The Slave Trade and
Triangle Trade
Background
 Slavery existed in Europe during the Classical age, but
was replaced by feudalism
 Serfdom had mostly died out after the plague
 Europeans had been used as slaves in ancient Middle
Eastern empires
 Africa had an internal slave trade of prisoners of war,
similar to ancient Europe
Beginning the Trade
 The Portuguese traded slaves for guns with West
African leaders
 As Europeans gained more colonies, their
dependence on slavery increased
 France, Britain, the Netherlands, and Spain all joined the
slave trade
Differences
 The African slave trade usually allowed slaves to earn
their freedom
 They were mostly prisoners of war or kidnapped during
raids on opposing tribes
 The European view of slaves were as a piece of
property
 Slaves were a commercial investment to trade for profit
Why African Slaves?
 Business owners claimed paying wages would make
the new industries unprofitable
 The native population in the Americas was nearly
wiped out by small pox
 The Pope forbade taking Christians as slaves
 Some held racist beliefs that non-whites were not
human
 The work was difficult and not enough Europeans
volunteered for indentured servitude
Conflict
 Eventually, the African kingdoms ran out of slaves
 European slave traders would kidnap Africans during
the night and force them into slavery
 Eventually, the wealthy and powerful in Africa were
also forced into slavery
 About 11 million people were forcibly removed from the
African continent during the slave trade
Triangle Trade
 European traders brought manufactured goods, guns, and
alcohol to Africa to trade for slaves
 The slaves traveled along the “middle passage” to the New
World
 Slave traders would sell the slaves or trade for alcohol (rum)
and bring raw materials (sugar, tobacco, cotton, and iron)
back to Europe to be turned into manufactured goods
Triangle Trade
Why Rum?
 Water spoiled on the long trips
 Alcohol does not spoil
 Wine, brandy, and rum were valuable and used as a
currency
 Rum was used to buy slaves and “pay” slaves for good
behavior
 Rum was made with a byproduct of the sugar
industry, therefore required little effort to package
and sell for extra profit
The Middle Passage
 Slaves chained together (men chained together then entire
trip), each getting a space about 4 square feet
 Forced to lay down most the day with two force-fed meals
and limited daily access to the upper deck
 There was no access to toilets
 At least 2 million died during the trip (10-15%)
 Most were malnourished or diseased by the end of the trip
 Suicide attempts, self-mutilation, and hunger strikes were
common
 Around 1 in 10 ships had slave uprisings, resulting in more
deaths and mutilations