Skip to main content
Like
Create new Glog
previous
next
Email share
170 views | 0 likes | 0 reposts
Trans- Atlantic Slave Trade
The trans-Atlantic slave trade started in the mid fifteenth century. Slaves were the main force that drove the conquests in the New World. Portugal owned the slave trade in Africa after its failed attempts at recovering gold yeilding no money. The African slaves were especially useful becuase they were used to the climate like the one in the New World. The local indians in the Americas were weak and the Europeans became sick becuase they weren't immune to the local diseases. Slaves became very valuable and slave trade hit its prime in the late eighteenth century.
Portugal set up companies that would ship the slaves across the ocean to the Americas. These companies treated the slaves like products, packing as many as they could into crammed boats for the hope that more would survive. The slaves be unloaded and put to work harvesting sugar, gold, and other resouces. These resouces were shipped back to Europe. And finally the money gained would be put right back into obatining more slaves. This was called The Triangular Trade.
http://africanhistory.about.com/od/slavery/tp/TransAtlantic001.htm
