10-12 million slaves were transported to the Americas during the slave trade. 76% of slaves arrived from 1701-1810. Half went to Dutch, French, or British plantations in the Caribbean, a third to Portuguese Brazil, and a tenth to Spanish America. About 5% went to the North American British colonies. With the exception of the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763, a world war between the French and their allies versus the British and their allies), the slave trade continued to become more important to the colonies up to the Revolution.
There were twice as many male African slaves as female; most slaves were young, between 15 and 30, in order to use them for labor and represented nearly every West African ethnic group.
All western European nations participated in the slave trade, shipping slaves from coastal outposts and, later, through independent American and European traders.
Many slave traders lived permanently in coastal outposts and married local women, reinforcing commercial ties through family relations. Many slaves resented African involvement in the slave trade.
Most Africans were enslaved through warfare. As the demand for slaves increased, slave raids pressed deeper into the continent.
Captives would wait in dungeons or pens called “barracoons”, separated from family and people of the same ethnic group to discourage rebellion, before being branded with the mark of their buyer.
The “Middle Passage” referred to the middle part of the trade triangle from England to Africa to America back to England. Historians estimate that 1 in 6 slaves died from the unsanitary conditions, extreme crowding, and diseases.
Many committed suicide as an act of rebellion on the slave ships. Captains resorted to putting netting over the side of their ships.
When the slaves arrived to the New World, their captors would parade them around to impress buyers. Slaves would be sold at