Columbian Exchange Diffusion of culture between the Western and Eastern Hemisphere

Characteristics of Columbian Exchange A) Western Hemisphere agricultural products such as corn, potatoes, & tobacco changed European lifestyles

B) European horses & cattle changed the lifestyles of American Indians (First Americans)

C) European diseases like smallpox killed many American Indians

Impact of Columbian Exchange A)Shortage of labor to grow cash crops led to the use of African Slaves Americas are desperate for labor Harder for Africans to run away than Native Americans African strengths - agricultural practices, resistance to diseases

B) Slavery was based on race

C) European plantation system in the Caribbean and the Americas destroyed indigenous economics and damaged the environment Brutal Work Camp

Middle Passage – passage across the Atlantic Ocean from West Africa to the Americas the was the route of the African American slave trade

Slave Ship Plan (Slaves Traveled on Middle Passage

Middle Passage Conditions

“Coffin” Position: Onboard a Slave Ship

Slave Ship Interior

African Captives Thrown Overboard Sharks followed the slave ships across the Atlantic!

Africans were crowded and chained cruelly aboard slave ships.

"...the excessive heat was not the only thing that rendered their situation intolerable. The deck, that is the floor of their rooms, was so covered with the blood and mucus which had proceeded from them in consequence of the flux, that it resembled a slaughterhouse." Taken from Taken from Alexander Falconbridge, a surgeon aboard slave ships and later the governor of a British colony for freed slaves in Sierra Leone.

Frequently, slaves were permitted on deck in small groups for brief periods, where the crew would encourage, and many times force, captives to dance for exercise.

"Exercise being deemed necessary for the preservation of their health they are sometimes obliged to dance when the weather will permit their coming on deck. If they go about it reluctantly or do not move with agility, they are flogged…” Taken from Taken from Alexander Falconbridge, An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa.

Heading for Jamaica in 1781, the ship Zong was nearing the end of its voyage. It had been twelve weeks since it had sailed from the west African coast with its cargo of 417 slaves. Water was running out. Then, compounding the problem, there was an outbreak of disease. The ship's captain, reasoning that the slaves were going to die anyway, made a decision. In order to reduce the owner's losses he would throw overboard the slaves thought to be too sick to recover. The voyage was insured, but the insurance would not pay for sick slaves or even those killed by illness. However, it would cover slaves lost through drowning. The captain gave the order; 54 Africans were chained together, then thrown overboard. Another 78 were drowned over the next two days. By the time the ship had reached the Caribbean,132 persons had been murdered.

Diseases, such as dysentery, malaria, and smallpox killed thousands of Africans. Between 1699 and 1845 there were 55 successful African uprisings on slave ships. William Snelgrave, from A New Account of Some Parts of Guinea, and the Slave Trade From 13% - 20% of the Africans aboard slave ships died during the Middle Passage.

Triangular Trade 1. Linked Europe, Africa, and the Americas

2. Gold & Silver from Americas to Europe

. Spanish Torturing the Indigenous peoples

Spanish acquiring materials

Spanish getting creative with their murders

3. Slaves from Africa to Americas ( Europe loved Sugar, therefore the need for plantations)

4. Rum, sugar, tobacco to Europe

5. Manufactured goods from Europe to Africa

Triangle Trade

Understanding #1 “ Discovery” of the Americas by Europeans resulted in an exchange of products and resources b/t the Eastern & Western Hemispheres

Understanding #2 The European nations established a trade pattern known as the triangular trade & exported precious metals from the Americas