explain how you think the slave trade began.. read the first hand account of what it was like for...
TRANSCRIPT
Warm up
Explain how you think the slave trade began.
Primary Source
Read the first hand account of what it was like for slaves during the Middle passage on while being sold and answer the accompanying questions
Columbian Exchange
Triangular trading network between Europe, America and African ports during colonial ( 1500’s-1800’s)
Path: Europe » Africa » North America » Europe
Item received here: Europe: Raw materials; ex: cotton,
tobacco, Sugar Africa: Rum, guns, textiles America: Slaves, rum, textiles
Origins of African Slaves
• First slave ships arrived in the colonies in 1619
•Beginning of African slavery in America
Why African’s?
Began in Portugal Prince Henry wanted to find a route to
Asia by sailing around Africa First slaves in Portugal in 1444 Other European nations followed Eventually slavery spread to the United
States because all the Native Americans (first slaves in the US) died from diseases (smallpox, cholerea, typhus) brought to them by Europeans
Portugal
Began as quest for gold and spices
Became trade network of exporting African slaves▪ First slaves in Portugal in 1444▪Other European nations followed
Slavery outlawed in England in the 1772. Why did it continue in colonies?
Slavery in colonies was motivated by capitalism. Plantation system depended upon that
labor to be financially viable
Pictures of slavery institutions
http://www.history.com/topics/slavery/photos#
Description of Middle Passage 5 ½ * 2 space for 2 slaves in the bottom
of the ship surrounded by hundreds of other slaves with no air circulation, shackled to the ground and not given any other space to go to the bathroom- lasted 5-12 months
20% of slaves on the trip died on shipMen brought over on the ship were
offered a better chance at survival than those in Africa. – Why?
Process of kidnapping
Most slaves came from the ports of West Africa from Senegal to Angola- Identities taken
African Kings would round them up and trade them for alcohol and weapons
European companies would buy them by the thousands at the African ports
Amistad- Middle Passage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgTGiWeRCWc
"Every morning, perhaps, more instances than one are found of the living and the dead fastened together."John Newton - Slave Ship Captain
Why is John Newton important?
He later wrote the song “Amazing Grace” about his experiences on the ships and how it changes his life.
Later became a proponent of abolition
What was the main reason the civil war was fought?
Slavery in the colonies
Slavery increased greatly in 1800’. What else is going on in history at this
time? Think back to World History….
In South Carolina the number of Africans outnumbered the European colonists
Resistence to Slavery
Slaves would find ways to derail the planting projects they were involved in by faking illness, breaking tools and staging work slow downs
Stono Rebellion The rebellion was stopped after a few days
but it was an eye opening experience for the masters of the South and led to a tightening of slave laws
Running away was also very popular- found refuge among Native American tribes