AP World, Chapter 20

1. The Atlantic Slave
Trade

2. Journal#3
2
1. When did the slave trade begin?
2. What other types of labor were used before Africans?
3. Why would other Africans capture and sell other Africans into the slave trade?
4. What would a "tight packer" captain do on their ships?
5. What was the point of view of some Africans about whites?
6. What impact did the slave trade have on Africa? (list 2 impacts)
7. Why did slavery in America take on a more racial approach? What belief/theory
supported this?

3. The Atlantic Slave
Trade

4. Atlantic Slavery Notes
1. When?
2. Why?
3. Where?
4. How were they enslaved (phases)?
5. Triangular Trade
6. Fighting Back
7. Growth of Slavery
8. Punishments
9. Jobs
10. Freedom
4

5. Slavery Clips
History Channel: African Slave Trade
History Channel: Slavery in the Americas
Ain’t I a Woman (Sojourner Truth)
5

6. 6
The Atlantic Slave Trade
When?
•1450 - Spanish & Portuguese start slaving in Africa
•1865 - still smuggling slaves until the end of the civil war
• (technically illegal in 1808)

7. 7
The Atlantic Slave Trade
Why?
•Labor shortage (not enough workers)
•Diseases killed off natives
•Ethnocentrism –(feelings of superiority)
•Greed/Wealth
•NOT b/c of what was once believed to just have
been better field workers
•NOT motivated by prejudice

8. 8

9. Slaves were used for…
• Growing:
• Sugar
• Tobacco
• Coffee
• Cacao (chocolate)
9

10. 10

11. 11
The Atlantic Slave Trade
Where to?
5%
60%
35%
65%
30%
5%
Where from?

12. 12
Number of people enslaved
30 million taken from
their homes
10 million die during
capture phase
10 million die during
middle passage
10 million survive to
make it over the ocean

13. 13
Phases of the Slave Trade
Capture:
•Tribes often did not have a choice in helping capture
neighbors “divide and conquer”
•Most captured 50-100 miles inland

14. 14

15. 15

16. 16

17. 17

18. 18
Phases of the Slave Trade
West African expectations about slavery:
•A slave’s child would not be a slave
•Slaves were not slaves for life

19. 19
Phases of the Slave Trade
Capture:
Christiansborg Castle, Gold Coast, ca. 1750
Cape Coast Castle, Gold Coast, 1727
Slaves brought to “trading castles”

20. 20
Phases of the Slave Trade
2. The Middle Passage
•Journey over the Atlantic Ocean
•400-500 people in a boat with little air & much
disease

21. 21

22. 22

23. 23

24. 24

25. 25

26. 26

27. 27

28. 28

29. 29
Phases of the Slave Trade
2. The Middle Passage - Tight Pack
•Higher mortality, higher profits

30. The Middle Passage (History Channel)
30

31. 31
Phases of the Slave Trade
2. The Middle
Passage - Loose
pack
•Lower mortality,
lower profits

32. Life on the Slave Ship
•Branded to establish ownership
•Meals: boiled corn meal and beans, pint (half liter) of water with each
meal
•Slaves were made to “jump and dance” for an hour or two to keep them
fit
•Death was common among slaves in ship
32

33. 33
Phases of the Slave Trade
3. “Seasoning” -
•Brutal work camps, 4-5 months in Caribbean
•Meant to train people to be slaves

34. 34

35. Slave Auction
35

36. 36

37. 37

38. 38
Thinking Question:
Given how many people died during
the “Capture phase” or on the “Middle
passage,” what do you think went on
in the minds of the slave catchers
and slave traders?

39. 39
Triangle Trade
North America
The Carribean Africa
Molasses Rum, weapons
Slaves

40. 40
Growth of Slavery
Why Africans?
•Americas are desperate for labor
•Harder for Africans to run away than Native Americans
•African strengths - agricultural practices, resistance to
diseases

41. 41
Growth of Slavery
How did African slaves fight back?
•Open revolt (rare)
•Work slowdowns
•Breaking Tools
•Poisoning food

42. 42
Thinking Question:
While many slaves resisted, not all of
them did. What did they have to
lose?

43. 43
Growth of Slavery
How much did it grow?
•1800 - 1 million in slavery
•1860 - 4 million (1/3 of Southern population)

44. 44
Growth of Slavery
Why?
•Invented 1793 - made slavery VERY productive
•100x faster than by hand
•More efficient = more $ (so need more slaves)
Cotton Gin

45. Death/ Punishments
•Greatest killer was disease among slaves
•Deaths outnumbered births
•Life expectancy: 23 (males)/25.5 (females)
•Harsh conditions
•Whippings/Beatings
•Owners devised ways to shame slaves
into obedience (metal face masks, “iron
muzzle”)
45

46. 46

47. 47

48. 48

49. 49

50. 50

51. Slave Jobs
•“Great gang”= strongest slaves in the prime of
their lie, did the heaviest work
•“Grass gang”= children under the supervision of
elderly slaves
•“Driver”= privileged male slave who made sure
the gang got their work completed
•Nursing mothers brought their babies to fields
•Slaves ships brought twice as many males and
females
51

52. Freedom
• Manumission= legal grant of freedom by an owner
• More common in Brazil, Spanish and French
territory than in English territories
• Not uncommon for slave owner who fathered a
child by a female slave to give mother and child
their freedom
• Legal condition followed that of the mother, slave
families often struggled to free women in
childbearing years first so that the children would
be born free
52

53. Rest of Class:
1. Finish 4,8,15 Highlights (turn in
to inbox when done)
2. If time, start your Africa flash
cards (Definitions on
bakersapworld.blogspot.com)
53