Research Paper
I will discuss the Transatlantic Slave Trade, also known as the Atlantic Slave Trade. The Atlantic Slave Trade was the transportation by slave traders (Europeans) of enslaved African people mainly from Africa to the Americas (where they sold them) across the Atlantic Ocean. This trade lasted from the sixteenth century until the nineteenth century and was part of the Triangular Trade, which consisted of transactions between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Although Africa was involved with the other countries, Africa unknowingly got the short end of the stick and received an unfair trade all while having the slaves in unhealthy and intolerable conditions. The captives included men, women, and children who were not elderly, disabled, or dependent.
The Atlantic Slave Trade began when Europe realized that a workforce was needed to expand the New World. Looking back before the sixteenth century, It was evident that Europeans died from diseases from Europe and could not physically handle working in hot and humid conditions unlike African workers who were very strong and excellent workers and used to working in tropical weather with agricultural experience, which led to the Triangular Trade. In the Triangular Trade, the first stop consisted of Europe going to Africa to give them manufactured goods such as textiles, firearms, and alcohol in exchange for slaves, then to the Americas to drop the slaves off there, also known as the Middle Passage, and the last stop consisted of the Europeans taking produce from slave-labour plantations from America back to Europe. Some of the products that these plantations provided were tobacco, coffee, sugar, and cotton.
The Middle Passage was responsible for the millions of African men, women, and children being forced onto overcrowded and unsanitary ships for a, on average, 20-90 day voyage to the Americas to work on plantations for the slave owners. These captives suffered from mental, physical, and sexual abuse from the slave traders and were chained together by their necks, arms, and ankles. The slave owners also kept the slaves inside a low ceiling vault under the deck of the ship, where it was impossible to stand upright and most of the time, to sit upright and unfortunately, some slaves died in this position. Due to illnesses, suicide, and extremely hot conditions, many slaves died during their voyage and were disposed of into the ocean.
Initially in the beginning of the Middle Passage, slaves were transported to mainly the Caribbean Islands and parts of South America, like Jamaica and Barbados. The Caribbean was where the slaves would be auctioned off and sold but, overtime, more workers were needed more in the Americas. So what they would do is, they would take captives to be auctioned off and then would be taken to the Americas. One study showed a comparison of the slaves in the Caribbean and South American countries versus the slaves in the New World around the nineteenth century. Majority of the slaves in the Caribbean and South America were actually from Africa and the slaves in the Americas were created into generations of African-Americans.
Unfortunately, the treatment of slaves on the plantations were not the best. As mentioned above, the slaves endured physical and mental abuse. Of course in different countries, there were different ways they handled the treatment of the slaves, but I will discuss more on the treatment in North America. The slave masters looked at slaves as “property.” With that being said, slaves were to do what they were told by their “master.” If you rebelled, you would be punished and the punishments varied by slave owner. Most of the time, the punishment included being lashed by a whip. Although physical punishment worked at times, the slave owners would still bribe the slaves with things like food, extra money, or other incentives to help make them work better.
Also, slaves endured sexual abuse and assault. Mainly females experienced the abuse, but there are stories that reflect men being assaulted. Slave women were always more vulnerable to being sexually exploited and it did not matter if she was young, old, daughter or wife.