An Analysis of the Atlantic Slave Trade

Caroline Avedian
Word Count: 1868

The Atlantic Slave Trade was the deportation of millions of Africans from their homes
and to the American continent for the purpose of being sold and used as slaves. It was the biggest
deportation in history and a significant factor in the world economy of the 18th century. Every
European empire took advantage of slave labor and fought over control of its very profitable
trade. The desire for slaves was satisfied through trading and the kidnapping and deportation of
millions of African adults and children. Since slave traders, owners, merchants, and lawmakers
realized that those they kidnapped might not concede their freedom passively, numerous
measures, such as chaining and extreme crowding on ships, were taken to prevent rebellions.
An estimated 7.7 million Africans were transported to the New World between 1492 and
1820. Most slaves that were brought into the New World were meant for the Caribbean or Brazil.
But 278,000 landed in Britains mainland colonies between 1700 and 1775. A series of triangular
trading routes developed across the Atlantic. These routes carried British goods to Africa and the

colonies for slaves, products like sugar, tobacco, and rice (all of which were slave-grown) to
Europe, and slaves from Africa to the New World.
The Atlantic Slave Trade was horrifying and traumatizing for the Africans involved. This
is evident when one reads Olaudah Equianos account on his experience as a transported slave.
He writes about how one day when he and his sister were alone in the house, two men and a
woman kidnapped them and took them into the nearest woods. Once there, they tied their hands
and continued to carry them away from their home. About six or seven months after the
kidnapping, they arrived at the sea coast. The first thing Equiano saw was the sea and the slave
ship that rested on it, anchored. He recalls how his astonishment was quickly turned into terror
and fear when he was carried on board. He was immediately and thoroughly inspected to make
sure he was fit for their purposes. At this point, he figured that the strange men, with their long
hair and strikingly different complexions, were going to kill him. When he looked around the
ship, he saw all kinds of black people chained together. Many merchants and planters eventually
came on board. They put them in separate parcels and examined them like live stock. So much
fear and anguish was being experienced by the captured Africans, that old slaves from the land
were brought aboard to comfort them. He said that his fear was so drastic that if ten thousand
worlds had been [his] own, [he] would have freely parted with them all to have exchanged [his]
condition with that of the meanest slave in [his] own country (Course Reader 52). When the
merchants were ready to sell them, a signal was given, and the buyers would rush into the yard
where the slaves were kept and pick which slave they liked best. The eagerness of the buyers
terrified them, he claims. He also writes about how families were torn apart to be sold separately,
destroying the small comfort that comes from being together: Why are parents to lose their
children, brothers their sisters, or husbands their wives? Surely this is a new refinement in
cruelty (Course Reader 54).

This piece, written by a former slave, sadly depicts the cruel reality of the Atlantic Slave
Trade. The idea that two children could be kidnapped from their homes, away from their friends
and family, and shipped off to be slaves is absolutely revolting. Not to mention the horrid
conditions under which they were transported. This clearly demonstrates that the Atlantic Slave
Trade was not only physically harming but also psychologically. To be treated like cattle,
inspected, bought, and sold is an extremely traumatizing and damaging experience, from which
one might not ever be able to recover.
Once the slaves were transported to their various destination, they were then put to work.
One of the states with the fastest growing slave population was Virginia. Virginias slave
population grew from 3000 to 27,000 in just 40 years. Hugh Jones, who was an immigrant from
England wrote about the enslaved populations contact with whites and the slave society of
planters, small landowners, poor white laborers and black slaves. He describes how black slaves
lived in small cottages in groups of about six, under the direction and supervision of an overseer.
The overseer would make sure that the slaves worked as much as the owners of the land
demanded them to. And to produce goods for their masters. The overseer would have a share of
these goods. He talks about how black slaves were numerous, with some owners having
hundreds of them. In these circumstances, the owners would see it in their best interest to keep
them well and not overwork or starve them. However, he does concede that some masters were
very cruel and negligent. He then goes on to say that the slaves are naturally barbarous and
cruel tempered, but that they are kept under by severe discipline upon occasion and are
prevented from running away through certain laws (Course Reader 26). Jones also insists that the
work the slaves do is not very tough and that their greatest difficulty is that they are property to
owners and that when they are free they do not know how to provide for themselves. The
children belonged to the master of the woman that gave birth to them and their work [was] to

