History

History of The Slave Trade

The Transatlantic Slave Trade was the largest forced migration in world history. The trade exceeded in numbers, brutality and organisation anything the world had previously seen. It formed part of the notorious 'Triangular Trade' between Europe, Africa and the Americas.

Ships working the Triangular Slave Trade started and finished in European ports. They carried copper, muskets, manufactured goods, glassware and cloth to Africa.  

The goods were traded for captives, who were transported to the Americas in conditions of terrible crowding, and given minimal food and water. Most enslaved Africans came from Africa's western coast, between Senegal in the north to Angola in the southwest.

Between 1450 and 1850, approximately 9 - 12 million Africans were shipped from Africa across the Atlantic to 'New World' colonies in North America, South America and the West Indies. About 80 per cent (at least seven million) Africans were exported during the 18th Century across the notorious Middle Passage.

There was a death rate of between 10 and 20 per cent on board each ship.

The New World's demand for slaves was high. Sugarcane, which needed a hot climate, was becoming popular in Europe and the plantation work was arduous and labour-intensive. Local labour was in short supply and the indigenous workers could not withstand the diseases brought in by Europeans - or the brutal working conditions.

The African captives were brought to the Americas to be sold as slaves to dealers, who in turn sold them to plantation owners. Sugar, rum, rice, coffee, cotton and tobacco from the Caribbean and the southern states of America were then loaded onto the ships, which returned to Europe thus completing the Triangle.

Africans fought to avoid capture and resisted to the point of death on board slave ships. Once in the Americas, they continued their struggle against slavery through acts of passive and active resistance.

Thanks to the efforts of abolitionists such as the African Olaudah Equiano, and British campaigners including William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson, the British Parliament judged that the transatlantic slave trade was immoral, cruel and unjustified. On 25 March 1807, Britain passed the Slave Trade Abolition Bill.

The presence of European powers in Africa from the 15th century to the present was undeniably a factor that significantly altered the course of African history. Economically, culturally, linguistically, politically, environmentally, and artistically, Europe has had a major impact on all regions of Africa.