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The African slaves brought with them a rich heritage

including songs.

Adapted to reflect their experience of

life and hard work in the plantations, these work

songs evolved into what we still know as “spirituals”,

religious songs, which alleviated the fatigue of slaves’

work and terrible lives.

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Slaves were just objects, the property of their masters.

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Hard work, no rights, no freedom.

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The majority of those sold into slavery were destined
to work on plantations in the Caribbean and the
Americas, where huge areas had been colonized by European countries.
These plantations produced goods meant for
consumption back in Europe.

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On the final leg of the transatlantic route, European
ships returned home with cargoes of sugar, rum,
tobacco, cotton and other luxury items.

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Once full, the trader's ship would depart on the voyage from Africa to America.
The slaves would be kept in the ship's hold, crammed close together with little or no space to move.
Conditions were squalid and many people died.

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Slaves were bought in West Africa, and were takein in America. If they survived the journey they were sold and forcd to work on plantations.
The products were sent to Britain and then to Africa, in exchange for more slaves.

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Slavery existed from the earliest times.
It was an important part of the economic and social life of many ancient civilization.

Labour was in short supply throughout America.

The planters commonly hired indentured servants, but they were temporary and expensive.

Then they started to enslave Indians, but they fled into the wilderness or died from diseases.

Black slaves seemed the ideal answer to the economic problem

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The slave trade refers to the transatlantic trading patterns which were established as early as the mid-17th century.