Slavery:

The definition of slavery, is when an individual is exploited by others, for personal or

commercial gain. Whether tricked, coerced, or forced, they lose their freedom. A person who
opposes slavery is known as an abolitionist.
Transatlantic Slave Trade:
It was The segment of the global slave trade that transported between 10 million and 13 million
enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas from the 16th to the 19th century. It
was the second of three stages of the so-called triangular trade, in which arms, textiles, and wine
were shipped from Europe to Africa.
Origin of trans-Atlantic slave trade:
The transatlantic slave trade began during the 15th century when Portugal, and subsequently
other European kingdoms, were finally able to expand overseas and reach Africa. The
Portuguese first began to kidnap people from the west coast of Africa and to take those they
enslaved back to Europe.
Northern European powers soon followed Portugal and Spain into the transatlantic slave trade.
The majority of African captives were carried by the Portuguese, Brazilians, the British, French,
and Dutch. British slave traders alone transported 3.5 million Africans to the Americas.
The major Atlantic slave-trading nations, in order of trade volume, were Portugal, Britain, Spain,
France, the Netherlands, and Denmark. Several had established outposts on the African coast,
where they purchased slaves from local African leaders.
The transatlantic slave trade involved several countries including:

 European countries: Portugal, Spain, England, France, Netherlands, Sweden, and

Denmark.
 African countries: Many African countries along the coast were involved in capturing and
selling slaves to European traders.
 American countries: The Americas, including the Caribbean and South America, were
the destinations for the enslaved Africans.

Causes for the Transatlantic Slave Trade:

European countries became involved in the transatlantic slave trade for various reasons:

 Economic reasons: European demand for cheap labor for their colonies in the Americas
and the Caribbean led to the establishment of the slave trade.
 Political reasons: European competition for colonies and trade routes led to the
establishment of slave-based economies in the Americas.
  Religious reasons: European religious authorities saw the slave trade as a way to convert
enslaved Africans to Christianity.
 THE SHORTAGE OF LABOUR: Enslaving indigenous peoples did not meet the needs
of the Europeans. Local populations were too small to meet the planters' demands. Death
rates were high due to:
o lack of immunity to European disease epidemics such as smallpox
o the ill-treatment and killing of those who resisted
o the harsh conditions of slavery

African countries became involved due to a combination of factors:

 Economic reasons: European demand for slaves created a market for enslaved Africans,
which some African tribes and kingdoms began to exploit by capturing and selling other
African tribes.
 Political reasons: Some African tribes and kingdoms used the slave trade as a tool for
gaining power and wealth over their neighbors.
 Social reasons: Some African tribes and kingdoms enslaved people as a form of
punishment or as a result of inter-tribal wars.

By the 1480s Portuguese ships were already transporting Africans for use as slaves on the sugar
plantations in the Cape Verde and Madeira islands in the eastern Atlantic. Spain and Portugal
began establishing colonies in the New World about 1500. The Spanish and Portuguese initially
enslaved local Indians and put them to work on plantations, but, as the violence of conquest and
as European diseases took their toll on the native populations, the Spanish and Portuguese
increasingly brought enslaved people over from Africa. By the 17th century Britain, France, and
Holland had also established colonies in the New World. They similarly established plantations
that relied on African slave labor. The system that emerged became known as the triangular trade
because it had three stages that roughly form the shape of a triangle when viewed on a map. The
first stage began in Europe, where manufactured goods were loaded onto ships bound for ports
on the African coast. There the goods were exchanged for enslaved people. The transatlantic
slave trade was the second stage of the triangular trade—the shipment of enslaved people across
the Atlantic Ocean. The shipment to Europe of plantation crops and products made from them
was the third leg of the triangular trade. Among the most valuable exports to Europe were sugar,
tobacco, cotton, molasses, and rum.
Conditions of Slaves:
Slaves were often mistreated and beat up if they disobeyed orders or did not do work properly. slaves
were also taken from their villages at a young age and abused. they were also sold at quite a low cost.
once bought they would usually be fed very little and were given no place to sleep. slaves usually lived in
poorly built huts and there were usually up to 16 slaves in 1 room.

Condition of Slaves during Transport:

66% of slaves were men, 26% were women and the rest were children. Around 47% of the slaves died
on ship. Slaves were kept in small shelves on ship so they had to lay down suffocating for most of the
journey. When the slaves were allowed to get out of their shelves they would usually eat and were also
allowed to exercise. Their meals were either cornmeal/beans and 1 litre of water every day. They crew
did not give food and allow them to exercise for sympathy but because they had to stay alive to work
when they are off the ship. People would jump of the ship to die and end the horror. When a slave dies
their body were thrown off ship as well. Sharks were always surrounding the ship due to this. Slaves
were also branded with a H on their shoulder, breast or chest. A lot of slaves died of White Flux,
otherwise known as Dysentery which is an infectious diarrhea. Others died of small pox. Cpt Philips also
mentions how captains on other ships would punish slaves who disobeyed commands or tried to jump
over board like by cutting off their arms and legs. The men who tried to jump and failed were cut deep
with knives or whipped until their blood stained the wooden deck.

