1. Chapter 2
Middle Passage

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

3. I. European Exploration ~ Colonization (Section 1)
Western European countries expand during 15th century because they . . .
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
Been around for a LONG time!
African kingdoms and Islamic nations conduct brisk commerce
Not race based (as it will be in America)
West African slave trade dealt mainly in women and children (to serve as concubines and servants)

5. III. The Origins of the Atlantic Slave Trade
In 15th century, slaves used as domestic servants on Iberian Peninsula (Spain/Portugal)
Slaves purchased from African traders
Portugal and Spain dominated slave trade in 16th century (1500s)
Dutch dominated 17th century (1600s)
English dominated 18th century (1700s) – think Roots and the Lord Ligonier ship

6. 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

7. IV. Growth of the Atlantic Slave Trade
High demand for labor in 16th century to work in
Spanish gold and silver mines
Portuguese sugar plantations
Tobacco, rice and indigo

8. Estimated Annual Export of Slaves from Western Africa to the Americas, 1500-1700

9. Estimated Slave Imports by Destination, 1451-1870

10. Growth of the Atlantic Slave Trade (cont.)
Slavery was harsher in the Americas, because it was
Based on race
Mostly males
Believed to be stronger for labor
Focused on agricultural work
Known as “Chattel” (a type of slavery) where the slaves lost rights as human beings

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

12. Triangle Trade: Who Gets What?

13. Triangular trade

14. V. The African-American Ordeal: Capture to Destination
Slavery: byproduct of war between the West African kingdoms
European traders provided firearms to West Africans – they did not instigate fighting

15. The African-American Ordeal: Capture to Destination (cont.)
High mortality rate
Exhaustion, suicide, murder
Endured long, forced marches to the coast
Factories (fortified structures) served as
Headquarters for the traders
Warehouses for the trade goods
Pens or dungeons for captives/slaves

16. Factories: This one from the Gulf of Guinea (modern Nigeria)
From Thomas Astley, A New and General Collection of Voyages, 1746 Courtesy of the Library of Congress

17. Cape Coast Castle (Ghana)

18. President Obama’s Trip to Cape Coast Castle
CNN w/ Anderson Cooper

19. The Crossing (Middle Passage)
40 to 180 days to reach the Caribbean
Pirates attacked Spanish ships
Frightening experience for all who sailed

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

21. From the Collection: The Atlantic Slave Trade and Life in the AmericasJames S. Handler and Michael L. Tuite Jr.(c) 2006 Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and University of Virginia

22. Slaves were forced to spend the voyage sitting on deck of the ship Wildfire

23. The Slavers (cont.)
“Many slaves became seasick or developed diarrhoea (sic). Unable to move because they were chained into their positions, the slave's deck became a stinking mass of human waste. Slaves who had developed sores where their chains had rubbed their skin, had festering wounds often with maggots eating away their flesh.”

24. 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

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

26. A Slave’s Story – Olaudah Equiano
Autobiography capture/voyage: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African

27. A Slave’s Story – Olaudah Equiano
Describes horrific conditions
Noted African suicides
Nets up along boat edge to limit attempts
Felt more suicides would have occurred if nets were absent

28. A Slave’s Story – Olaudah Equiano
Smells
Human waste
Unwashed bodies
Feedings

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

30. A Captain’s Story – John Newton
Indentured servant on a slave ship
Becomes a Slaver Captain

31. A Captain’s Story – John Newton
Is “born again” as an Evangelical Christian following a rough, stormy trip
Poor health causes retirement – becomes an Anglican (Episcopalian) priest

32. A Captain’s Story – John Newton
Realizes horrors of slavery and seeks repentance.
Ends up writing the hymn, Amazing Grace

33. 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

34. Sanitation, Disease, and Death
High before 1750
Poor sanitation
No germ theory prior to early 20th century
Malaria, yellow fever, smallpox, dysentery

35. Sanitation, Disease, and Death
After 1750
Faster ships
Hygiene and diet better understood
Early forms of smallpox vaccinations

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

37. Cruelty Middle passage horrors exaggerated Cultural context
Historian Eric Williams says that stories were influenced by those who hoped to end slavery
Cultural context
Misunderstanding of each other’s culture (not that they tried to understand each other!!!!!!!!)

38. Cruelty Exceptional cruelties
Slaves had half the space allowed indentured servants and convicts

39. Cruelty Exceptional cruelties
Slaves had half the space allowed indentured servants and convicts
Slavery was only suitable for non-Christians
Brutal treatment by crew members BECAUSE AFRICANS WERE NOT SEEN AS EQUAL TO WESTERN EUROPEANS, THESE CRUELTIES WERE SOCIALLY ACCEPTED AT THIS TIME

40. African Women on Slave Ships
African women worth half the price of African men in the Caribbean markets
Fewer of them on the boat and they were not as valuable
Separated from male slaves made women easier targets

41. VI. Landing and Sale in the West Indies
Pre-sale
Bathed and exercised
Bodies oiled to conceal blemishes and bruises
Hemp plugs used to block the bloody discharge of dysentary
GOAL: Get the most $$ from the sale of the product = slaves

42. VI. Landing and Sale in the West Indies

43. VII. Seasoning (following Sale in West Indies)
To modify behavior and attitude
In preparation for resale to North American planters

44. VII. Seasoning (cont.) Creoles Old Africans
Slaves born in the Americas
Worth three times price of unseasoned Africans
Instructed New Africans
Old Africans
Had lived in the Americas for some time
Also instructed New Africans
New Africans (a.k.a.: “Salt-Water Negroes” or “Guinea-Birds”)
Goal: Make them more like Creoles

46. When is a slave seasoned?
? ? ? ?

47. VIII. The End of the Journey
Survival (Slaves have survived)
One-third died in first three years in West Indies
Men died at a greater rate than women
Have adapted to new foods of the West Indies/Americas

48. VIII. The End of the Journey
Have learned a new language
Creole dialect well enough to obey commands
They are no longer suicidal
Africans retained culture despite the hardships and cruel treatment
Created bonds with shipmates that replaced blood kinship (like an extended family)

49. IX. The Ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade
Cruelties help end Atlantic slave trade
English abolitionists

50. IX. The Ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade
Cruelties help end Atlantic slave trade
English abolitionists
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

51. IX. The Ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade
An ironic twist!
Guinea and western central African kingdoms opposed the banning of the slave trade
Their economies were dependent on the trade!

52. X. Conclusion
Nine to eleven million Africans brought to the Americas during three centuries of trade
Millions more died
Most arrived between 1701 and 1810
Only 600,000 reached the British colonies of North America