In theAtlantic slave trade,EuropeanstraffickedAfricanslaves in and around theAtlantic Ocean. This trade lasted from the15th century to the19th century.
Most enslaved people were shipped fromWest Africa and brought over to theNew World onslave ships. This journey across the Atlantic by ship was known as theMiddle Passage. The trade began in 1526 when a Portuguese ship brought slaves to Brazil.
Slave ships had horrible conditions, and deaths were common on board. Between 1500 and 1866, around 12.5 million enslaved Africans weretrafficked to theAmericas.[1] Around 1.8 million died on the Middle Passage.[1]
Some slaves werecaptured inbattle with other Africans; others were captured when Europeans held coastalraids andkidnapped Africans.[2] Some were sold into slavery by other Africans aspunishment or to pay adebt to Europeans.[2]
After being captured, the enslaved people wereshackled together and marched to thecoast on journeys lasting weeks or months.[2] When they arrived, they were imprisoned inforts where they werepurchased by other Europeans. Mosthistorians today think that 12 to 13 million Africans arrived in the New World.[3]
TheDahomian army traded slaves forweapons to protect themselves. King Gezo ofDahomey said in the 1840s:[better source needed]
The slave trade is the ruling principle of my people. It is the source and the glory of their wealth...the mother lulls the child to sleep with notes of triumph over an enemy reduced to slavery...[4]
Also see:Middle Passage;Slave ship
See the main article:Triangular trade
Some slave ships worked a three-parteconomic cycle often called thetriangular trade.[5] It tied the economies of severalregions andcontinents together.[5] The main triangular trading countries wereEngland,The Netherlands,France,Spain andPortugal.[5] Other ships just worked the slave trade.[better source needed]
Christopher Columbus first came to the Americas in 1492 while seeking theWest Indies. European countries started to buildcolonies in the Americas. This led to an economic reason for the Atlantic slave trade. African slaves were first imported in large numbers formining and later to growsugarcane onplantations. Slavery is much moreancient than the transatlantic trade. Slaves were used in many ancient societies.[6]
Historians think that about 4.9 million slaves were brought toBrazil, 1.3 million to theSpanish colonies, and 400 thousand to mainlandNorth America. About 3.9 million were brought to other parts of the Americans, mainly theCaribbean. Records show that only about 9000 slaves were brought to Europe.[7][better source needed]
In the 18th century, a small opposition developed against the Atlantic slave trade in Britain, America, and some parts of Europe.[8] In Britain and America, opposition to the trade was led by theReligious Society of Friends (Quakers) and establishment Evangelicals such asWilliam Wilberforce.[source?]
People who protested against the trade were opposed by the owners of land in the Americas.[9] After 1772, slaves became free upon entering the British Isles.[10]Abolitionism became stronger in the 19th century.[source?]
Denmark was the first European country to ban the slave trade, in 1792, which took effect in 1803.[11][better source needed]
On 22 February 1807, the work ofWilliam Wilberforce was rewarded with victory. By 283 votes for to 16 against, theBritishHouse of Commons passed the Slave Trade Act to abolish the slave trade.[12][better source needed] TheUnited States abolished it later that year. TheRoyal Navy set up ablockade of West Africa to stop the trade. Treaties with other nations allowed the blockade ships to stop their slave trade.
However, thesmuggling of slaves was very common. Hundreds of thousands of Black people were enslaved illegally.New York City was a center for this illegal slave trade.Judges in New York avoided punishing slave traders through the 19th century.[13][better source needed]
Many slaves continued to be sent toSpanish colonies ofCuba,Puerto Rico and much ofSouth America.[14] The slave trade in Brazil was banned in 1831. However, many European Brazilians thought it was necessary for their economy, so the country failed to stop it.
Hundreds of thousands more slaves were brought to Brazil in the 1830s and 1840s until the British forced Brazil to end the slave trade.[15][16][better source needed]
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