The Slave Trade
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Transcript of The Slave Trade
From Indentured Servitude to Chattel Slavery
Indentured ServantsA person who has contracted to work for another for a
limited period often in return for travel expenses, shelter, and sustenance
Some volunteered
Some forced as a criminal punishment
Some children kidnapped
Upon completion of the contract, the former servant would receive some money, tools, clothing, and food and would set out on their own
Headright SystemThe Virginia Company’s policy of granting 50 acres of
land to each settler and to each family member who accompanied him
Land was the only asset the Virginia Company had to pay new investors
Encouraged investors to bring settlers so the colony and company could grow
Chattel SlaveryAn enslaved person who is owned for ever and whose
children and children's children are automatically enslaved. Chattel slaves are individuals treated as complete property, to be bought and sold.
There were fewer and fewer indentured servants
The headright system could not get new settlers to brave the dangers of the New World
As plantation owners became wealthier, they could afford to buy slaves
First leg: merchant ships brought European goods to Africa
Middle Passage: European goods were traded for slaves and slaves were transported to the Americas
Final Leg: Merchants sent raw materials to Europe to be manufactured
Triangular trade was very profitable
Africans were kidnapped from their villages-tied together and forced to walk to port cities
Once on the ships they were restrained below deck-disease, starvation, and suicide common-packed on shelves below deck-called “floating coffins”
Watch this video:
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/30011-assignment-discovery-the-middle-passage-
video.htm
Slave trade brought wealth and labor to the Americas
African states were torn apart and lives were cut short or forever brutalized
At the peak of the slave trade (1780s) 80,000 slaves were traded a year!
Look at this picture and describe how it makes you feel. Imagine if you had to be in this situation.