750
Poor sanitation
No germ theory prior to early 20th century
Malaria, yellow fever, smallpox, dysentery
After 1750
Faster ships
Hygiene and diet better understood
Early forms of smallpox vaccinations

28. Resistance and Revolt at Sea
Uprisings were common
Most rebellions before sailing
Some preferred death to bondage
Justification for harsh treatment by slavers

29. Cruelty Middle passage horrors exaggerated Cultural context
Historian Eric Williams
Cultural context
Exceptionally cruel
Slaves had half the space allowed indentured servants and convicts
Slavery suitable only for non-Christians
Brutal treatment by crew members

30. African Women on Slave Ships
Less protection against unwanted sexual attention from European men
African women worth half the price of African men in the Caribbean markets
Separation from male slaves made them easier targets
Historian Barbara Bush
Middle passage horrors depressed sex drives

31. VI. Landing and Sale in the West Indies
Pre-sale
Bathed and exercised
Oiled bodies to conceal blemishes and bruises
Hemp plugs

32. Nineteenth-Century Engraving
This nineteenth-century engraving suggests the humiliation Africans endured as they were subjected to physical inspections before being sold.

33. VII. Seasoning Modify behavior and attitude
Preparation for North American planters

34. VII. Seasoning (cont.) Creoles Old Africans New Africans
slaves born in the Americas
worth three times price of unseasoned Africans
Old Africans
Lived in the Americas for some time
New Africans
Had just survived the middle passage
Creoles and Old Africans instruct New Africans

35. Slaves Preparing a Field
Slaves in this nineteenth-century painting are preparing a field for cultivation on the island of Antigua, a British possession in the West Indies. As had been the case in earlier centuries, the men and women work in gangs under the direction of a white overseer who carries a whip.

36. VIII. The End of the Journey
Survival
One-third died
Men died at a greater rate than women
Adapted to new foods
Learned a new language
Creole dialect well enough to obey commands
Psychological ~ no longer suicidal
Africans retained culture despite the hardships and cruel treatment
Created bonds with shipmates that replaced blood kinship

37. Scenes on a Cotton Plantation

38. Slaves Arriving in the West Indies
This group of Africans newly arrived in the West Indies in the 1700s to be sold as slaves would be subjected to the seasoning process by their new masters.

39. IX. The Ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade
Cruelties help end Atlantic slave trade
English abolitionists
Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce, and Granville Sharp
Moral crusade and economy less dependent on slave trade
Great Britain bans Atlantic slave trade in 1807
Patrols African coast to enforce
United States Congress outlaws slave trade in 1808
Guinea and western central African kingdoms oppose banning slave trade

40. Slave Trade — World Events

41. Slave Trade — World Events

42. Slave Trade — World Events

43. Slave Trade — World Events

44. X. Conclusion
More than eleven million Africans brought to the Americas during three centuries of trade
Millions more died
Most arrived between 1701 and 1810
Only 500,000 reached the British colonies of North America