2. Essential Question # 1
What were the reasons/causes of the
Transatlantic Slave Trade?
Slavery was already present in Africa
European colonies’ demand for Africans-
Native Americans had died due to
European disease, warfare, and poor
treatment
Spain and Portugal lead the way for the
slave trade
Goods were traded with African merchants
3. Essential question # 2
Why were Africans a benefit to
Europeans?
They already had immunity to European
diseases, because of their skin tone
they knew if they ran away.
They didn’t know the land unlike Native
Americans, and they had experience in
farming.
4. Essential Question # 3
How was the triangular trade done?
When Europeans traded goods and
resources to Africa, merchants had
exchanged for slaves and they went
across the Atlantic, going through the
Middle Passage. In the new colonies,
people bought goods and went back to
their country. The benefit of slaves was
the sugar market had grown.
5. Vocabulary
Transatlantic Slave Trade- the buying
and selling of Africans for work in the
Americas
Triangular Trade- a transatlantic trading
network
Middle Passage- the voyage that
brought captured Africans to the West
Indies and later to North and South
America
6. Slave life
Slaves have lived a brutal life and sometimes
they resisted. They resisted by working
long days with little food, breaking tools so
they wouldn’t have to work, uprooting
plants, and working slower, revolts had
also occurred against the Portuguese.
During the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Africans
had died of diseases and were filthy by the
time they had reached land. People were
also crammed with nothing but people and
darkness surrounding them. They were
auctioned and sold to the highest bidder.
7. Content
400,000 slaves were sold to Britain's,
current U.S. colony
1.7 million Africans were sent to West
Indies by the English
By 1830, there was 2 million slaves in
the U.S.
8. Review
Slavery was caused by the demand of
cheap labor in the European colonies.
Slaves were bought and sold on the
Transatlantic Slave Trade. African
merchants captured Africans and traded
them for guns and other things. The
journey to the colonies from Africa was
the Middle Passage, this was a tough
journey and many would die.
