The Slave Trade

Objectives Students will be able to: Identify why Europeans became interested in

Africa. 

Explain why millions of Africans were sent to the Americas as slaves. 

Investigate how the Atlantic slave trade affected Africa. 

ExplorationPrince Henry of Portugal wanted to find a sea

route around Africa to India.

He sent explorers to Map the coast of west Africa and to find gold.

1488 - Bartholomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa (Cape of Good Hope)

1498- Vasco da Gama took Dias’s route and reached India by Sea.

ExplorationEuropeans built small trading posts on the

coast.

Traded with west Africans for sugar, Ivory, gold and pepper.

The Europeans brought Christian missionaries to Africa.

The goal of the missionaries was to convert Africans to Christianity.

Slaves in AfricaSlaves in Africa were either people who were

captured during war or people who sold themselves into slavery during times of famine.

Slaves were viewed as part of village.

They were treated as servants.

Slaves could become full members of society.

The Beginning of the Slave TradeIn the 1400’s the Europeans began to bring a small

amount of slaves to Europe.

When the Europeans began to settle the Americas the need for slaves grew.

At first, Native Americans were used to mine silver, gold and to work on plantations.

Many of the Native Americans died so they needed to find new sources of cheap labor.

The Atlantic Slave Trade Europeans began to capture Africans and

ship them to the Americas.

As the demand for slaves grew, so did the profits.

Racism

Whites began to look at the Africans as inferior beings.

Racism was a tool used to justify slavery.

How did the Europeans get Slaves? Local African rulers supplied the Europeans

with slaves.

They were paid with guns and other manufactured goods.

Once the African slave traders had guns they were able to attack entire villages, capturing even more slaves.

Resistance

Some Africans tried to rebel on the ships.

Some Africans jumped overboard to avoid slavery.

Conditions on Slave Ships

Africans were tightly packed onto the ships.

Many Africans died of diseases on the ships.

Ending the Slave TradePeople in Europe began to speak out against

slavery.

In the 1700’s important European thinkers began to talk about human rights and began the abolition movement.

Groups such as the Quakers began to support abolition.

Ending the Slave TradeMany freed Africans such as Fredrick

Douglas in America began to tell their own stories of slavery.

1807- Britain outlawed the slave trade.

Britain was able to convince other nations to join the ban.

The ban did not end slavery.

Ending the Slave Trade

Britain passed a law banning slavery in 1833.

The United States ended slavery in 1865 with the 13th Amendment.

Effects of the Slave TradeEurope began to industrialize and no longer

needed slaves.

Instead they needed Africa’s raw materials.

The slave trade encouraged wars and created tensions between neighboring tribes.

Economic Impacts of the Slave Trade

Raiders took healthy young men and women.

Without these young men and women there was no one to reproduce and grow the crops.

African Diaspora

The African Diaspora spread ideas, customs and beliefs to other continents.

African musical traditions, proverbs, foods, religious beliefs and artistic styles took root in these new regions.

Going Back to AfricaSome Africans wanted to return to Africa

when slavery was abolished.

In 1787 the British established Sierra Leone for freed slaves.

The United states organized Liberia for freed slaves which became independent in 1847.