The African Slave Trade

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Do Now In a couple of sentences, write what this
person might be thinking or saying
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The African Slave Trade
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Thoughts? 250 or 600?

• As a captain of a slave ship, with only profit in
  mind, do you carry pack the ship with 600 or more
  slaves or carry a much smaller amount of 200-300
  slaves?

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• 'It was not atypical to see a massive school of
  sharks darting in and out of the wake of the
  ships filled with human cargo plying the
  Atlantic. For miles they followed the battered
  and moldy vessels, waiting to attack the
  disease-ravaged black bodies that were
  periodically tossed into the ocean...
• If the Atlantic were to dry up, it would reveal a
  scattered pathway of human bones, African bones
  marking the various routes of the Middle Passage.'

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Background

• Before the arrival of the Europeans, it is
  estimated over 1 million people lived in Cuba25
  years later, only 2,500 were left.
• 1490- 30 million natives 1568- 3 million
• Europeans needed labor to harvest the natural
  resources they wantedexsugar cane, cotton,
  tobacco, indigo.

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Why Africans?

• Easily brought from the African coast as opposed
  to from anywhere else
• More immune to European disease than indigenous
  peoples
• advanced societies/skilled craftsmen

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The Middle Passage

• The part of the journey when slaves were
  transported across the Atlantic to arrive at the
  Caribbean, Brazil, and North America.

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The Journey

• Slaves captured in Africa and marched to the West
  coastoften a 1,000 mile march called death
  marches
• Roughly 42 went to the Caribbean, 38 went to
  Brazil, and 5 went to North America
• Most journeys from Africa to North America took
  2-3 months-roughly 54,000 journeys
• Ships carried from 250-600 slaves

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Conditions

• Packed in like spoonsthey could not even turnif
  lucky they had a space about 4 feet wide and 5
  feet high
• The slave hold would stink of urine, feces, and
  vomit
• Food usually served one bucket per ten menled to
  fighting and infection
• Maybe allowed out twice a week for exercise

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Slaves packed below deck
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Slave muzzle
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Conditions

• Slaves would be oiled upon their arrival to make
  their skin look healthier
• Scars from whipping would be filled in with hot
  tar as best as possible
• The stench from the slave ships would be so bad,
  that they would dock farther out and wait for
  smaller boats to pick up the cargo

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Causes of death

• Leading cause was dysentery
• Second leading cause was smallpox
• Third leading cause was simply miseryfeelings of
  sheer depression and hopelessness led to willing
  themselves to die
• Massive of suicides

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How many?

• The true numbers may never be knownbetween 12-50
  million people were taken from Africa between the
  15th and 19th centuryat least 10-20 died in
  transit

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What you had to look forward toplantation life

• Brandingestate marks in case you tried to run
  away
• Field work or maybe working in the boiler houses
  to extract sugar from the cane
• A life of endless toil and labor

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A boiler house
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What do you think?slave ship Zong

• Slave ship has outbreak of slave disease and lack
  of watercaptain decides to throw most slaves
  (living) overboard
• Cargo (slaves) were insured only if slaves were
  lost through drowning, not disease.
• Ships owner wanted compensation for the lost
  cargo since they did drown and did not actually
  die from illness.

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What do you think?slave ship Zong

• Jury rules in favor since you are allowed to kill
  animals for the safety of the ship.
• Case was retried and the court decided the slaves
  were peoplelandmark decision

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Fighting back

• There were often attempts at mutinies, but few
  met with success.
• Amistad is an exception1839, a ship filled with
  53 slaves is headed for a Cuban port.
• They revolt, kill the captain, and take over the
  ship

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Mutiny on the Amistad
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Amistad

• Crew steers the ship towards the United States
  and the Africans are taken into custodyAfricans
  thought they were going back to Africa.
• After a lengthy Supreme Court case, the slaves
  are pronounced free and allowed to return to
  Africa.

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• The British abolished the slave trade in 1807 and
  abolished slavery completely in all of their
  colonies on July 31, 1834.
• Most of the Northern states voluntarily abolished
  slavery by 1804. Lincoln's Emancipation
  Proclamation on January 1, 1863 to finally end
  slavery in the United States.
• The last Spanish colonies to abolish slavery in
  the America's were Puerto Rico and Cuba in 1873
  and 1880 respectively. Brazil became the last
  nation in the Americas to abolish slavery on May
  13, 1888.