Triangular Trade

• The African slave trade was a system where Africans were captured and shipped to the Americas as slaves, then goods were shipped from the Americas to Europe, and finished goods were shipped from Europe to Africa.
• Europeans from the 15th to 19th century used people from Africa as a source of labor for their plantations in the western hemisphere
• The Triangular Trade:

  • Slaves were bought from Africa for European goods
  • Slaves worked on plantations to produce cash crops and materials for goods
  • Goods produced in Europe were sold in Africa for slaves
• Africa power was based on people, not land
• The Islamic Slave Trade established the trend of sending Africans out of Africa as slaves
• In 1518, the first slave ship from Africa arrived in the New World
• The Middle Passage was the trans-Atlantic journey of slaves aboard crowded ships, with a 50 percent mortality rate on early ships
• Impact of Slave Trade:

  • In the 18th century, 55,000 Africans were transported every year
  • 12 million people were forced into migration
  • 4 million died prior to arrival
  • 2/3 of slaves were male, leading slavers to continue buying more slaves for plantations
  • Polygamy became popular out of necessity in countries like Angola due to the slave trade
• African Diaspora refers to the dispersal of African people and their descendants
• Plantation societies:

  • Large farm estates were used to sell cash crops
  • Cash crops included sugar, tobacco, cotton, and coffee
• Regional differences:

  • In the Caribbean/South America, a high death rate led to a constant flow of new slaves
  • In North America, there was a lower death rate and families were generally supported
• Resistance to Slavery:

  • Resistance included fighting to maroon ships for freedom
  • Passive resistance such as slow work
  • The Saint Domingue Slave revolt formed the nation of Haiti in 1804
• African American Cultural traditions:

  • Creole is a language blended with several African dialects and European languages
  • Gullah and Geechee are common examples from South Carolina and Georgia
  • African faiths blended with Christianity creating Voodoo in Haiti, Santeria in Cuba, and Candomblé in Brazil
  • African Music blended rhythm and oratorical response into America
  • African Food terms like Gumbo and Okra are native to Africa
• The End of Slavery:

  • Abolitionism was promoted by Olaudah Equiano, an abolitionist who bought his freedom in 1766 and wrote a book discussing the cruelty of slavery
  • More plantations led to lower prices for cash crops
  • As profitability of slavery decreased, the institution also decreased
  • Denmark abolished the trade of slavery in 1803, followed by Britain in 1807, the U.S. in 1808, France in 1848, the U.S. in 1865, Cuba in 1886, Brazil in 1888, and Saudi Arabia in the 1960s