The Age of European Expansionism A Lesson in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the Horrors of the Middle Passage
The Age of European Expansionism
A Lesson in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the Horrors of
the Middle Passage
The transatlantic slave trade was the trade of African people supplied to the colonies of the “New World" that occurred in and around the Atlantic Ocean.
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
Africa
Europe
The America
s
Atlantic
Ocean
The Atlantic Slave Trade
Began in the 1500s
What purpose did the trans-Atlantic slave trade serve?
The Atlantic Slave Trade
Purpose:• To fill the need for labor in Spain’s American
empire • Eventually provided labor for British and
French colonies in the Americas
Triangular Trade
What is triangular trade?
Triangular Trade Hint: It is not the trading of
triangles… Hey! Sweet triangle dude!
Want to trade it for a chicken leg?
Triangular Trade
Triangular trade is trade between three ports or regions.
Most famous: West Africa, the Americas, and Europe
The Middle Passage The Middle Passage was the sea lane
west from Africa that carried abducted or recently purchased African slaves.
The Middle Passage
1 - 6 month journey (weather dependent)
Estimated 11+ million Africans
A 1 - 6 month cruise sounds good, right?
Middle Passage Problems:
• Overcrowding• Disease• Brutal, inhuman treatment
Many died due to poor conditions• Dysentery• Scurvy• Starvation• Smallpox
Journal Exercise Use the next 2 minutes to write a 2-3
sentence response to the following prompt:
Would it be better to live and be a slave, or commit suicide to avoid slavery? Explain
Primary Source Reading Excerpt from
Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography
Activity: African Slave Quilt Think about what you’ve read and
heard today. For homework (due tomorrow), write
a letter from a captured slave’s perspective.
See your rubric for criteria. Use your imagination - be creative
and have fun!!