2. A person could become a slave for many reasons: Captured in war Could not pay debts Criminals Parents sold children into slavery Slaves held a variety of jobs Slaves were usually freed after the paid their debts or reached a certain age

3. * Ships from Europe brought guns, cloth, and cash to Africa * Africans traded other Africans as slaves for these goods * Sugar, cotton, and molasses are brought from America to Europe

4. * Name for series of trade routes between Europe, Africa, and America. * Middle Passage: leg of the trade during which African slaves were taken to America * System allowed Europeans to dominate trade and make large profits.

5. * The Pope declared that only non-Christians could be slaves. * Most non-whites were not Christian so they became slaves * Eventually this transferred to race/skin color.

6. * Industries that supported trade thrived: * Shipbuilding * Fishing * Tobacco plantations * Processing sugar * Towns like Nantes, France and Salem, Massachusetts become wealthy port cities

7. * Africans were taken from inland villages and forced to march to coastal ports. * Some walked thousands of miles to the coast. * Men, women, and children were bound together with ropes and chains to prevent escape.

8. * Africans were packed below the decks of ships. * Trips lasted three weeks to three months. * Disease was the biggest threat to life, and threatened a merchant’s profits. * Suicide was more common than mutiny.

9. * Affonso I: ruler of Kongo, tried to convert subjects to Christianity to avoid slavery * Ultimately unsuccessful since the demand for slaves was large. * Osei Tutu: Asante leader who captured rival Africans and sold them into slavery, saving his own country from this fate.

10. * African states and societies were torn apart * African lives cut short and brutalized. * By the mid 1800s an estimated 11 million slaves had been sent to America. * Another 2 million had died on the journey.

11. * Explorers travelling from the Americas brought back plants and animals to Europe. * They returned to the Americas with goods from Europe to trade. * This exchange of goods across continents is known as the Columbian Exchange (after Chris Columbus)

12. From America From Europe

13. * The exchange of food created a healthier diet for many people. * This caused the population to rise quickly. * The Columbian Exchange also sparked the migration of people to America, searching for a new life or opportunities. * Other groups, such as Natives and Africans, experienced higher death rates due to brutal European control.

14. * Capitalism: economic system in which most businesses are privately owned. * Entrepreneurs: person who takes on a financial risk for a profit. * Mercantilism: exporting more than you import to build up a supply of gold and sliver.