Trans-Atlantic Trade

1. Trans-Atlantic Trade

2. Mercantilism • During the 16th and 17th centuries many Europeans countries adopted the belief that the best way to have a prosperous country was to heavily regulate the colonial economy and limit imports from other countries while trying to accumulate as much gold and capital as possible.

3. Mercantilism • The belief that countries must grow wealthier and maintain their national security by consistently exporting more than they import.

4. Trans-Atlantic Trade • Consisted of trade routes across the Atlantic Ocean

5. How did all the separate colonies begin to become one big colony? • Trade with other colonies and England • Triangular trade especially profitable England and Europe B Africa C A The Americas (the Colonies and the Caribbean then called the West Indies)

6. Triangle Trade Route

7. Europe Colonies Africa

8. African’s brought their traditions, songs, languages and religions to America. • Enslaved Africans were a large % of the population in the southern colonies and even outnumbered the whites in S.C.

9. Middle Passage

10. Transporting of enslaved people from Africa across the Atlantic to the America was called the Middle Passage.

11. The Middle Passage • Refers to the forced transportation of African people from Africa to the New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade • It was called the Middle Passage because the slave trade was the middle portion of the triangular trade.

12. The Middle Passage • Native African chieftains captured enemy tribes in battle and sold them in slave markets on the African coast. • Some African prisoners remained in the dungeons of the coastal forts for up to a year before they were shipped to the New World.

13. The Middle Passage • Some ship captains took care of their cargo to make sure that enough would survive to yield a profit. • Other ship captains attempted to pack as many Africans into their ships as possible to ensure enough would survive to ensure profit.

14. The Middle Passage • Less than 5% of Africans went to English colonies. • Most went to the Caribbean islands and Brazil, whose labor-intensive sugar economies created a large demand for slaves. • Before the slave trade ended in the 19th century, as many as 12 million Africans were transported to the New World

15. Africans were transported on ships to the Americas. • European merchants brought manufactured goods to trade for Africans. • Tobacco and other products were transported to Europe

16. The proportion of African Americans was higher in the Southern Colonies because slave labor proved profitable on plantations.

17. When Africans first arrived in Virginia, English law did not recognize slavery. Africans were treated like indentured servants. Maryland (1638): First British colony to recognize slavery

18. 1705 Virginia: Slave codes • Set of laws the formally regulated slavery and defined the relationship between enslaved Africans and free people • Other colonies enacted slave codes • Limited the rights of blacks in law. • Ensured absolute authority to white masters • Color determined whether a person was subject to slave codes • Any African ancestry was enough to classify a person as black

19. Southern Economies • Agriculture • Tobacco(Chesapeake Region): Slaves were needed on large tobacco farms • Rice (South Carolina and Georgia): Hard work, knee-deep in swamps under the blazing sun, surrounded by insects. White laborers generally refused to farm rice. Many Africans died from diseases carried by mosquitoes (malaria).