The Middle Passage was the brutal, forced voyage that transported millions of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, serving as the middle leg of the transatlantic "Triangle Trade" from the 16th to the 19th century. Approximately 12.5 million Africans were forced onto these ships, with around 10.7 million surviving the harrowing journey.
Background
The Middle Passage was the central leg of the transatlantic slave trade, transporting millions of Africans from West Africa to the Americas.
This brutal journey and the plantation systems that awaited survivors defined the human experience of Atlantic slavery.
The system was both economically efficient for European empires and catastrophically inhumane for those enslaved.
The Middle Passage
Conditions on Slave Ships
Enslaved Africans were packed tightly into ships’ holds with almost no air, space, or sanitation.
Mortality rates ranged from 10 to 20 percent, caused by disease, dehydration, and abuse.
Captives suffered severe psychological trauma, as families were torn apart and individuals were stripped of identity and freedom.
Economic Logic and Human Cost
Ships were designed for maximum profit, not survival. The dead were thrown overboard.
European traders viewed enslaved Africans as cargo within the Triangular Trade, illustrating the dehumanization central to the system.
The journey could last six to ten weeks, depending on weather and destination.
Life and Labor in the New World
Plantation Work
Upon arrival, enslaved Africans were sold at auctions and sent to plantations across the Caribbean, Brazil, and North America.
In sugar colonies like Jamaica and Saint-Domingue, work was constant and hazardous (cutting cane, feeding boiling houses, and enduring physical punishment.)
Life expectancy was less than ten years after arrival due to exhaustion and disease.
Regional Differences
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