Stefanie

Life in Africa
Africa wasn’t organized in sovereign countries such as Europe, but people lived in tribes that fought each other that made them weak and made it possible capture them into slavery. The Africans didn’t have education and they spoke many different languages. There was no unity.

Capture
Over a period of about 400 years, about 10-15 million African people were kidnapped and sold into slavery. Most of the Africans who were enslaved were captured in battles or were kidnapped, though some were sold into slavery as punishment. These people were packed onto to crowded ships, and brought to the New World, the Americans, as a source of free labour. People were traded for goods. They were treated worse then animals. Even horses were treated better than the African slaves.

The Middle Passage
The Middle Passage was the stage of the triangular trade in which millions of Africansundefinedwere shipped to the New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade. The middle passage was a terrible time during the slave trade. On 6th of September 1781 the slave ship ‘Zong’ sailed from the cost of Africa for Jamaica. There were 17 white crewmen and about 440 slaves on board. A slave had only a tiny space to sleep and eat. They only have two meals a day and the food quality was very bad. Many slaves got seasick and got very sick. Many of them died the way to Jamaica. The conditions were very bad on the ship. The toilets were only pods and many of them couldn’t go to the toilet so they relief themselves on the floor. And illnesses spread like this. The captain of the ship made a very bad decision, he turned to the opposite direction although he had to go to Jamaica and he killed all the slaves.

Arrival in Americas
When the African slaves arrived America, the captains of the ships exchanged them for food and money. They washed, shaved and rubbed them with palm oil to disguise sores and wounds caused by conditions on board. The captains usually sold their captives directly to planters or specialized wholesalers by auction. Families who had managed to stay together were now often broken up. Bonds formed during the voyage were also broken.

Life in Americas
The slaves that worked on the fields had working from sunrise to sunset six days a week and having food sometimes not suitable for an animal to eat. Plantation slaves lived in small shacks with a dirt floor and little or no furniture. They were shackled by chains or yokes around their necks in a coffee. Large plantations often required some slaves to work in the plantation home. These slaves enjoyed far better circumstances. A slave was not permitted to keep a gun. If caught carrying a gun, the slave received 39 lashes and forfeited the gun.