African Slave Trade

Commodity to Cargo to Cash

Slavery in America

was caused by a need for cheap labor to mine precious metals . . .

and work on plantations growing cash crops.

The major cash crop in the southern United States during the early 1800s was cotton.

The transAtlantic trade in slaves resulted in the largest forced migration in history.

It was made possible because black Africans were willing to enslave their neighbors in exchange for a

temporary advantage.

Many Africans departed from the island of Goree in Senegal.

It established a permanent link between Africa and the Americas.

“Middle Passage”• part of the triangular trade route

connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas in the 1700s

• voyages lasted ten or more weeks

• an estimated 15 to 25% died sic transit

Slaves were crammed into cargo holds.

These “cargoes” averaged about 170 slaves per ship.

Not all voyages ended as violently as that of the Amistad.

Distinctives of theAfrican Slave Trade

1. People were treated as goods (commodities) to be traded.

2. Volume (amount).3. Slavery was a permanent

condition.

Roughly 500,000 made it to North America.

About 6,000,000 survived the trip.

How many slaves originally started the trip, if there was a 25% casualty rate?

8,000,000

How many began the voyages if there was a 15% casualty rate?

How many ships would have been needed to transport this many people over the course of a century?

Political instability in West Africa after the collapse of the Wolof empire contributed to the success of the slave trade.

Senegambians (mixed-bloods)

often ended-up as house servants.

West Africans in general were thought to make good domestics.

People from the Grain Coast were

often employed growing rice,

tobacco, and maize.

Angolans were thought to make good field hands.

One-third of all people of African

descent lived outside Africa by 1850!

“One volunteer is better than ten forced men.”

- African proverb