Chapter 2 Section 5: Beginnings of Slavery in the Americas

The Age of European Exploration and Colonization

Western European countries expand during 15th century
Explore, conquer, and colonize Trade
Eastern markets of India, China, and Japan New World
Demand for laborers led to Atlantic slave trade

 In 15th century, slaves used as domestic servants on Iberian Peninsula Other European countries had large work forces and little need for slaves Purchased from African traders
Portugal and Spain dominated slave trade in 16th century Dutch dominated 17th century English dominated 18th century

Growth of the Atlantic Slave Trade

Demand for labor in 16th century Spanish gold and silver mines Portuguese sugar plantations Tobacco, rice and indigo

Growth of the Atlantic Slave Trade (cont.)

Harsher in the Americas
Based on race Most were males Believed they were stronger laborers than females West African women did farm work Agricultural workers Chattel
Lost rights as human beings

Slave Colonies of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Map 22. Slave Colonies of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. This map indicates regions in North America, the West Indies, and South America that had, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, significant populations of enslaved people of African descent.

Atlantic Trade Among the Americas, Great Britain, and West Africa During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Map 23. Atlantic Trade Among the Americas, Great Britain, and West Africa During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Often referred to as a triangular trade, this map shows the complexity of early modern Atlantic commerce, of which the slave trade was a major part.

V. The African-American Ordeal from Capture to Destination

Slavery: byproduct of war between kingdoms European traders provided firearms
Did not instigate fighting

Late-Eighteenth-Century Drawing

In this late-eighteenth-century drawing, African slave traders conduct a group of bound captives from the interior of Africa toward European trading posts.
SOURCE: Culver Pictures, Inc.

The African-American Ordeal from Capture to Destination (cont.)

High mortality
Exhaustion, suicide, murder Long, forced marches from interior to coast

Factories served as
Headquarters for traders Warehouses for trade goods Pens or dungeons for captives

The Crossing
Canary Islands to the Windward Islands 40 to 180 days to reach the Caribbean Pirates attacked Spanish ships Frightening experience

The Slavers
Small and narrow ships Two slaves per ship-tonnage formula Most captains were tight packers
Ignored formula in the name of profits

The Slavers (cont.)

Crowded, unsanitary conditions
Slaves rode on planks 66 x 15
only 20 25 of headroom

Males chained together in pairs Kept apart from women and children High mortality rates
One-third perish between capture and embarkation

British Slave Ship

Plan of the British Slave Ship Brookes, 1788. This plan, which may undercount the human cargo the Brookes carried, shows how tightly Africans were packed aboard slave ships.

Conclusion
More than eleven million Africans brought to the Americas during three centuries of trade
Millions more died Most arrived between 1701 and 1810 Only 500,000 reached the British colonies of North America