1. The Atlantic Slave Trade
1500s – mid 1800s
How did the Atlantic slave trade shape the lives and economies of Africans and Europeans?

2. Triangular Trade
A triangle shaped series of trade routes linking Europe, Africa and the Americas across the Atlantic
Shipped people AND goods (commodities)

4. Triangular Trade PROFIT!
Merchants grew wealthy
Shipbuilding industry thrived in New England
Successful port cities

5. Slaves
Slaves from Africa were part of this triangular trade, known as the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

7. Slavery in Africa
The Spanish were the first European partners in the slave trade
Remember, slavery was not invented at this time; this is just the first time that Europeans are trading with Africa for their slaves

9. To the Ships Most Africans were taken from inland villages Waiting
Forced to march to coastal ports
Bound to each other with ropes and chains
Many died along the way
Waiting
Those who survived were restrained in holding pens and warehouses

10. The Middle Passage
The Middle Passage is the name of the journey by ship to Europe and the Americas (North, South and Central)

11. The horrors of the Middle Passage
The middle passage was brutal, cruel, and beyond what most of us could ever imagine enduring.
The descriptions in the following video are graphic in nature.

13. Perils while on the Middle Passage
The ships, and the slaves aboard, faced many other hardships
Storms
Raids by pirate ships
Mutinies (revolts by the captive Africans)
Disease & Death
Dysentery
Small pox
No apparent disease at all often killed the captives
Suicide

14. Impact Wealth to merchants and traders (from all countries)
Provided labor that helped colonial economies grow
African states and societies torn apart
Lives of individuals cut short or forever brutalized
Historian estimate:
Enslaved Africans sent in the 1500s: 2,000/year
Enslaved Africans sent in the 1780s (the peak of the trade): 80,000/year
11 million enslaved Africans had reached the Americas by the end of the trade in the mid-1800’s
2 million probably died along the Middle Passage
Unknown how many died before they even reached the ships

15. Assignment: Occasion/Position Thesis Statement
Write a thesis statement in the following format:
Assume that for this assignment, the African slave trade was the most influential event of the age of exploration. Say why in your statement.
Then, list at least 3 facts as evidence.
The Occasion:
Is the first part of the thesis statement
Introduces your reason for writing
Can be any event, problem, idea, solution
The Position:
Is the second part of the thesis statement
States what you plan to prove or explain in your paragraph
Example:
Because Christopher Columbus loved the sea,
he spent his life aboard a ship looking for a Western passage to Asia.
Use these as “starter words” for your statement:
After because in order that when While Whether
Although before in order to whenever unless though
As even since Where if even though
As if even if so that Wherever as soon as as long as