1. The Atlantic Slave Trade
Trade, Exploration and Mercantilism
Abby Curtis

2. Background Facts: Occurred from the 15th – 19th centauries
Between 9 and 11 million people were taken from Africa by European Slave Traders.
Slaves were transported mainly to North America, South America and the Caribbean to work in newly settled land under the control of Europeans.
African traders traded the African people to the European slave traders in order to get manufactured goods (guns, cloth, rum, etc.)

3. Why it began…
Europeans needed a larger group of laborers to work in the new colonies.
Africans were more accustom to manual labor- agricultural work, keeping animals and “worked very hard.”
Arabs initially ruled North African slave trade
Slave trade started in Africa.
Africans worked for Africans .
Africans outsourced to Portuguese traders to profit and they started trading with all European countries.

4. The Slave and Triangular Trade
Started in mid 15th centaury to export laborers to newly colonized land by Europeans.
Europe sent manufactured goods to African slave traders in return for them selling slaves to them.
Britain was the leading country in the Slave Trade after 1700.
Slaves were sent to America from Africa by European traders.
Americans sent raw materials to Europe to be manufactured by industry.

6. Treatment of Slaves Over Passage
Once captured, slaves were property, not people.
Slaves were packed in ships like cargo or animals.
They were treated poorly and many died before arriving in the Americas.
Women were used for sex.
All were shackled at their ankles and their wrists and piled on top of each other, heads between another persons legs.
Disease spread quickly due to temperature and living in each others urine and blood.
Between 1 and 2 million slaves died.
Many committed suicide during the passage to avoid slavery.

8. The Middle Passage
About half did not make it to the Americas from Africa.
Middle Passage was a “three part passage”
1: Europe -> “Slave Coast”, exchanging cargo (manufactured goods for slaves)
2: “Slave Coast” -> Americas, where cargo was stored on the ship is where the slaves were kept after the trade. Slaves were traded in Americas for sugar, tobacco or some other raw product.
3: Americas -> Europe, raw products were delivered to Europe.

10. Exploration
Portugal started its exploration towards the west coast of Africa looking for spices and gold.
Most other European countries headed west towards the Atlantic Islands, looking for raw materials to be manufactured.
Europeans were looking to expand their empires to be more powerful than the other countries.
Sugar crops were typically what slaves worked on in the Atlantic islands.
Exploration of new lands to find raw materials went as far back as even Christopher Columbus.
African slaves were traded because the slave traders wanted the goods that Britain and other European industry were making.

12. Mercantilism
Europeans applied this system during the 16th – 18th centuries because each wanted to be on top.
Each country wanted more power over the other, in labor forces, land, and money.
Britain came out on top by 1700 in all.
Mercantilism - the brief benefits of profitable trading ; commercialism
Main economic system between 16th-18th centuries.
Main goal: increase a nation’s wealth through commercial interests.
Must limit a nation imports with tariffs and maximize exports.

13. Works Cited
"The African Slave Trade and the Middle Passage." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 09 Jan
Boddy-Evans, Alistair. "The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade." About.com African History. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Jan
"Chapter 19 Outline." Wadsworth Cenage Learning. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan
"Digital History." Digital History. N.p., 10 Jan Web. 10 Jan
"European Voyages of Exploration: The Sugar & Slave Trades." European Voyages of Exploration: The Sugar & Slave Trades. The Applied History Research Group, n.d. Web. 09 Jan
"Mercantilism." Investopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Jan
"The Middle Passage." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 10 Jan
"PortCities Bristol." How Many People Were Taken from Africa? Bristol City Council, n.d. Web. 08 Jan