Numerous amounts of people, when thinking in terms of slavery, often tend to think about the conditions of the African slaves in the New World. And while that aspect of slavery is very vital and important, without the transatlantic slave trade there would be little to no Africans in the New World. The subtraction of Africans from their country, the conditions of the slaves on ships through the Atlantic, and the different number of slaves in the New World at different times are all major points when dealing with this topic. The separation of Africans from their home country is where it all began.
To be able to have slaves in the New World as well as various other countries, the Europeans had to first get the Africans out of Africa. Most of the …show more content…
In this time the ships could carry anywhere from 250 to 600 slaves (Slavery-The middle Passage). Males and females were separately placed. Men were chained together, while women were given a bit more freedom, as they were thought to be less of a threat (Slavery-The middle Passage). Slaves were almost always packed like cargo under the deck and they often had to endure the passage across the Atlantic in and around other slaves’ feces, urine, vomit, and blood (The African Slave Trade). They were put in places that they couldn’t fully stand up and on many occasions the heat was unbearable and suffocating as was the smell (The African Slave Trade). Olaudah Equiano, a slave, wrote about his experience on the slave ship, the following is an excerpt. “I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life; so that with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste anything” (Caplan). These conditions led some slaves to die from a couple different diseases; however that is not the only way the slaves that passed away died, suicide also contributed to some of the deaths (Atlantic Passage). Not wanting to be treated like property, some slaves tried to rebel on the …show more content…
Twelve and a half million slaves were transported out of Africa, out of that, ten point seven million survived the middle passage, and finally out of those who survived, a beyond belief number of three hundred eighty-eight thousand went on to make it to the New World, what we know as the United States (Gates). The New World slaves all began with twenty slaves on a Dutch ship to and in Jamestown, where they helped with the production and cultivation of tobacco among other crops (Slavery in America). Nearly two hundred years after the first arrival of slaves in 1619, a census was taken in 1790 and it was found that about 697,000 slaves were present at that time, with Virginia holding the most slaves at about 287,000 (Rossiter 133) . In 1800 that number had grown approximately by twenty-eight point one percent in the previous ten years. The census in 1850 showed that there were 3,204,000 slaves, again with Virginia holding the most slaves with 492,000 which is a 171.43 percent increase from fifty years prior. Finally, in 1860 there were 3,935,000 slaves and once again Virginia held the top population with 472,000 (Rossiter 133). Even though slavery was thriving in 1860, in 1865 congress established the thirteenth amendment, stating that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party
To be able to have slaves in the New World as well as various other countries, the Europeans had to first get the Africans out of Africa. Most of the …show more content…
In this time the ships could carry anywhere from 250 to 600 slaves (Slavery-The middle Passage). Males and females were separately placed. Men were chained together, while women were given a bit more freedom, as they were thought to be less of a threat (Slavery-The middle Passage). Slaves were almost always packed like cargo under the deck and they often had to endure the passage across the Atlantic in and around other slaves’ feces, urine, vomit, and blood (The African Slave Trade). They were put in places that they couldn’t fully stand up and on many occasions the heat was unbearable and suffocating as was the smell (The African Slave Trade). Olaudah Equiano, a slave, wrote about his experience on the slave ship, the following is an excerpt. “I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life; so that with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste anything” (Caplan). These conditions led some slaves to die from a couple different diseases; however that is not the only way the slaves that passed away died, suicide also contributed to some of the deaths (Atlantic Passage). Not wanting to be treated like property, some slaves tried to rebel on the …show more content…
Twelve and a half million slaves were transported out of Africa, out of that, ten point seven million survived the middle passage, and finally out of those who survived, a beyond belief number of three hundred eighty-eight thousand went on to make it to the New World, what we know as the United States (Gates). The New World slaves all began with twenty slaves on a Dutch ship to and in Jamestown, where they helped with the production and cultivation of tobacco among other crops (Slavery in America). Nearly two hundred years after the first arrival of slaves in 1619, a census was taken in 1790 and it was found that about 697,000 slaves were present at that time, with Virginia holding the most slaves at about 287,000 (Rossiter 133) . In 1800 that number had grown approximately by twenty-eight point one percent in the previous ten years. The census in 1850 showed that there were 3,204,000 slaves, again with Virginia holding the most slaves with 492,000 which is a 171.43 percent increase from fifty years prior. Finally, in 1860 there were 3,935,000 slaves and once again Virginia held the top population with 472,000 (Rossiter 133). Even though slavery was thriving in 1860, in 1865 congress established the thirteenth amendment, stating that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party