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Slave trade
the capturing, selling, and buying of slaves. Slavery has existed throughout the world since
ancient times, and trading in slaves has been equally universal. Slaves were taken from the
Slavs and Iranians from antiquity to the 19th century, from the sub-Saharan Africans from
the 1st century CE to the mid-20th century, and from the Germanic, Celtic, and Romance
peoples during the Viking era. The transatlantic slave trade is perhaps the best-known. In
Africa, women and children but not men were wanted as slaves for labor and for lineage
incorporation; from c. 1500, captive men were taken to the coast and sold to Europeans.
They were then transported to the Caribbean or Brazil, where they were sold at auction and
taken throughout the New World. In the 17th and 18th centuries, African slaves were
traded in the Caribbean for molasses, which was made into rum in the American colonies
and traded back to Africa for more slaves. The practice of slavery continued in many
countries (illegally) into the 21st century. Indeed, the not-for-profit abolitionist organization
American Anti-Slavery Group claims that some 27 million people are enslaved around the
world. Sex slavery, in which women and children are forced into prostitution—sometimes
by their own family members—is a growing practice throughout the world.
Transatlantic & Atlantic Slave Trade
The Atlantic Slave Trade, commonly known as the Transatlantic Slave Trade, refers to the
shipment of slaves from Africa to the Americas from the 16th to 19th centuries.
The transatlantic slave trade is often regarded as the first system of globalization. The
transatlantic slave trade was responsible for the forced migration of between 12 - 15 million
people from Africa to the Western Hemisphere from the middle of the 15th century to the
end of the 19th century.
The transatlantic slave trade is unique within the universal history of slavery for three main reasons:
 its duration - approximately four centuries
 those victimized: black African men, women and children
 the intellectual legitimization attempted on its behalf - the development of an anti-black
ideology and its legal organization, the notorious Code noir.
As a commercial and economic enterprise, the slave trade provides a dramatic example of the
consequences resulting from particular intersections of history and geography. It involved several
regions and continents: Africa, America, the Caribbean, Europe and the Indian Ocean.

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The Atlantic slave trade was the selling of African slaves by Europeans that happened in and around
the Atlantic Ocean. It lasted from the 15th century to the 19th century. Most slaves were shipped
from West Africa and brought over to the New World on slave ships. This was also called the Middle
Passage.
The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave
traders of enslaved African people, mainly from Africa to the Americas, and then their sale
there. The slave trade used mainly the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage. The
South Atlantic and Caribbean economies especially were dependent on the supply of secure
labor for the production of commodity crops, making goods and clothing to sell in Europe.
This was crucial to those western European countries which, in the late 17th and 18th
centuries, were vying with each other to create overseas empires.
The Atlantic Slave Trade was the result of, among other things, labor shortage, itself in turn
created by the desire of European colonists to exploit New World land and resources for
capital profits. Native peoples were at first utilized as slave labor by Europeans until a large
number died from overwork and Old World diseases. Alternative sources of labor, such as
indentured servitude, failed to provide a sufficient workforce. Many crops co Europe often
proved to be more profitable than producing them on the European mainland. A vast
amount of labor was needed to create and sustain plantations that required intensive labor
to grow, harvest, and process prized tropical crops. Western Africa (part of which became
known as "the Slave Coast") and later Central Africa, became the source for enslaved people
to meet the demand for labor. Despite not being a part of the recognized Slave Coast, it has
been acknowledged that Angola and nearby Kingdoms dominated as the main source for
the slave trade.
The Atlantic slave trade is customarily divided into two eras, as the First and Second Atlantic
Systems.
The First Atlantic system was the trade of enslaved Africans to, primarily, South American
colonies of the Portuguese and Spanish empires; it accounted for slightly more than 3% of
all Atlantic slave trade. It started (on a significant scale) in about 1502 and lasted until 1580
when Portugal was temporarily united with Spain. While the Portuguese were directly
involved in trading enslaved peoples, the Spanish empire relied on the asiento system,
awarding merchants (mostly from other countries) the license to trade enslaved people to
their colonies. During the first Atlantic system, most of these traders were Portuguese,