THE MIDDLE PASSAGE and Trade Triangle:

The Middle Passage was the harrowing voyage experienced by the millions of African captives
transported across the Atlantic in European ships, to work as slaves in the Americas. Conditions on
board slave ships were appalling: huge numbers of people were crammed into very small spaces. Men,
women and children were separated, families being torn apart.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pRm-imQb_vdBzTCDnCaZllLs5-l4jPHP/view
Effects of Slavery in Africa:

The effect of the transatlantic slave trade in Africa was devastating. The ones who weren't lost on the
way were later tortured, traded, sold and forced into hard labor.

No society can thrive after losing its youth for 400 hundred years without paying a huge undeserved
price. Slavery completely destroyed Africa's civilization and is one of the biggest causes for the
underdeveloped of Africa till this day.

The people who could have helped in this period were enslaved and because of the undeveloped and
weak societal structure back in this time they were unable to effectively resist the Europeans causing the
Europeans to easily be able to colonize Africa.

Even till today the mental and psychological impact of the Slave trade still haunts many people.

The transatlantic trade opened the trade routes between the continent and the rest of the world.

The slave trade had devastating effects in Africa. Economic incentives for warlords and tribes to engage
in the slave trade promoted an atmosphere of lawlessness and violence. Depopulation and a continuing
fear of captivity made economic and agricultural development almost impossible throughout much of
western Africa. There was and still is impoverishment of the content. As most of their resources (Ex.
Gold) were stolen by the Europeans.

Effects of Slavery on Europe and America:

The factory owners could get free laborers to work in their factories. It aided in the industrialization of
Europe and America.
The plantation owners could get cheap laborers to work in their plantations leading to massive
production of the crops.

The European countries became powerful enough to establish colonies all over the world, especially in
Africa.

https://youtu.be/dCRigLwx4yY

Abolition of Slavery:

https://www.canva.com/design/DAFPYFtM6cQ/7OT4IU-yPo8nIm6AnB0sNw/view?
utm_content=DAFPYFtM6cQ&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutt
on#19

Condition of slaves after the Abolition of Slavery in Britain:

The abolition act was passed in 1807 making it illegal for anyone to buy or own a person but even then
the adult slaves weren't completely freed during this time they had become ‘apprentices’ The
apprenticeships were designed to prepare former slaves for independent living, but abolitionists saw
them as 'but another name for slavery'. Apprentices were poorly paid, or unpaid and were still subject to
harsh plantation discipline.

In British colonies, slavery carried on as before, until the Parliament passed an Emancipation Act in 1833.
This was achieved by a combination of active resistance in the Caribbean and campaigning in Britain.
Even then, full emancipation was not granted until 1838 when a period of unpaid labour ended and
800,000 people were freed across the British Caribbean. But Parliament also voted to pay the plantation
owners £20 million in compensation. No payment was made to the ex-slaves.

Condition of slaves after the Abolition of Slavery in America:

During the American civil war Many slaves ended up in encampments called "contraband camps" that
were often near union army bases. However, conditions were unsanitary and food supplies limited.
Some contraband camps were actually former slave pens, meaning newly freed people ended up being
kept virtual prisoners back in the same cells that had previously held them. In many such camps disease
and hunger led to many deaths. Often the only way to leave the camp was to agree to go back to work
on the very same plantations from which the slaves had recently escaped.

The Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 freed African Americans in rebel states, and after the Civil War,
the Thirteenth Amendment emancipated all U.S. slaves wherever they were. As a result, the mass of
Southern blacks now faced the difficulty Northern blacks had confronted—that of a free people
surrounded by many hostile whites. The nation was still unprepared to deal with the question of full
citizenship for its newly freed black population.

For African Americans in the South, life after slavery was a world transformed. Gone were the brutalities
and indignities of slave life, the whippings and sexual assaults, the selling and forcible relocation of
family members, the denial of education, wages, legal marriage, homeownership, and more. African
Americans celebrated their newfound freedom both privately and in public jubilees. But life in the years
after slavery also proved to be difficult. Although slavery was over, the brutalities of white race prejudice
persisted.

After slavery, state governments across America instituted laws known as Black Codes. These laws
granted certain legal rights to blacks, including the right to marry, own property, and sue in court, but
the Codes also made it illegal for blacks to serve on juries, testify against whites, or serve in state
militias. The Black Codes also required black sharecroppers and tenant farmers to sign annual labor
contracts with white landowners. If they refused they could be arrested and hired out for work.

Family, church, and school became centers of black life after slavery. With slavery’s end, black women
often preferred to be homemakers, though poverty pushed many back into the workforce. Black
churches became centerpieces of African American culture and community, not only as places of
personal spiritual renewal and communal worship but also as centers for learning, socializing, and
political organization. Black ministers were community leaders.

African Americans’ desire for education found expression in the establishment of schools at every level,
from grade schools for basic-education to the founding of the nation’s first black colleges such as Fisk
University and Howard University. The Freedmen’s Bureau (1865-1870), a government agency
established to aid former slaves, oversaw some 3,000 schools across the South, and ran hospitals and
healthcare facilities for the freedmen.

Racism and economic inequality between black and the white people were significant legacies of
slavery. Freedom from slavery was a major success, but it was also the start of a new battle: the fight for
equal rights. It is a fight which continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries and continues to this
day.

https://youtu.be/3NXC4Q_4JVg