take care of the stock, and plant corn, tobacco, fruits, etc. which he claimed was not harder
than thrashing, hedging, or ditching (Course Reader 27). He then goes on to explain the value
of a good slave being worth three score pounds sterling. Aside from black slaves, Jones talks
about how white servants were brought in yearly from European countries. These white servants
were either paid for an agreed upon time of work, were bound by indenture to serve four or five
years, or were convicts or felons sent to be servants as punishment. The white servants, Jones
explains, were a very small number compared to the blacks that were used as slaves.
This excerpt shows just how fast growing the Atlantic Slave Trade was. It grew in very
large numbers over a short amount of time. It also provides us with insight on the condition and
lifestyle of captured slaves after they left their ships. It also provides us with a unique viewpoint
on slaves being better off in America than anywhere else. It seems like the owners and
participants are convincing themselves that they are doing some good for the people they
captured under the assumption that they are savages or barbarians. Moreover, we again see how
slaves were seen as property (having a value of three score pounds sterling) and that decent
treatment of them was only to take care of the owners investment. Lastly, we see that there were
in fact some white slaves, though they are called servants, that were made to work too for quite
different reasons.
Because of the fear that was present in captured slaves and since slaves heavily
outnumbered non-slaves, captors had to develop ways to keep them from revolting and taking
over. A lot of these tactics are explained in the published works of James Barbot Jr., who worked
aboard slave ships for most of his life. Barbot Jr. explains the process of managing slaves on
board. One of the ways they were managed was by lodging the two sexes apart, having the men
in front of the ship and the women in the back. Another was to have decks in large ships be at
least six feet high to make it easier to look after the slaves and to have slaves lie in two rows, one

above the other, as close together as physically possibly. To avoid mutiny, the captors would visit
the slaves daily, searching between decks to make sure the slaves had not found something that
could be used as a weapon. They also had men standing by in the gun room in the event that a
slave makes a sudden and unexpected move. Barbot Jr. emphasizes how he and the crew allowed
the slaves much more liberty and treated them better than other Europeans did. They would
allow them to be upon the deck every day, fed them twice a day, gave them snacks between
meals, and allowed them to smoke tobacco and converse with each other. Barbot Jr. makes it
clear that those in charge on the ships should not be too severe and haughty with [the slaves],
but that they should caress and humor them in every reasonable thing (Course Reader 22). He
goes on to say that some commanders have short tempers and are constantly beating the slaves
for every little thing and that this sort of behavior hinders the work of the ship and makes the
slaves desperate enough to commit suicide. He closes by saying that officers of this type should
understand that these slaves are humans as well.
After the captured slaves departed the ships, there then became a need to manage them on
plantations. Joseph Ball owned a plantation in Virginia. In 1743, he allowed his nephew, Joseph
Chinn, to manage it. His instructions made it clear that he wanted his slaves to be treated well.
He said that every slave must be assigned two blankets and two shirts. He insisted that each of
the children must have a coat made of Worser Cotton or Plaiory of Virginia Cloth. The workers
must also have good strong shoes and stockings. He also stressed that if any of the slaves get
sick, they should be allowed to lay by a fire and have fresh meat and broth and if they are
vomiting they should be given cardury tea. He then states, let not the overseers abuse [his]
people. Nor let them abuse their overseer (Course Reader 44).
The relatively decent treatment of slaves on both the ships and on the plantations, as
shown by these two sources, indicate that the most effective technique in managing them was to

not treat them too harshly. By instilling in the slaves a sense of security, slave traders and slave
owners effectively made the slaves forget their tragic fate. They made them forget that they were
torn away from their families and their homes. Made them forget that they would be forced to
work for no money. Made them forget that they would be victims to beatings if they did some
little thing wrong. This proved to be a very effective tactic and quite a sinister one in controlling
slaves and preventing rebellions.
The Atlantic Slave Trade caused irreparable damage to African families and to our
civilization. Throughout these written works, the sheer cruelty of its practice remains clear. The
Atlantic Slave Trade tore families apart, forced Africans to work for nothing, treated them like
property by selling and buying them, controlled their own freedom through strategies made to
avoid rebellions and ultimately established a sense of false superiority over blacks. It is among
the most heinous of crimes in our history.