Unit 3: The Secret Road to Freedom (1ère G_gr2)

The Atlantic Slave Trade

The document under study is video from Ted Education published in December 2014. It is about the Atlantic slave trade. We have learned that the trade started in the late 1400s (15^th century) and ended in the middle of the 19^th century (1800s). There were 10 million Africans deported to the Americas. The trade was organized on three continents: Africa, North America and South America.

It all started with Portuguese colonies in West Africa who exchanged with Spanish settlements in the Americas. The impact of the slave trade was not only on the slaves and their descendants, but also on the economies and histories of the countries that were involved in the process.

In the new colonies, they cultivated cotton, sugar cane and tobacco. The Natives were the first enslaved people to take care of these crops. However, many Natives died because of the diseases brought buy the Europeans. As a result, the Europeans decided to buy slaves from Africa.

In Africa, African leaders were pleased to sell their criminals and prisoners of war in exchange of rifles and money in order to enrich themselves.

Homework: Learn the lesson.