The “Triangular Trade” was the trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. They traded crops, goods, and slaves. The transportation of slaves from Africa to the New World is what has been labeled as the “Middle Passage.” Many accounts have been documented about this transportation, in the eyes of historians, crew members of the actual ships, and even slaves who went through this voyage themselves. All of them have a different way of describing how the Middle Passage was truly experienced. However, when looking at them in a general sense, a very clear conclusion can be made: slaves were kept in a horrific environment, which often affected the crew on board, but the only reason the slaves were kept alive was because the white crews saw them as monetary beings rather than human beings. The conditions of the ships were so …show more content…
From Alexander Falconbridge, a doctor who served on the British slave ships, “They are frequently stowed so close, they can only lie on their sides… The exclusion of the fresh air is among the least tolerable,,, the floor of their rooms was so covered with blood and mucus because of the flux, that it resembled a slaughter-house” (Doc C). This document describes the heinous conditions that these slaves stayed in. Considering that this is coming from a doctor of the ships, you could look at this as a reliable source. A doctor has no reason to lie about the state of a ship, and even in the same document there’s a comment on how doctors wouldn’t work there if they didn’t need the money. So there may be a chance for bias, but it is highly unlikely. You can find many documents talking about it, but there’s one document that shares a different perspective. According to Thomas Phillips, a captain of one these slaves ships, “There happened such sickening and mortality among my poor men and Negroes. Of the first we buried 14, and of the last 320… The
The Middle Passage, the second, or middle, leg in the triangular trading routes linking America, Africa, and Europe, was the name for the voyage of the slaves across the Atlantic Ocean. America was the popular destination for people selling slaves because they were sold for up to thirty times the price of the slaves sold in Africa. The higher amount of money made by selling the slaves in America caused a number of crammed vessels full of African-American men, women, and children to head through the Ocean towards America. The conditions on the ships were horrible for the slaves. The slaves were chained to the decks by their necks and legs, and the enslaved people were so packed that they could not even turn around. Death of many of the slaves
The Middle Passage was the last leg of the trip by sea in which the African slaves rode in the cargo hold of the ship until it reached the West Indies or America. This trip could last up to 2-3 months. The slaves were kept in the cargo hold and were packed so tightly that there was no room to sit or stand. Many of the slaves died in the middle passage for one of three things. Many died of asphyxiation because of how hot the air was in the cargo hold. Some died of starvation, but most died of diseases. When the ship reached the Americas the slaves would be auctioned off never to see their families again.
The triangular trade route brought slaves over from Africa to sell to plantation owners in the colonies. The Africans were on a ship for over a month in horrible conditions, they barely received any food or water, and could hardly sit or stand. If they became sick or died the were tossed over the deck into the sea. If they refused to eat the food they were given, they were whipped. If the slaves lived through the terrible journey they were taken to the slave market to be sold.
The Middle Passage is an event in history that is forgotten and there recognition needs to be on those affected by this event. The Middle Passage was a slave trade that took place between 1450 and 1860. This was an occurrence that was not seen cruel at the time. Slaves were under awful condition and treated poorly. When they were sent on a ship, the conditions for them consisted of the slaves chained close together while standing. If they did not want to eat or did not eat when they were commanded to eat, they were violently abused. Many slaves lost their lives on these voyages and many became sick. The treatment of the slaves were unspeakable. Those in charge of the slaves during the voyages had no respect for the slaves’ needs and drained
1. The Triangular Trade was a journey that took around 12 weeks and consisted of the Colonies, Europe, Africa, and the Indies. There were three routes that took place in order for every country to benefit from the journey through the pacific ocean. Trade was a major factor that took place to allow every country to give and recieve something they needed 2. Around 18 million African slaves were
The Middle Passage was a triangular route that was frequently used by many European nations who engaged in the Atlantic slave trade of millions of Africans. One such African slave was a man by the name of Olaudah Equiano, who 's autobiography spoke of the mortality rate on slave ships, what he and his fellow slaves thought of their European captors, and what their captors thought of them.
