LibGuides: Triangle Trade: Enslaved People

Level A

BrainPop: Slavery
Overview of the history of slavery in America.

PortCities: How Slavery Developed - 'Buying' the Slaves
When the ships reached Africa they would cruise along the coast collecting as many men, women and children as they could, ‘paying’ for them with the goods brought from Europe.
International Slavery Museum: Enslaved Africans - Our Truth
Follow the stories of four enslaved Africans on board a transatlantic slave ship in this online feature.
PBS: Africans in America - Olaudah Equiano, 1745 - 1797
Captured far from the African coast when he was a boy of 11, Olaudah Equiano was sold into slavery, later acquired his freedom, and, in 1789, wrote his widely-read autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African.

Level B

Mariner's Museum: Captive Passage - The Enslavement of Africans
Most of the Africans who were enslaved were captured in battle or kidnapped, though some were sold into slavery for debt or as punishment for another offense. Most European and African dealers had a sophisticated network of trading alliances for gathering captives and marching them to the coast.

Bartering for Slaves on the Gold Coast

Many men, women, and children died on the way to the coast before the European slavers made their selection. Others died at the port of departure, usually as a result of exposure to new diseases or the appalling conditions in the barracoons, or slave camps.

Schomburg Center: Domestic Slave Trade - Victims of the Trade
Speculators preferred to purchase what they termed "young and likely Negroes" - mainly teenagers and young adults. They wanted men with the ability to perform hard labor and the potential for a long work career. The merchants also looked for young women with many years of childbearing ahead of them.
PortCities: Bristol and Transatlantic Slavery - Enslaved People
Gives details about the enslaved people involved in the slave trade and includes some personal stories.

Level C

Kongo's King Alvaro is shown here receiving Dutch emissaries in 1642. The Portuguese and the Dutch were rivals in the region, each vying for a monopoly on the slave trade.