# data[].attributes.body
Jamarion Williams

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database now comprises 36,000 individual slaving expeditions between 1514 and 1866. Records of the voyages have been found in archives and libraries throughout the Atlantic world. They provide information about vessels, routes, and the people associated with them, both enslaved and enslavers. Sources are cited for every voyage included. Users may search for information about a specific voyage or group of voyages. The website provides full interactive capability to analyze the data and report results in the form of statistical tables, graphs, maps, a timeline, and an animation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Drawing on extensive archival records, this digital memorial allows analysis of the ships, traders, and captives in the Atlantic slave trade. The three databases below provide details of 36,000 trans-Atlantic slave voyages, 10,000 intra-American ventures, names and personal information.

# data[].attributes.body
by TreWilliams

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Britannica Money

Discover all you need to know about retirement, investing, and household finance, without the jargon or agenda. Get reliable guidance, insight, and easy-to-understand explanations, written, edited, and verified to Britannica's exacting standards.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Explore the fact-checked online encyclopedia from Encyclopaedia Britannica with hundreds of thousands of objective articles, biographies, videos, and images from experts.

# data[].attributes.body
ximena and celeste

# data[].attributes.body
Join at kahoot.it

with Game PIN:

74963

# data[].attributes.body
Jamarion Williams

# data[].attributes.body
by Tre`williams

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Britannica Money

Discover all you need to know about retirement, investing, and household finance, without the jargon or agenda. Get reliable guidance, insight, and easy-to-understand explanations, written, edited, and verified to Britannica's exacting standards.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Explore the fact-checked online encyclopedia from Encyclopaedia Britannica with hundreds of thousands of objective articles, biographies, videos, and images from experts.

# data[].attributes.body
Benjie and Jaxon

# data[].attributes.body
Gael & Devon

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As a result of the slave trade, five times as many Africans arrived in the Americas than Europeans. Slaves were needed on plantations and in mining. The majority was shipped to Brazil, the Caribbean, and the Spanish Empire. According to the figures published by Hugh Thomas, around 13 million Africans were deported among whom 11 million arrived alive in the Americas.

# data[].attributes.body
slavery

# data[].attributes.body
Kaiden

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Stowage of a British slave ship, Brookes (1788)

# data[].attributes.body
Benjie and jaxson

# data[].attributes.body
kaiden.anderson

# data[].attributes.body
by john

# data[].attributes.body
Devon & Gael

# data[].attributes.body
by anderson

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Stowage of a British slave ship, Brookes (1788)

# data[].attributes.body
slave trade

# data[].attributes.body
ximena and celeste

# data[].attributes.body
Aubree & Breanna

# data[].attributes.body
atlantic slave trade

# data[].attributes.body
Jaxson and BENJIE

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As a result of the slave trade, five times as many Africans arrived in the Americas than Europeans. Slaves were needed on plantations and in mining. The majority was shipped to Brazil, the Caribbean, and the Spanish Empire. According to the figures published by Hugh Thomas, around 13 million Africans were deported among whom 11 million arrived alive in the Americas.

# data[].attributes.body
john dover

# data[].attributes.body
Ms.Tull

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What was the Atlantic slave trade?

The Atlantic slave trade or triangular trade involved the forced enslavement of many millions of Africans and their transport to the Americas, where they were made to work without wages in often inhumane conditions.

The trade was at its height during the 18th century when Britain was the most active trading nation.

The cost of the slave trade in terms of human suffering can not be calculated.

Top 10 facts

1. Slavery had existed for many years before the Atlantic slave trade commenced. The first known written law code - that of Hammurabi, dating from around 1760 BC - makes references to slaves.

2. The first Europeans to enter into and profit from the slave trade in Africa were the Portuguese who began trading in the 15th century.

3. African kings and merchants sold captured enemies or criminals to the European traders. Sometimes they had to sell slaves or risk being taken captive themselves.