The Middle Passage was part of the triangular trade that existed between America, Europe, and Africa. It was an extremely harsh boat ride in which slaves from Africa were brought to the West Indies. The Africans were tightly packed
Of all the horrid and cruel events in history that changed the course of the world, the Middle Passage was the worst, both for those who experienced it and their descendants. This journey, between the African continent and the Americas, killed 2 million Africans either due to disease, starvation, suicide, or revolt. In its own way, the Middle Passage was murder for the 12-60 million Africans, who were either captured or sold into slavery, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Of course, for the nations who profited from the horror of the slaves, there was nothing wrong with the process, and the Africans should be happy that they were “rescued” from their drab and unprofitable lives. However, those who took the long and hard journey of
The introduction of international trade throughout the continent provided the Americas with goods once thought unattainable. Different trade routes began to stem from the original triangle route. All of these routes had one goal; to transport the goods in high demand in the most time and cost efficient way. The different branches were trading systems between the America’s, Europe, and Africa. Through these routes, captains traded goods and services such as slaves, sugar, tobacco, cotton, textiles, and many other manufactured goods. One history changing route was the Middle Passage. The course of this route was used to transport kidnapped Africans so they could be enslaved in the Americas. Within a three hundred year period, it is
The trade of Africans was part of Triangular trade, from Europe to Africa, Africa to the Americas, and the Americas back to Europe. The journey from Africa across the Atlantic was known as the Middle Passage. For many months, enslaved Africans were treated terribly on the voyage. Slaves were packed on top of each other into the bottom of the ship. African men wore iron chains around their wrists and legs and had little room to move. The chains and cuffs prevented revolts and escapes. Revolting slaves would be shot or drowned. Women and children were sometimes
In discussions of the Atlantic Slave Trade, the term “Middle Passage” often arises. The Middle Passage was the stage of the triangular trade in which millions of Africans were shipped to the New World as part of the Atlantic Slave trade. The journey was one of the most horrific aspects of the morally deplorable system of slavery. Death was a constant threat as diseases, starvation, asphyxiation and severe depression rampantly claimed the lives of African and the ship’s crew. Throughout this essay you will understand the tragic journey of the slaves and what hardships they had to go through.
The Slave Ship by Marcus Rediker is a great fiction novel that describes the horrifying experiences of Africans, seamen, and captains on their journey through the Middle Passage. The Middle Passage marked the water way in the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas. The use of slaves provided a great economy for the European countries due to the fact that these African slaves provided free labor while cultivating sugar cane in the Caribbean and America. Rediker describes the slave migration by saying, “There exists no account of the mechanism for history’s greatest forced migration, which was in many ways the key to an entire phase of globalization” (10). This tells us that African enslavement to the Americas causes a complete
Natives on the other hand were very difficult to enslave because many died due to diseases and lack of immunity to them and they were very knowledgeable with the surrounding terrain if they were to ever escape. To comply with the demand for cultivation of cash crops, a shipping route that imported Africans to the new world was the famous “horrendous six-to eight- week long ocean voyage known as the Middle Passage” (Goldfield, The American Jorney, 55). The European powers traded these slaves for guns, rum and other textiles. But in order to get these slaves, Africans kidnapped and traded other Africans for these resources. The African kingdom traded slaves who have done punishable crimes in their country for valuable resources that could help protect the kingdom from other rulers in Africa. Once the Africans were enslaved, they now begin their long journey to the New World on the compacted ships. Similar to indentured servants on their long voyage to the New World, the living conditions for the slaves on board were disgusting and unimaginable, they lived in their own filth struggling to barely survive the week long passages and slaves were often tightly packed below the deck. The slaves who did survive were then bought and sold just like cattle, often being separated from loved ones
The Middle Passage (or Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade) was a voyage that took slaves from Africa to the Americas via tightly packed ships. The trade started around the early 1500s, and by 1654 about 8,000-10,000 slaves were being imported from Africa to the Americas every year. This number continued to grow, and by 1750 that figure had climbed to about 60,000-70,000 slaves a year. Because of the lack of necessary documents, it is hard to tell the exact number of Africans taken from their homeland. But based on available clues and data, an estimated 9-15 million were taken on the Middle Passage, and of that about 3-5 million died. While the whole idea seems sick and wrong, many intelligent people and ideas went in to making the slave trade
It took place across the Atlantic Ocean from the 15th to the 19th centuries. It was a trade of human beings from African societies who were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. About 1.8 million people died during the Atlantic Slave Trade due to harsh conditions on the ship. Furthermore, many others perished during the process of capture and transport to the African coast done by the middle men. Slaves were kept in dungeon fortresses and suffered horrid living conditions while waiting to be sent out to sea on boats headed for America. Both on the forts and the ships, they were kept in dirty, dark rooms with little moving space and almost no food and drink. They were usually kept in chains and forced to lie on their backs. The transatlantic slave trade is sometimes known as the "Triangular Trade" because it was trade among three ports or regions. The voyages were from Europe to Africa, from Africa to the Americas, and from the Americas back to Europe. The raw materials and natural resources like rice, tobacco, cotton and sugar that were found in the Americas were brought to Europe. Europe then brought manufactured products such as cloth, beads and guns to Africa in exchange for slaves who were brought to the Americas. This voyage impacted the world. Africa became a permanent part of the interacting Atlantic world and millions of people were