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giving them a near-monopoly during the era. Some Dutch, English, and French traders also
participated in the slave trade. After the union, Portugal came under Spanish legislation that
prohibited it from directly engaging in the slave trade as a carrier. It became a target for the
traditional enemies of Spain, losing a large share of the trade to the Dutch, English, and
French.
The Second Atlantic system was the trade of enslaved Africans by mostly English,
Portuguese, French and Dutch traders. The main destinations of this phase were the
Caribbean colonies and Brazil, as European nations built up economically slave-dependent
colonies in the New World. Slightly more than 3% of the enslaved people exported from
Africa were traded between 1450 and 1600, and 16% in the 17th century.
It is estimated that more than half of the entire slave trade took place during the 18th
century, with the British, Portuguese and French being the main carriers of nine out of ten
slaves abducted in Africa. By the 18th century, Angola had become the principal source of
the Atlantic slave trade.
History of African Slavery
Slavery has existed since antiquity. It became common in Africa after the Bantu migrations spread
agriculture to all parts of the continent. Most slaves in Africa were war captives .Once enslaved; an
individual had no personal or civil rights. Owners could order slaves to do any kind of work, punish
them, and sell them as chattel. Most slaves worked as cultivators. African law did not recognize
individual land ownership so wealth and power in Africa came from not owning land but by
controlling the human labor that made it productive. Slaves were a form of investment and a sign of
wealth.
African Slave Trade
Although slavery has been practiced for almost the whole of recorded history, the vast numbers
involved in the African slave trade has left a legacy which cannot be ignored. Slavery in historical
Africa was practiced in many different forms: Debt slavery, enslavement of war captives, military
slavery, and criminal slavery were all practiced in various parts of Africa. Slavery for domestic and
court purposes was widespread throughout Africa. Plantation slavery also occurred primarily on the
eastern coast of Africa and in parts of West Africa. The importance of domestic plantation slavery
increased during the 19th century due to the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade. Many African
states dependent on the international slave trade reoriented their economies towards legitimate
commerce worked by slave labor.

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Islamic Slave Trade
After the 8th Century, Muslim merchants from north Africa, Arabia and Persia sought African slaves
for trade in the Mediterranean basin, southwest Asia, India and as far away as southeast Asia and
China. The Islamic slave trade lasted into the 20th Century and resulted in the deportation of as
many as 10 million Africans.
Arab slave trade
The 'Arab' slave trade is sometimes called the 'Islamic' slave trade. Arab slave trade refers to the
practice of slavery in the Arab world. From the 7th century until around the 1960s, the Arab slave
trade continued in one form or another. Historical accounts and references to slave-owning nobility
in Arabia, Yemen and elsewhere are frequent into the early 1920s.
Arab slave trade refers to the practice of slavery in the Arab world. This is mainly in Western Asia,
North Africa, Southeast Africa, the Horn of Africa. It also includes parts of Europe (such as Iberia and
Sicily) beginning during the era of the Muslim conquests and continuing into the 20th century. The
trade was conducted through slave markets in the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa.
Most of the slaves were from Africa's interior. Historians estimate that between 650 AD and the
1960s, 10 to 18 million people were enslaved by Arab slave traders. They were taken from Europe,
Asia and Africa across the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and Sahara desert. In the Central African Republic,
during the 16th and 17th centuries Muslim slave traders began to raid the region as part of the
expansion of the Saharan and Nile River slave routes. Their captives were slaved and shipped to the
Mediterranean coast, Europe, Arabia, the Western Hemisphere, or to the slave ports and factories
along the West and North Africa or South the Ubanqui and Congo rivers. The Arab slave trade in the
Indian Ocean, Red Sea, and Mediterranean Sea long predated the arrival of any significant number of
Europeans on the African continent south of the Sahara.
European Slave Trade
By the time Europeans arrived in Sub-Saharan Africa in the 15th and 16th Centuries, the slave trade
was a well-established feature in African society. A detailed system for capturing, selling and
distributing slaves had been in place for over 500 years. With the arrival of the Europeans and the
demand for slaves in the Americas, the slave trade expanded dramatically. The 15th-century
Portuguese exploration of the African coast is commonly regarded as the harbinger of European
colonialism. Portugal was the first European country to trade in slaves from Africa, initially mainly to
bring them back to Portugal (there were 32,000 African slaves in Portugal in the 16th century,
working mainly in the fields and sugar plantations). Soon, however, the demand for slaves in Brazil
was such that the majority of the slaves were taken there. Among many other European slave
markets, Genoa, and Venice were some well-known markets, their importance and demand growing

