The Terrible Transformation

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The Terrible Transformation

• The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

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I. European Exploration

• The years 1450 to 1750 brought enormous changes
  to the North American continent.
• 1. European explorers destroyed the world of the
  Native Americans.

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• 2. Europeans also began a trans-Atlantic slave
  trade that would bring millions of Africans to
  the Americas.
• a. This slave trade would over time lead to a new
  social and economic system one where the color
  of ones skin could determine whether he or she
  might live as free citizens or be enslaved for
  life.

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II. The British Colonies

• By the early 1600s, England was eager to gain a
  foothold on the North American continent.
• 1. Jamestown was first settled in 1607, and soon
  colonies up and down the east coast were being
  settled.

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• 2. Labor to clear the forest, tend the
  plantations and farms, and work in the developing
  seafaring industry became a crucial concern.

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• B. From 1619 on, the need for colonial labor was
  bolstered by the importation of African captives.
• 1. At first, Africans were treated as indentured
  servants, who would be free when their service
  was over.

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• 2. However, over the course of the century, a new
  race based slavery system developed, and by the
  1700s, the majority of Africans and
  African-Americans were slaves for life.

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III. Europeans Come to Western Africa

• The history of the European seaborne slave trade
  with Africa goes back 50 years prior to Columbus
  initial voyage to the Americas.

• 1. It began with the Portuguese, who went to West
  Africa in search of gold.

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• 2. Voyages were started by Prince Henry the
  Navigator who had these goals
• To expand European geographic knowledge.
• To find the source of African gold.
• To locate a sea route around Africa to Asia

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• B. In 1441, the Portuguese obtained gold from
  west African traders.
• 1. In 1442, the Portuguese obtained gold and ten
  African slaves.

• C. Forty years later in 1481, the Portuguese
  obtained permission to build a trading post in
  the Gulf of Guinea.

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1. They named the post Elmina, which means the
   mine, and is located in present day Ghana.
2. Although originally built for trade in gold and
   ivory, it was soon used to export slaves.

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• D. Africans were either captured in warring raids
  or kidnapped and taken to slave forts by African
  traders.

• 1. Slaves were exchanged for iron, guns,
  gunpowder, knives, cloth, and beads.

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• E. When Europeans arrived along the west African
  coast, slavery already existed on the continent.
• 1. However, it was vastly different than the
  brutal form of slavery that would develop in the
  Americas.

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• 2. It was actually more like European serfdom.
• a. African slavery NEVER passed from one
  generation to another and lacked the notion that
  whites were the masters and blacks were the
  slaves.

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• F. Within 300 years, Europeans made more that
  54,000 voyages to trade in human beings and sent
  at least 10 to 12 million Africans to the
  Americas.

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IV. African Slave Trade and the Middle Passage

• A. The slave trade devastated African life.
  Culture and traditions were torn apart. Guns were
  introduced and slave raids increased.

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• B. After kidnapping potential slaves, merchants
  forced them to walk in slave caravans to the
  European coastal forts, sometimes as far as 1000
  miles.

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• Shackled and underfed, only half of the people
  would survive these death marches.
• a. Those too sick or too weary to keep up were
  killed or left to die.

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• 2. Those who reached the forts were put into
  dungeons where they would stay until they were
  boarded on ships.

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C. The Middle Passage

1. Refers to the transport of slaves across the
   Atlantic.
2. A typical Atlantic crossing took 60 to 90 days.

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• 3. Africans were treated like cattle during the
  crossing.
• They were stuffed between decks in areas too low
  to stand.
• The heat was unbearable and the air nearly
  unbreathable.

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• c. Women were often abused sexually.
• d. People were crowded together, usually forced
  to lie on their backs with their head between the
  legs of others.

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• e. This meant often times they had to lie in
  urine, feces, and blood.
• f. Yellow fever, smallpox, and other diseases
  spread easily.

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• 4. Between 1 million to 2 million people died on
  the Middle Passage.