Millions of Africans were captured and forced onto crowded slave ships where they endured months of horrific conditions as they were transported across the Atlantic Ocean against their will. Shackled together in the ship's cargo hold with little room to move or use the bathroom, captives suffered immensely from disease, starvation, and physical abuse during the Middle Passage. It is estimated that over 6 million Africans survived the transatlantic journey only to face lives of forced labor and exploitation in the Americas, with many millions more dying during the raids, captivity, and voyage. The physical and demographic impact of the slave trade was immense and long-lasting.

1. African Slave Trade
African captives, mostly the males, were shackled and chained, like sardines in a can, to gain maximum
cargo capacity. There was limited space to move or even to answer the call of nature, forcing the captives
to urinate and defecate upon each other. The stench was horrendous! During hot weather, this alone was
an unimaginable nightmare! Try to think of yourself being restrained under such conditions for a two-
month journey across the Atlantic Ocean!
Many African captives committed suicide by leaping into the ocean when they got the chance. Other
captives refused to eat the rotten gruel. Their front teeth were knocked out and a funnel was inserted
down their throat to force feed them. A loaded slave ship ready to depart from Africa and begin the voyage
across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. This voyage was called the Middle Passage. Millions of
Africans made this trip over the course of three Centuries. Africans did not make this voyage seeking
opportunities. They did not make this voyage to find a better life. In fact, they were forced to make this
voyage in order to live out their lives working, without pay for Europeans. Most of these Africans would
never set foot in Africa again, nor would most of their descendents ever see Africa.
The captives came from many cultures and few spoke the same language. When they were bought by the
Captains of the European ships, they looked wretched from months of deprivation in the dungeons of their
holding prisons. Europeans assumed that these Africans were sub-human because they could not speak
the European language. They thought that they were better off serving white men in America, than living
like how they appeared when they were purchased. In reality, the African captives were being
transshipped from a relative life of plenty into a relative life of horrors, brutality, hunger and utter
degradation!
The volume of the African Slave Trade grew rapidly in West Africa after the European Discovery of the
New World and reached its peak in the eighteenth century. Philip Curtin, a leading authority on the African
slave trade, estimates that roughly 6.3 million slaves were shipped from West Africa to North America and
South America, about 4.5 million of that number between 1701 and 1810. Perhaps as high a number as
5,000 a year were shipped from the Slave Coast alone.
The demographic impact of the slave trade on West Africa was probably substantially greater than the
number actually enslaved because a significant number of Africans perished during slaving raids or while
© Sadigh Gallery Ancient Art, Inc. ( 303 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1603 ( New York, NY 10016 ( 800.426.2007 ( www.sadighgallery.com (
info@sadighgallery.com

2. in captivity awaiting transshipment. Thousands of Africans died on the countless voyages that brought
enslaved Africans to the Americas. The slave ship Henrietta Marie perished off the Florida Keys in 1700.
She is the first and only shipwreck verified as a slave cargo ship. The greenish lettering of her ship's bell,
the remains of her cargo and still-intact iron shackles gave her away. The physical evidence is there for us
to touch. The shackles are but one brutal detail of how African captives were treated on their forced
immigration to the Americas.
© Sadigh Gallery Ancient Art, Inc. ( 303 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1603 ( New York, NY 10016 ( 800.426.2007 ( www.sadighgallery.com (
info@sadighgallery.com