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after the great plague of the 14th century which decimated much of the European work force.
European slave ships waited at ports to purchase cargoes of people who were captured in the
hinterland by African dealers and tribal leaders.
Triangular Trade
The transatlantic slave trade, often known as the triangular trade, connected the economies of three
continents. It is estimated that between 25 to 30 million people, men, women and children, were
deported from their homes and sold as slaves in the different slave trading systems. In the
transatlantic slave trade alone the estimate of those deported is believed to be approximately 17
million. These figures exclude those who died aboard the ships and in the course of wars and raids
connected to the trade.
The trade proceeded in three steps. The ships left Western Europe for Africa loaded with goods
which were to be exchanged for slaves. Upon their arrival in Africa the captains traded their
merchandise for captive slaves. Weapons and gun powder were the most important commodities
but textiles, pearls and other manufactured goods, as well as rum, were also in high demand. The
exchange could last from one week to several months. The second step was the crossing of the
Atlantic. Africans were transported to America to be sold throughout the continent. The third step
connected America to Europe. The slave traders brought back mostly agricultural products,
produced by the slaves. The main product was sugar, followed by cotton, coffee, tobacco and rice.
The circuit lasted approximately eighteen months. In order to be able to transport the maximum
number of slaves, the ship’s steerage was frequently removed. Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands,
England and France, were the main triangular trading countries.
Portuguese Slave Trade
The Portuguese were the first to engage in the Atlantic slave trade in the 16th century. The
Portuguese began capturing slaves in Africa in the 15th century, but quickly learned it was easier to
buy them. In Europe, Slaves usually worked as miners, porters or domestic servants since free
peasants and serfs cultivated the land. When the Portuguese discovered the Azores, Madeiras, Cape
Verde Islands and Sao Tome in the 15th century they were all uninhabited. The Portuguese
population was too small to provide a large number of colonists. The sugar plantations required a
large labor force. Slaves filled this demand. Slavery in Portugal occurred since before the country's
formation. During the pre-independence period, inhabitants of the current Portuguese territory
were often enslaved and enslaved others. After independence, during the existence of the Kingdom
of Portugal, the country played a leading role in the Atlantic Slave Trade, which involved the mass
trade and transportation of slaves from Africa and other parts of the world to the American
continent. Slavery was abolished in Portugal in 1761 by the Marquis of Pombal. After the

