The transatlantic slave trade Flashcards
(16 cards)
What was the Transatlantic Slave Trade?
A trade system from the 1500s to the 1800s where millions of Africans were forcibly taken to the Americas to work as slaves, mainly on plantations.
What was the ‘Triangular Trade’?
A three-part trading system: Europe sent goods to Africa, Africa sent enslaved people to the Americas (Middle Passage), The Americas sent raw materials (e.g. sugar, cotton) to Europe.
What goods were traded from Europe to Africa?
Guns, cloth, iron, alcohol – used to buy enslaved Africans.
What was the ‘Middle Passage’?
The brutal sea journey enslaved Africans were forced to take across the Atlantic to the Americas. Conditions were overcrowded, unsanitary, and deadly.
What were conditions like during the Middle Passage?
Cramped, filthy, disease-ridden. Many died from illness, starvation, or mistreatment. Some committed suicide.
What work did enslaved people do in the Americas?
Mostly plantation work – sugar, tobacco, and cotton. Also domestic servants, miners, and skilled laborers.
How were enslaved people treated on plantations?
Harshly. They faced long hours, physical punishment, poor food, and no rights.
What were some ways enslaved people resisted slavery?
Rebellion, work slowdowns, escape, sabotage, maintaining African culture and religion.
Who was Olaudah Equiano?
A former enslaved African who wrote a famous autobiography describing his capture, the Middle Passage, and life in slavery – helped inspire abolition.
What does ‘abolition’ mean?
The movement to end slavery.
Who was William Wilberforce?
A British MP and Christian campaigner who led efforts in Parliament to abolish the slave trade.
When was the slave trade abolished in Britain?
In 1807, the British Parliament made the slave trade illegal.
When was slavery fully abolished in the British Empire?
In 1833, with the Slavery Abolition Act.
What was the legacy of the slave trade?
Lasting racial inequality, economic benefit for Britain, and cultural trauma for descendants of enslaved people.
Why is it important to study the slave trade today?
To understand racism, colonial history, human rights, and to remember the suffering and resistance of enslaved people.
What did Britain trade to Africa during the transatlantic slave trade?
Manufactured Goods
