Middle Passage
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The Middle Passage refers to the forcible passage of African people from Africa to the New World, as part of the Atlantic slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with commercial goods, which were in turn traded for kidnapped Africans who were transported across the Atlantic as slaves; the enslaved Africans were then sold or traded as commodities for raw materials,[1] which would be transported back to Europe to complete the "triangular trade". A single voyage on the Middle Passage was a large financial undertaking, and they were generally organized by companies or groups of investors rather than individuals.[2] The term "Middle Passage" refers to that middle leg of the transatlantic trade triangle in which millions[3] of Africans were imprisoned, enslaved, and removed from their homelands.
Traders from the Americas and Caribbean received the enslaved Africans. European powers such as Portugal, England, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Brandenburg, as well as traders from Brazil and North America, all took part in this trade. The enslaved Africans came mostly from eight regions: Senegambia, Upper Guinea, Windward Coast, Gold Coast, Bight of Benin, Bight of Biafra, West Central Africa and Southeastern Africa.[4]
An estimated 15% of the Africans died at sea, with mortality rates considerably higher in Africa itself in the process of capturing and transporting indigenous peoples to the ships.[5] The total number of African deaths directly attributable to the Middle Passage voyage is estimated at up to two million; a broader look at African deaths directly attributable to the institution of slavery from 1500 to 1900 suggests up to four million African deaths.[6]
For two hundred years, 1440–1640, Portugal had a quasi-monopoly on the export of slaves from Africa. During the eighteenth century however, when the slave trade accounted for the transport of about 6 million Africans, Britain was responsible for almost 2.5 million of them.[7]
In addition to markedly influencing the cultural and demographic landscapes of both Africa and the Americas, the Middle Passage has also been said to mark the origin of a distinct African, or "black", social identity.[1]
thology. They would appeal to their gods for protection and vengeance upon their captors, and would also try to curse and otherwise harm the crew using idols and fetishes. One crew found fetishes in their water supply, placed by slaves who thought it would kill all who drank from it.[8]
Contents |
[edit] Sailors/Crew
[edit] See also
- Abolitionism
- Atlantic slave trade
- European colonization of the Americas
- History of Africa
- Maafa
- Slave ship
- Triangular trade
[edit] References
- Faragher, John Mack. Out of many. Pearson Prentice Hall. 2006: New Jersey.
- Rediker, Marcus. The Slave Ship. Penguin Books. 2007
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Walker, Theodore. Mothership Connections. 2004, page 10.
- ^ Thomas, Hugh. "The Slave Trade: the story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440-1870". 1999, page 293
- ^ McKissack, Patricia C. and McKissack, Frederick. The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay. 1995, page 109.
- ^ This list was taken from Atlantic slave trade#Slave Market Regions and Participation.
- ^ Mancke, Elizabeth and Shammas, Carole. The Creation of the British Atlantic World. 2005, page 30-1
- ^ Rosenbaum, Alan S. and Charny, Israel W. Is the Holocaust Unique? 2001, page 98-9
- ^ About.com: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
- ^ Bly, Antonio T. Crossing the Lake of Fire: Slave Resistance during the Middle Passage, 1720-1842. The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 83, No. 3 (Summer, 1998)