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abolishment of slavery in Portugal, the Portuguese slave traders turned to clients in other countries
where slavery was not yet abolished such as the United States of America.
Slave Trade and Sugar
Early sugar plantations made extensive use of slaves because sugar was considered a cash crop that
exhibited economies of scale in cultivation; it was most efficiently grown on large plantations with
many workers. Slaves from Africa were imported and made to work on the plantations. By the 1520s
some 2000 slaves per year were shipped to Sao Tome. Some thereafter, Portuguese entrepreneurs
extended the use of slave labor to South America. Eventually Brazil would become the wealthiest of
the sugar-producing lands in the western hemisphere.
Slavery Expands
As disease reduced the native populations in Spanish conquered territories, the Spanish began
relying on imported slaves from Africa. In 1518,the first shipment of slaves went directly from west
Africa to the Caribbean where the slaves worked on sugar plantations. By the 1520s,the Spanish had
introduced slaves to Mexico, Peru and Central America where they worked as cultivators and
miners. By the early 17th Century, the British had introduced slaves to North America.
Capture
The original capture of slaves was almost always violent. As European demand grew, African
chieftains organized raiding parties to seize individuals from neighboring societies. Others launched
wars specifically for the purpose of capturing slaves.
Middle Passage
Following capture, slaves were force-marched to holding pens before being loaded on ships. The
trans-Atlantic journey was called "Middle Passage". The ships were filthy, hot and crowded. Most
ships provided slaves with enough room to sit upright, but not enough to stand. Others forced slaves
to lie in chains with barely 20 inches space between them. Crews attempted to keep as many slaves
alive as possible to maximize profits, but treatment was extremely cruel. Some slaves refused to eat
and crew members used tools to pry open their mouths and force-feed them. Sick slaves were cast
overboard to prevent infection from spreading. During the early days of the slave trade ,mortality
rates were as high as 50%.As the volume of trade increased and conditions improved (bigger ships,
more water, better nourishment and facilities),mortality eventually declined to about 5%.The time a
ship took to make the Middle Passage dependent upon several factors including its point of origin in
Africa, the destination in the Americas and conditions at sea such as winds, currents and storms.
With good conditions and few delays, a 17th-century Portuguese slave ship typically took 30 to 50
days to sail from Angola to Brazil. British, French and Dutch ships transporting slaves between

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Guinea and their Caribbean island possessions took 60 to 90 days. As larger merchant ships were
introduced, these times reduced somewhat.
Arrival and Auctions
When the slave ship docked, the slaves would be taken off the ship and placed in a pen. There they
would be washed and their skin covered with grease or sometimes tar, to make them look healthy
(and therefore more valuable). They would also be branded with a hot iron to identify them as
slaves.
Slaves were sold at auctions. Buyers physically inspected the slaves, to include their teeth as an
indication of the slave's age. Auctioneers had slaves perform various acts to demonstrate their
physical abilities.
Volume of the Slave Trade
 Late 15th and 16th Century... 2,000 Africans were exported each year.
 17th Century... 20,000 per year.
 18th Century... 55,000 per year.
 1780... 88000 per year
All told, some 12 million Africans were transported to the western hemisphere via the Atlantic Slave
Trade. Another 4 million died resisting capture or during captivity before arriving at their
destination.

Plantations
Most African slaves went to Plantations in the tropical or subtropical region of the Western
hemisphere. The first was established by the Spanish on Hispaniola in 1516.Originally the
predominant crop was sugar. In the 1530s Portuguese began organizing plantations in Brazil and
Brazil became the world's leading supplier of sugar. In addition to sugar plantations produced crops
like tobacco, indigo and cotton. All were designed to export commercial crops for profit. Relied
almost exclusively on large amounts of slave labor supervised by small numbers of European or
Euro-American managers.
Slavery in the Caribbean, South and North America
Disease, brutal working conditions and poor sanitation and nutrition resulted in high mortality rates.
Owners imported mainly male slaves and allowed few to establish families which resulted in low
reproduction. To keep up the needed numbers, plantation owners imported a steady stream of
slaves. Of all slaves delivered to the western hemisphere, about 50% went to Caribbean
destinations. About 33% went to Brazil. Smaller numbers went elsewhere in South and Central
America.

