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Atlantic slave trade- effects
Effects of the trans atlantic slave trade
Causes and effects of the transatlantic slave trade
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There is no other experience in history where innocent African Americans encountered such a brutal torment. This infamous ordeal is called the Middle Passage or the “middle leg” of the Triangular Trade, which was the forceful voyage of African Americans from Africa to the New World. The Africans were taken from their homeland, boarded onto the dreadful ships, and scattered into the New World as slaves. 10- 16 million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic during the 1500’s to the 1900’s and 10- 15 percent of them died during the voyage. Millions of men, women, and children left behind their personal possessions and loved ones that will never be seen again. Not only were the Africans limited to freedom, but also lost their identity in the process. Kidnapped from their lives that throbbed with numerous possibilities of greatness were now out of sight and thrown into the never-ending pile of waste. The loathsome and inhuman circumstances that the Africans had to face truly describe the great wrongdoing of the Middle Passage. All were subject to harsh circumstances and the relentless fears of shipwreck and disease outbreaks. It took as long as five to twelve weeks, depending on the weather circumstances and point of departure. The captain and the crew workers treated the slaves like wild animals, giving them barely enough food to survive and leaving them to suffer with lice, fleas, and rats, which led to many diseases (“Middle Passage”). The records stated that about two –thirds of the fatalities were caused by malaria, yellow fever, and intestinal disorders (Postma 25). The enslaved Africans were linked with heavy iron chains around their hands and feet with barely enough room to lie down (Howarth). Constant odors of urine, vomit... ... middle of paper ... ..., 1995. Print. Howarth, J. "Recovered Histories." The Middle Passage. Web. 9 Jan 2010. . Kendler, Adam. "The Middle Passage." Slave Resistance. Edward E. Baptist, Web. 13 Dec 2009. . "Middle Passage." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 13 Dec. 2009 . Postma, Johannes. The Atlantic Slave Trade. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003. Print. Rediker, Marcus. The Slave Ship A Human History. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 2007. Print. "The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie." The Mel Fisher Maritime Museum. 2001. Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society, Inc., Web. 13 Dec 2009. .
One of the major questions asked about the slave trade is ‘how could so Europeans enslave so many millions of Africans?” Many documents exist and show historians what the slave trade was like. We use these stories to piece together what it must have been to be a slave or a slaver. John Barbot told the story of the slave trade from the perspective of a slaver in his “A Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea.” Barbot describes the life of African slaves before they entered the slave trade.
In order to appreciate how Incidents reaches beyond the slave narrative genre, one must first understand how it is perfectly in synch. The slave narrative, popularized between 1840 and 1865 largely due to the creative efforts of Frederick Doug...
Reynolds, Mary. The American Slave. Vol. 5, by Che Rawick, 236-246. Westport , Conneticut: Greenwood Press, Inc, 1972.
Klein, Herbert S. The middle passage: Comparative studies in the Atlantic slave trade. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press , 1978. 282. Print.
Olaudah Equiano wrote a novel about slavery and opened the eyes of many oblivious people around the world. His book was very powerful and it served to help during the abolition movement. He believed that the experience of the middle passage was completely demoralizing to Africans (Andrea 195). Referring to his experience, he writes, “I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me”. He changed peoples mind as he went deeper and deeper into the details of horrible things encountered during the Atlantic Slave Trade. He also informed readers if the slaves needed to go to the bathroom they would have to do so as they lay there. If the person above you went, their defecates would seep through the boards and land below. As the Atlantic Slave Trade was booming, the crew members started to take better care of the slaves knowing the more they brought back, the more money they would make. They didn’t take care for them because they were humans, they took “care” of them because they were property and damaged property means less
In the “Interpretive Essay”, Kenneth Banks discuses the consequences of the Atlantic slave trade. The negative effects on the Africans due to the Atlantic slave trade range from the influence on Africans societies and warfare, inhumane and atrocious living and working conditions, decrease of their population, and the long-term impact of bigotry. During the Atlantic save trade’s peak, the movement to abolish slavery started because it went against certain religious beliefs, several thinkers saw it as inefficient, and was unethical.
Bibb, Henry, and Charles J. Heglar. The Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb: An American Slave. Madison: University of Wisconsin, 2001. Print.
