The Slave Trade Why did the colonies need

The Slave Trade Why did the colonies “need” slaves ? What was the journey like for a slave?

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) 2

The Atlantic Slave Trade Why? (3 reasons combined) • Labor shortage (not enough workers) • Why? ? • Ethnocentrism –(feelings of superiority) • Why reasons could people offer? • Greed • What did people want? 3

The Atlantic Slave Trade Where from? Where to? 5% 60% 65% 35% 4 30% 5%

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 5

Phases of the Slave Trade Capture: • Most captured 50 -100 miles inland • Tribes often did not have a choice in helping capture neighbors “divide and conquer” 6

Slavery isn’t a new thing Slavery had been around for a really long time but how people were treated as slaves changed during this time! 7

Phases of the Slave Trade West African expectations about slavery: • Slaves were not slaves for life • A slave’s child would not be a slave 8

Phases of the Slave Trade Capture: Cape Coast Castle, Gold Coast, 1727 9 Christiansborg Castle, Gold Coast, ca. 1750

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 10

Phases of the Slave Trade 2. The Middle Passage - Tight Pack • Higher mortality, higher profits 11

Phases of the Slave Trade 2. The Middle Passage - Loose pack • Lower mortality, lower profits 12

Phases of the Slave Trade 3. “Seasoning” • Brutal work camps, 4 -5 months in Caribbean • Meant to train people to be slaves 13

Thinking Question: (Don’t write down – just think!) 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? 14

Triangle Trade North America Molasses The Carribean 15 Rum, weapons Slaves Africa

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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 17

Growth of Slavery How did African slaves fight back? • Open revolt (rare) • Work slowdowns • Breaking Tools • Poisoning food 18

Thinking Question: (Don’t write down – just think!) While many slaves resisted, not all of them did. What did they have to lose? 19

Growth of Slavery How much did it grow? • 1800 - 1 million in slavery • 1860 - 4 million (1/3 of Southern population) 20

Growth of Slavery Why? Cotton Gin • Invented 1793 - made slavery VERY productive • 100 x faster than by hand • More efficient = more $ (so need more slaves) 21

Limiting Rights Slave Codes: treated enslaved Africans not as human beings but as property Racism: The belief that one race is superior to another 22