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Diseases took less of a toll in North America and living conditions were usually less brutal. Plantation
owners imported large numbers of female slaves and encouraged their slaves to form families and
bear children. Only about 5% of slaves delivered to the western hemisphere went to North America.
US SLAVERY COMPARED TO SLAVERY IN THE AMERICAS
American plantations were dwarfed by those in the West Indies. In the Caribbean, slaves were held
on much larger units, with many plantations holding 150 slaves or more. In the American South, in
contrast, only one slaveholder held as many as a thousand slaves, and just 125 had over 250 slaves.
CHILDREN
There were few instances in which slave women were released from field work for extended periods
during slavery. Even during the last week before childbirth, pregnant women on average picked
three-quarters or more of the amount normal for women.
Infant and child mortality rates were twice as high among slave children as among southern white
children. Half of all slave infants died in their first year of life. A major contributor to the high infant
and child death rate was chronic undernourishment. The average birth weight of slave infants was
less than 5.5 pounds, considered severely underweight by today’s standards.
HEALTH AND MORTALITY
Slaves suffered a variety of miserable and often fatal maladies due to the Atlantic Slave Trade, and to
inhumane living and working conditions.
Common symptoms among enslaved populations included: blindness; abdominal swelling; bowed
legs; skin lesions; and convulsions. Common conditions among enslaved populations included:
beriberi (caused by a deficiency of thiamine); pellagra (caused by a niacin deficiency); tetany (caused
by deficiencies of calcium, magnesium, and Vitamin D); rickets (also caused by a deficiency of
Vitamin D); and kwashiorkor (caused by severe protein deficiency).

DOMESTIC SLAVE TRADE

The domestic slave trade in the US distributed the African American population throughout the
South in a migration that greatly surpassed in volume the Atlantic Slave Trade to North America.
Though Congress outlawed the African slave trade in 1808, domestic slave trade flourished, and the
slave population in the US nearly tripled over the next 50 years. The domestic trade continued into
the 1860s and displaced approximately 1.2 million men, women, and children, the vast majority of
whom were born in America. To be "sold down the river" was one of the most dreaded prospects of
the enslaved population. Some destinations, particularly the Louisiana sugar plantations, had
especially grim reputations. But it was the destruction of family that made the domestic slave trade
so terrifying.

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PROFITABILITY
Prices of slaves varied widely over time, due to factors including supply, and changes in prices of
commodities such as cotton. Even considering the relative expense of owning and keeping a slave,
slavery was profitable. In order to ensure the profitability of slaves, and to produce maximum
"return on investment," slave owners generally supplied only the minimum food and shelter needed
for survival, and forced their slaves to work from sunrise to sunset.
Impact of Slave Trade in Africa
Some states Rwanda largely escaped the slave trade through resistant and geography. Some like
Senegal in west Africa were hit very hard. Other societies benefited economically from selling slaves,
trading or operating ports. As abolition took root in the 19th Century some African merchants even
complained about the lose of their livelihood. On the whole, however, the slave trade devastated
Africa. The Atlantic Slave Trade deprived Africa of about 16 million people and the continuing Islamic
slave trade consumed another several million. Overall the African population rose thanks partly to
the introduction of more nutritious food from the Americas.
Abolition of the Slave Trade
The Act of 1807 had made it illegal for British subjects to buy or sell slaves, or otherwise be involved
in the trade. Many, however, simply evaded its restrictions. Slave ships were regularly fitted out in
British ports like Liverpool or Bristol. In fact, until 1811 carrying slaving equipment like shackles was
not considered proof of involvement in the slave trade. Even after it became impossible for slave
ships to be fully equipped in British ports, ships continued to fit out there and load their slaving gear
just outside British waters.

Conclusion
Despite the abolition of slavery in the nineteenth century, the practice is prevalent in the
contemporary world. It is estimated that more people are enslaved today than during the few
centuries of the transatlantic slave trade. Modern slavery poses a serious challenge to human rights
protection worldwide, and many governments as well as international and regional bodies are
working towards preventing and combating it. We tried to understand others’ motivations and move
beyond initial assumptions. This helped us counteract our culture’s tendency to simplify and
stereotype groups of people.

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