Excerpted from Alexander Falconbridge, An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa (London: 1788).

(http://www.learnnc.org/lp/media/uploads/2008/07/slaveroute.jpg)
The "triangle trade" carried agricultural products from America to Europe,
manufactured goods from Europe to Africa, and slaves from Africa to America. As this
map shows, though, it is more complicated than a single triangle. The full map
(http://www.learnnc.org/lp/media/uploads/2008/07
/25450_e_carterouteesclave600_420_new.pdf) (in PDF format) includes a key and
shows additional trade routes and the impact of the slave trade on Africa. (Developed
by the Slave Route Project. Copyright UNESCO. More about the photograph
(http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/8864))
Unfortunately, some of the content of this page, such as mouseover comments, is not printable. But a PDF version is available with everything included, at http:www
accountoftheslavep1904.pdf.
An account of the slave trade on the coast of Africa - North Carolina Digi... http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-colonial/1904
1 of 7 9/5/2014 1:45 PM
How slaves were sold to Europeans
An account of the slave trade on the coast of Africa - North Carolina Digi... http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-colonial/1904
2 of 7 9/5/2014 1:45 PM
An account of the slave trade on the coast of Africa - North Carolina Digi... http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-colonial/1904
3 of 7 9/5/2014 1:45 PM
Attempts to escape
This 1788 illustration shows how slaves were stowed
on board the British slave ship Brookes. (More about
the illustration)
THE MIDDLE PASSAGE
The shipping of slaves from Africa to America was
called the middle passage because it was the middle
leg of the triangle trade from Europe to Africa to
America and back again. Ships from Europe bought or
traded for slaves on the West Coast of Africa, which
they traded in America for goods that they then
shipped back to Europe.
The middle passage could last as long as four months,
depending on the weather and winds, and ships
carried as many as 300 slaves each.
ALEXANDER FALCONBRIDGE
Alexander Falconbridge served as a surgeon, or
doctor, on British slave ships on four voyages between
1780 and 1787. In 1788, he wrote An Account of the
Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa, which became an
inuential book in the abolitionist movement.
In 1791, he was selected by the AntiSlavery Society to
An account of the slave trade on the coast of Africa - North Carolina Digi... http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-colonial/1904
4 of 7 9/5/2014 1:45 PM
reorganize a failed settlement of freed slaves in
Freetown, Sierra Leone, on the western coast of
Africa. But the colony was a failiure, and Falconbridge
died an alcoholic in 1792.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
Remember that Alexander Falconbridge, despite his
later work as an abolitionist, was a member of the
slave ships crew. As surgeon (the eighteenthcentury
term for a ships doctor), he was responsible for the
health of the crew and the slaves. As you read,
consider the tone of each part of the narrative.
What do we know about how Falconbridge
felt about the slave trade?
1.
Did all ships surgeons feel the same way? 2.
Did the crew see slaves as passengers or as
cargo? How can you tell?
3.
What does this document tell us about the
triangle trade in general?
4.
The Middle Passage (http://www.pbs.org
/wgbh/aia/part1/1p277.html) From the PBS
site "Africans in America."
Captive Passage: The Transatlantic Slave
Trade and the Making of the Americas
(http://www.marinersmuseum.org/sites
/micro/captivepassage/index.html) From the
Mariner's Museum.
TransAtlantic Slave Trade Database
(http://www.slavevoyages.org
/tast/index.faces) From Emory University,
this site provides a database of the names of
enslaved Africans and the ships that brought
them, as well as lesson plans, essays, and
images. A treasure trove of information for
those who want to explore the slave trade in
more depth.
Voices from the TransAtlantic slave trade
(http://civics.sites.unc.edu/les/2012/04
/VoicesTransAtlanticSlaveTrade.pdf) In this
lesson from the North Carolina Civic
Education Consortium, students will gain an
understanding of the history of the African
slave trade, the TransAtlantic slave trade,
and the development of slavery in America
through discussing historical facts, art work,
and excerpts from the book Copper Sun.
Students will focus on the humanization of
those enslaved by completing a project in
which they assume the persona of an African
forced into slavery and recreate a personal
journal kept by the enslaved. Also see the
accompanying PowerPoint
(http://civics.sites.unc.edu/les/2012/04
/VoicesTransAtlanticSlaveTradePPT.pdf) for
this lesson.
Parliament and the British Slave Trade,
16001807 (http://ia201120.eu.archive.org
/ukparliament/20100423144533
An account of the slave trade on the coast of Africa - North Carolina Digi... http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-colonial/1904
5 of 7 9/5/2014 1:45 PM
/slavetrade.parliament.uk/slavetrade
/index.html) An online exhibit
commemorating the bicentennial of the
abolition of the British Slave Trade.
Lesson plan: Slavery and bias in historic West
Africa: A case of he said, he said
(http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/4949) In
this lesson, students will examine three
primary source documents concerning West
African history, and will work to discover the
similarities and dierences between the
documents. Students will discover the biases
revealed by the authors of the documents.
RELATED TOPICS
Search LEARN NC for more resources on
Africa, African Americans, Middle Passage,
West Africa, shipping, slave trade, and
slavery.
A DIGITAL TEXTBOOK
LEARN NCs digital textbook for North Carolina
History uses primary sources and multimedia to tell
many stories about the past, not just one.
Part two explores the political, social, and cultural
history of the state from the rst successful English
colonies in the 1600s to the eve of the Revolution in
1763.
Download the entire edition in PDF format
Excerpted from Alexander Falconbridge, An Account of
the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa (London: 1788).
Commentary and sidebar notes by Shane Freeman
(http://www.learnnc.org/lp/people/1202).
The text of this page is copyright 2007. See terms of
use (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync
sa/2.5/). Images and other media may be licensed
separately; see captions for more information and
read the ne print (http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages
/legal).
(http://creativecommons.org
/licenses/byncsa/2.5/)
North Carolina Digital History: Credits and
acknowledgments (http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions
/nchistcolonial/4993)
An account of the slave trade on the coast of Africa - North Carolina Digi... http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-colonial/1904
6 of 7 9/5/2014 1:45 PM
About | Staff | Legal | Technical
An account of the slave trade on the coast of Africa - North Carolina Digi... http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-colonial/1904
7 of 7 9/5/2014 1:45 PM