Slaves had an expanding economic force for the Europeans. “Trade between the Europeans and Africans created the first route of the triangular slave trade”. African citizens were “forcibly removed from their homes to never return”. Sales of Africans were classified as having the full cooperation of the “African kings” in return for various trade and goods. Africans who were exchanged were forced to walk chained to the coast of the Indian Ocean. Once at the coast they were stripped of all their clothes, men, women and children all alike with just a loincloth, or strips of blue tap for women to cover their chest area. Once the Africans boarded the ship they were divided by sex, males in the bowel of the ship and the women on the upper deck. The men would be chained side by side by their necks with barely enough room to move. African women were forced to do the “unmentionable acts”. Neither were fed or watered well, and the men would be forced to sit in their own “excrement, and vomit”. Once in awhile the men would be brought to the deck and rinsed off with cold water. While on deck they would be forced to dance to “entertain the ships crew”. Many Africans would try to “revolt” or commit “suicide”, when revolting against their captors many Africans would die. For as much as “3- 6 months” the Africans would endure these torments. Once the ship ported in the America’s shore, all the Africans would be “cleaned up and stripped naked to be sold”. Once the Africans were sold they were no longer Africans to the Merchants, they were product, and, no longer having rights as humans; they were caught into what is called chattel slavery. For approximately “246 years” African Americans would endure such bondage.
Those that were able to withstand the grueling conditions of the middle passage were than divided and redistributed for the economic gain of others. They were treated like savages, as slave owners strapped heavy metal shackles that covered their body. Linked together by chains, these slaves were again loaded and transported to the place they would call "home". A home quite different from what they were used to abroad.
The Middle Passage was a long voyage that African Americans endured just to get sold into slavery when the voyage was done. According to ushistory.org African Americans in slave ships were fed twice a day, and holes were cut in the deck to allow slaves to breath, but these holes were closed in bad weather such as storms, regardless of the attempts to keep the African Americans Alive and well most of them died of lack of water, food, and air. According to (pbs.org) slaves were stuffed between decks in spaces too low to stand, the heat was unbearable, and the air almost unbreathable. The women were used sexually, and the men were chained in pairs, slave ships were very crowded for the slaves, and slaves were forced to lie in their backs with their heads in between the legs of others, slaves would have to lie in each others feces,urine, and maybe even blood. In these slave ships diseases would spread very quickly, and sick slaves would of usually been thrown overboard to prevent an epidemic. Upon reaching the end of the voyage the remaining slaves that survived were cleaned, and checked by a doctor to see if they would make a good price at the ports, those slaves that were declared unfit to be so...
During the 1860s, the African Americans were forced to migrate across the Atlantic. The reason behind this was slavery, and it lasted between middle of the sixteenth century until 1980, making it the largest movement across the Atlantic before the 19th century (Lovejoy, 2002, pg. 141). The origin of the name ‘Middle Passage’ came about the crossing from Africa to America, and it acquired the name since it was the central point of the trade routes taken by many of the ships. This passage took imprisoned Africans from their motherland. The economies of the colonies in America such as the Carribean and Latin America were making development progress.
The transport of black Africans to the Americas by slave ship became known as the Middle Passage because it was the middle leg of the Triangular Trade route used by the European merchants. The African slaves were viewed as cargo by the merchants and were packed into the ships with no regard to their basic human rights. Slave ships could be either 'tight pack' or 'loose pack'. A 'tight pack' could hold many more slaves than the 'loose pack' because the amount of space allocated to each slave was considerably less, but more slaves would die on route to the Americas. The famous diagram above shows how slaves were tightly packed into the slave ships. Other slaves were forced to spend the voyage sitting on deck, as on the ship 'Wildfire', pictured
Northup, Solomon, Sue L. Eakin, and Joseph Logsdon. Twelve years a slave. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968. Print.
In July 1839, fifty-four African captives boarded the Amistad and head to the Americas. During their journey, they were able to break free of their chains and take over the ship. Despite their best efforts to sail back to Africa, they were once again captured and put on trial in the United States. Due to the current progress of the abolishment of slave trafficking, all that were captured on the Amistad were set free. However, this was not the fortune of millions of slaves both before and after the Amistad. Thousands of slaves died before making it to the Americas. Due to the cruelty and sanitation issues of the ship, those who did survive the grueling journey had to do so in unlivable conditions. The victims of the Middle Passage suffered ruthless treatment throughout their journey across the Atlantic Ocean.
conditions aboard ship were dreadful. The maximum number of slaves was jammed into the hull, chained to forestall revolts or suicides by drowning. Food, ventilation, light, and sanitatio...