Transatlantic Slave Trade Flashcards
(17 cards)
What is Mercantilism?
An economic belief that a nation needs to build its wealth by having more exports than imports.
What are plantations?
Estates where cash crops such as sugar or tobacco were grown on a large scale.
Why was there a shortage of labor on plantations?
Plantations initially used Native Americans as workers, but European diseases killed millions of them. Indentured servants were too expensive.
What was the Triangular Trade?
A trading network lasting from the 1600s to the 1800s that carried goods and enslaved people between Europe, the Americas, and Africa.
What were the three legs of the Triangular Trade?
- Europe to Africa: manufactured goods
- Africa to the Americas: slaves
- Americas to Europe: raw materials
What is the Middle Passage?
The name for voyages that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies. Journey lasted 3-6 weeks.
What percentage of Africans died on the Middle Passage voyage?
10-20% of Africans died on the voyage.
What happened to families at the dock during slave auctions?
Families were broken apart at auctions.
Who were the most expensive enslaved individuals?
Adolescent males between the ages of 18-25.
Why were women prized in the slave trade?
Women were valued because they could reproduce and add to their master’s wealth.
Where did enslaved individuals work?
In plantations, mines, towns, and the countryside. Women performed domestic duties as cooks or servants.
Why didn’t many slave owners teach their slaves to read?
The church services usually only read from the New Testament about the suffering of Christ, avoiding the Old Testament about Moses and the Exodus.
How did enslaved individuals cope with inhuman treatment?
By keeping cultural traditions alive, turning to religion, destroying farm equipment, attacking slaveholders’ families, and running away.
What is the African Diaspora?
The dispersal of people of African descent throughout the Americas and Western Europe due to the slave trade.
How did the labor of African slaves impact the American colonies?
The labor of African slaves helped build the economies of the American colonies.
How long did the Atlantic Slave trade continue?
The Atlantic Slave trade continued for 400 years.
How many Africans were shipped to the Americas?
15 to 20 million Africans were shipped to the Americas.
