1. The Atlantic
Slave Tradeby Brian, Josh, and Sebastian
Chapter 20.3

2. Essential question
How did the Atlantic Slave trade affect
European, Western, and African cultures.

3. What was the Atlantic Slave Trade
● The Atlantic slave trade was the buying and selling of Africans for work
in the Americas.
● This soon became a massive enterprise, and between 1500 and 1600
nearly 300,000 Africans were sold into slavery.
● In the next hundred years, the numbers would jump to almost 1.3
million.
● By the time the Atlantic Slave Trade ended, about 9.5 million Africans
had been transported across the Atlantic to the Americas.

4. The Evolution of African Slavery
A. Slavery in Africa already existed for 100’s of years
B. The spread of Islam into Africa during the 17th century
increased the amount of slavery.
C. African rulers followed the muslim belief that non-muslim
prisoners of war could be sold into slavery.
D. Between 650 and 1600, muslims had transported over
4. 8 million africans to southwest asia.

5. The spread of slavery to the
americas
A. As plantations in the americas showed up the colonist used the Native Americans to
do the labor.
B. The Native Americans started to die from being exposed to European disease. As a
result the colonist started to use African slaves as a new source of free labor.
C. Africans had already been exposed to the diseases that killed the native workers and
had built up an immunity to them.

6. A Forced Journey
African Men and Women were sent to the Americas. Millions died along the
way.

7. Triangular Trade
Europeans sent manufactured goods to the West African
coast, then the traders exchanged their goods for captured
African slaves. The Africans were then transported across
the atlantic and sold in the West Indies. In the West Indies
the merchants traded slaves for Sugar, Coffee, and
Tobacco, which was taken back to Europe.

8. Middle Passage
The Middle Passage was the bottom leg of the Triangular
Passage. This brought slaves from Africa to the Americas.
It was characterized by its sickening cruelty.

9. Slavery in America
The slaves that survived the passage had a
very harsh life. Slaves would be forced to work
long hours without pay and would usually be
beaten.

10. Resistance
● To cope with the horrors they faced constantly, African slaves kept the way
of life based on their cultural heritage. They kept the musical traditions and
the stories of their ancestors alive.
● Slaves would also make themselves less productive by breaking tools,
uprooting plants, and working slowly.
● Thousands of slaves ran away.

11. Rebellion
● Some groups of slaves would begin to revolt.
● Revolts occurred in the european
settlements resulting in the death of slaves,
slave owners, and colonists.
● These revolts continued well into the 1800s.

12. Consequences associated with the Slave Trade
Africa
Many African generations and families were sold
and separated from one another.
Close to all African slaves were unwilling to leave.
A high percentage of slaves died in the ship before
even reaching America due to the poor sanitation.
Weapons gained by selling slaves created a spread
in conflict throughout Africa.
Europe
At the start, the trading was creating a large profit
but over time the profit was becoming more
common which created inflation.
What used to be a strong growing economy was
turned into one of the worst economic declines that
europe has seen.

13. How has the slave trade affected western
cultures?
The slave trade affected western cultures by introducing new races and
cultures to North America, South America, and Europe. It also caused a lot of
important moments in American history like the Civil War and the Civil rights
movements. It also helped change Europe’s perspective on slavery and without
that, the Civil war would have ended very differently. The Atlantic Slave Trade
also separated African families and took the strongest and healthiest members
of villages away. It also influenced African culture by bringing about things like
Apartheid, and people like Nelson Mandela.