4. Approximately 12 million people were enslaved as a result of the Atlantic slave trade.

5. The journey between Africa and the Americas, the so-called middle passage, took an average of seven weeks.

6. Nearly 40% of people taken in slavery came from West Central Africa - the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola.

7. Approximately 15% of slaves died whilst being transported to the Americas.

8. Slaves were often captured inland and were marched for many weeks to reach the coast. There they were imprisoned in forts called factories awaiting shipping across the Atlantic.

9. Slaves were tightly packed on board ships which could carry between 350 and 600 people, with as little as 4 feet of space. The unsanitary conditions led to the spread of disease and many slaves attempted to starve themselves or became very depressed. Some tried to jump overboard.

10. 70% of slaves worked to produce sugar with others producing tobacco, coffee or cotton.

Timeline

First ship-load of Africans arrive in Virginia USA

Did you know?

Denmark was the first country to ban the slave trade in 1792.

Slaves were expected to work 48 hour shifts during harvest time.

During the 18th century approximately 6 million slaves were transported from Africa. The major slaving nation at that time was Britain, responsible for the transport of 2.5 million Africans.

The life expectancy for slaves in Brazil was 23 years of age.

It has been calculated that slaves had only 4 square feet of space on the slave ships.

Former slaves Olaudah Equino and Sojourner Truth both wrote about their experiences of slavery and were effective campaigners against slavery.

Harriet Tubman was born a slave in Maryland in the United States of America and became the most famous "conductor" of the Underground Railroad, leading slaves in the American South to freedom in the North. Harriet Tubman was only five foot tall but she liberated over 300 slaves!

The Atlantic slave trade lasted four and a half centuries.

Browse the gallery below and see if you can spot the following:

Slaves being moved to the coast of Africa

An African slave dealer marching slaves to the coast

Slaves onboard ship

Plan of a slave ship

Slaves being taken to a slave ship

A revolt aboard a slave ship

Slaves being rescued from a slave ship

Gallery

About

Slavery is where one person is owned by another. A slave is treated as if he or she were a piece of property and is forced to work for nothing for their owners. Slavery has probably existed throughout human history and been practised by many different civilisations.

Slavery in Africa existed before the arrival of Europeans but the Atlantic slave trade changed the scale of the trade and the way it was conducted. Over the centuries up to 12 million African people were enslaved and transported to the Americas. The majority (48%) went to the Caribbean islands, with 41% going to Brazil and 5% to North America. These slaves were chattel slaves which meant that their children were also slaves.

The Atlantic slave trade arose because Europeans were keen to make money from the newly discovered territories of the Americas. The native Indian population had been very much reduced and in some places almost wiped out by the Europeans and the survivors proved unsuited to the heavy labour they required. The transport of slaves from Africa seemed to provide the profit-hungry Europeans with an endless supply of labour.

The trade in slaves was called the triangular trade because it had three stages.

1. Manufactured goods from Europe such as blankets, beads and guns were taken to Africa where they were exchanged for slaves.

2. The transport of slaves from Africa to the Americas was known as the middle passage.

3. Finally raw material and goods produced as a result of slave labour such as cotton, sugar, rum and tobacco from the Americas were brought back to Europe.

The Committee for the Abolition of the Slave trade was led by William Wilberforce, Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson, though many Black British people also participated in the abolition movement. Although the British took a leading role in abolishing the trade it should not be forgotten that for many years Britain had been the most active slave-trading nation of all. Many people made a lot of money from the trade and cities such as Bristol, London and Liverpool grew wealthy as a result of it.

Related Videos

See for yourself

Books for children about the Atlantic slave trade

Find out more:

Also see

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Atlantic slave trade or triangular trade involved the forced enslavement of many millions of Africans and their transport to the Americas, where they were made to work without wages in often inhumane conditions. The trade was at its height during the 18th century when Britain was the most active trading nation.

# data[].attributes.body
Ms. Tull