The Middle Passage Essay
The Middle Passage (or Trans Atlantic Slave Trade) was a voyage that took slaves
from Africa to the Americas via tightly packed ships. The trade started around the
early 1500s, and by 1654 about 8,000 10,000 slaves were being imported from
Africa to the Americas every year. This number continued to grow, and by 1750
that figure had climbed to about 60,000 70,000 slaves a year. Because of the lack of
necessary documents, it is hard to tell the exact number of Africans taken from their
homeland. But based on available clues and data, an estimated 9 15 million were
taken on the Middle Passage, and of that about 3 5 million died. While the whole
idea seems sick and wrong, many intelligent people and ideas went in to making the
slave trade... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Meanwhile in the Americas, European empires were growing, and they realized
that they needed a more efficient work force. They had tried using Native
Americans, but they usually died from European diseases. Europeans couldn t work
because of the diseases that the tropical climate gave them. It seemed like Africans
would be the perfect solution to their problems. They were used to the tropical
climate and immune to its diseases, had experience in agriculture, and there was
already a market for them. This introduced the slave trade to North America, and in
1619 the first New World slaves were brought to Jamestown, Virginia. Most of the
earlier slaves to journey the trans Atlantic Slave Trade were from Windward Coast
and Senegambia (Present day Mauritania), but later expanded all along the coast of
Africa. The Atlantic Slave Trade was also given the name Middle Passage , since it
was the middle leg in the Triangular trade. The Triangular trade was a trade system
among Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Europe made manufactured goods such as
textiles, gun powder, firearms, iron and copper bars, alcohol, cloth and brass
kitchen ware. These were traded in Africa for slaves, gold, and silver, which were
transported to the Americas, where they were exchanged for tobacco, fish, lumber,
flour, sugar cane, cotton, and distilled rum. This merchandise was then brought to
Europe, where the cycle began again. The Triangle Trade was very