The atlantic slave trade Chapter 20, Section 3 (Page 495-499)

start of slavery in the americas Why? Growing labor needs Sugar Plantations & Tobacco farms required many workers to be profitable When? 1500s: Europeans began using Africans as slaves in the Americas

why enslave africans? Many Native Americans died from war and disease “Advantages”: Immunity to European diseases Had experience farming Strangers to America meant they didn’t know the land or people there = less likely to escape

result? Atlantic Slave Trade: the buying and selling of Africans to work in the Americas From 1500 to 1870, about 9.5 million Africans were transported to the Americas doesn’t included all those that died on the journey :(

slave labor For what were Africans used as slaves? Mines: Copper, Gold, Silver Plantations: Sugar, Cotton, Coffee, Rice

Atlantic slave trade

Africa’s role in the slave trade Some African rulers and merchants willingly participated Captured Africans from the inland and brought to the coast Why? Profitable: traded to Europeans for goods (ex/ gold, guns) Others were against it-depopulating, destroying country, morally wrong

Quote “And we cannot reckon how great the damage is, since...merchants are taking every day our natives, sons of the land and the sons of our noblemen and vassals and our relatives, because the thieves and men of bad conscience grab them...they grab them and get them to be sold; and so great, Sir, is the corruption...that our country is being completely depopulated, and Your Highness should not agree with this nor accept it...it is our will that in these Kingdoms there should not be any trade of slaves nor outlet for them.” -King Alfonso of Congo, Africa to the King of Portugal

triangular trade Transatlantic trading network, where slaves & goods were carried between Africa, England, Europe, the West Indies, and the Americas

phases of trading system 1: Goods brought to Africa 2: Middle Passage Voyage that brought captured Africans to the Americas Awful conditions 3: Goods brought back to Europe

slave ship

arrival in america Slave auctions & markets-sold off Field, Mining, Domestic Slaves Abuse, Mistreatment Lifelong

consequences In Africa: lost generations tore apart families, societies guns- helped spread war/conflict throughout Africa

consequences America contributed to economic & cultural developments diverse population slavery’s legacy on the African-American population U.S.’s history