CHATTEL SLAVERY 2:
THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE
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CHATTEL SLAVERY 2:
THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE
The Scale of the Atlantic Slave Trade
Slavery is almost as old as civilization itself, but the numbers involved in the Atlantic slave trade were truly shocking.
From 1500 to 1880 CE, between 10 and 12 million African people were forced from their homes and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. About 15% of them died during the terrible journey.
Those who survived became property—bought and sold like goods such as sugar or cotton.
Where enslaved Africans were sent changed over time. About 48% went to the Caribbean, 41% to Brazil, and only about 5% to what became the United States.
Most Americans don’t realize that the majority of enslaved Africans never set foot in North America.
Earlier European Slave Trades
Long before Europeans began sending Africans to the Americas, they already had experience trading enslaved people.
One of the first big European slave trades began after the Fourth Crusade in 1204.
Many enslaved people were women from Eastern Europe who worked as servants or in sugar production.
That same crop—sugar—would later become one of the main products grown by enslaved Africans in the Caribbean.
How Africans Became Enslaved
Many people think Europeans invaded Africa, captured people, and shipped them away.
But the truth is more complicated.
Africa was home to many kingdoms and societies, some small and some very powerful. Europeans couldn’t simply conquer them, so instead they traded for slaves.
Some African groups captured people from other regions—often prisoners of war, criminals, or those in debt—and sold them to European traders.
In exchange, they received guns, metal tools, and fine cloth.
In some parts of Africa, enslaved people had long been considered a form of property or wealth, especially since land often belonged to the state. Over time, this trade grew and spread, changing African societies.
To truly understand this tragedy, we must also understand the economics behind it. Slaveholders viewed people not as human beings, but as “commodities”—objects that could be bought, sold, or used for profit.
The Atlantic system became especially cruel because it created chattel slavery, where enslaved people were treated as movable property, not as human lives.
Life and Labor of Enslaved People
The conditions enslaved Africans faced were horrifying. On the ships that crossed the Atlantic, people were packed tightly together—sometimes 400 at a time—with only about four square feet of space each. That’s less room than a man in a coffin.
When they arrived in the Americas, survivors were sold at public markets, much like animals or goods. Some owners even branded their slaves with hot irons on the face or body to show ownership.
The lives of enslaved people were ruled by hard labor and fear. Some worked in houses or skilled trades, but most worked on farms and plantations, sometimes referred to as “forced labor camps.”
In the Caribbean and Brazil, enslaved people spent most of the year planting and harvesting sugarcane from sunrise to sunset. Fertilizing the fields meant carrying heavy baskets of manure up steep slopes.
During harvest season, the work grew even worse. The sugar sap had to be processed quickly before it spoiled. Enslaved people sometimes worked two days without sleep, in hot buildings where sugarcane was crushed by hand rollers and boiled in large pots. Many were injured or lost their hands, and overseers kept hatchets ready for amputations.
Given these terrible conditions, the average life expectancy for a Brazilian slave on a sugar plantation in the 1700s was only 23 years.
In British colonies like Barbados, and especially in the United States, life expectancy was somewhat higher. In the U.S., the enslaved population even began to grow naturally—meaning more children were born than people died.
At first glance, this might seem like an improvement, but it was really a cruel calculation. Slave owners realized that if enslaved people had children, they could claim and sell those children as new property. This made slavery self-sustaining and even more inescapable.
That’s why, even though the U.S. imported far fewer Africans, people of African descent came to make up a large part of its population. In places like Brazil, where conditions were deadlier, more people had to be constantly imported from Africa until slavery finally ended in the 1880s.
Defining Slavery
So what exactly makes slavery so terrible?
The sociologist Orlando Patterson defined slavery as “the permanent, violent, and personal domination of people who are cut off from their birth culture and dishonored.”
In other words, slavery takes away a person’s freedom, identity, and humanity. Patterson called this “social death.”
The very word “chattel” comes from the same root as “cattle,” showing how enslaved people were treated as livestock.
Atlantic slavery took pieces of earlier systems and combined all their worst parts into one vast, horrifying machine of human suffering.
Greek and Roman Slavery
The ancient Greeks were among the first to connect slavery with being “different.” Most of their slaves were non-Greeks, often called “barbarians.” The philosopher Aristotle even argued that some people were “slaves by nature.”
The Romans expanded slavery on a massive scale—about 30% of their population were slaves. They also created the plantation system, using large groups of enslaved people to work huge farms called latifundia.
Judeo-Christian Traditions
Some people later used the Bible to justify slavery. They pointed to a story where Noah curses his son Ham, saying, “Cursed be Canaan; he shall be the lowest of slaves to his brothers.” From this, two false ideas grew:
Slavery could be passed down through generations.
Slavery could be a punishment for sin.
Both ideas helped people excuse the enslavement of Africans.
Muslim Slave Systems
Muslim traders were the first to import large numbers of Bantu-speaking Africans, known as the Zanj, into the Middle East. The Zanj were treated as inferior and often enslaved because of their dark skin.
They eventually rose up in one of the first major slave revolts in 869 CE against the Abbasid Caliphate.
Still, the idea that dark skin meant inferiority spread widely—especially to Spain and Portugal, where Muslim and Christian worlds met.
Spain and Portugal, the first European colonizers in the Americas, carried these racist ideas with them and used them to justify Atlantic slavery.
The Global Legacy
The Atlantic slave trade was one of history’s greatest tragedies. It involved nearly every part of the world and grew from thousands of years of believing that some people were “less human” than others.
It’s easy to blame one nation or one group, but slavery was supported by many societies—and its effects are still felt today.
The hardest truth is this: for centuries, millions of people believed it was acceptable for human beings to be treated as property.
Agriculture – The work of farming, including growing crops and raising animals for food or trade.
Branding – Burning a mark into someone’s skin to show ownership or control.
Caribbean – A region of islands and coastal countries between North and South America, where many enslaved Africans were taken.
Chattel slavery – A system where people are treated as property that can be bought, sold, or inherited.
Commodity – Something that can be traded or sold, like sugar or cotton.
Dehumanize – To treat people as if they are not human or do not have feelings or rights.
Economy – The system of trade, money, and jobs that helps a country or society function.
Enslaved – Forced to work without pay or freedom; made into a slave.
Hereditary – Passed down from parents to children through generations.
Importation – Bringing goods or people into one place from another country.
Manure – Animal waste used to fertilize crops and help plants grow.
Plantation – A very large farm where crops such as sugar, cotton, or tobacco are grown, usually with enslaved labor.
Revolt – A rebellion or uprising against unfair control or authority.
Social death – The loss of one’s identity, rights, and place in society.
Tragedy – A very sad or terrible event that causes great suffering.
► COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
— please answer with complete sentences
Between 1500 and 1880 CE, about how many African people were forced from their homes and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas?
For every 100 Africans who boarded a slave ship in Africa, how many died before they reached the Americas?
What percentage of slaves when to the Caribbean? To Brazil? To the United States?
Hint: this questions requires three numbers for a complete answer.
How did European slaver traders get their slaves?
Slave traders and slave owners did not think of their slaves as human beings.
What did they think of them as?
On a Brazilian sugarcare plantation (or “forced labor camp”) in the 1700s, what was the average life expectancy of a slave?
What is slavery? How would you define it?
What is “social death”?
How did some people use the Bible to justify slavery?
Which two European countries first used racist ideas to justify slavery?