Caribbean Secondary Examination Council

Caribbean History

School Based Assessment

2022

Middle Passage | Slavery and Remembrance

Name Of Candidate: Malik Popley

Candidate #:
Camperdown High School:
Center#:100015
Territory:Jamaica
Ms.Keisha Hill-Bonnick
To what extent did the deplorable conditions experienced by slaves on a typical 18th century
slave ship contribute to the high death rate of slaves during the middle passage?
 Table Of Contents

Acknowledgements Page 3

Rationale Page 4

Research Question Page 5

Chapter 1 Page 6-8

Chapter 2 Page 9-12

Conclusion Page 13

References Page 14-15

 Acknowledgement

First of all I am greatly appreciative of the strength that God has given me in completing this

sba, also I commend my parents and siblings in helping me to get this sba underway. I also

thank my teacher and classmates for the support given to me, it is greatly appreciated and I’m

thankful. The sba was done several times and corrected in order to score higher. It was a lot of

hardwork and dedication, but it had to be done. I am also glad that my teacher gave me this

interesting topic to do, I have learnt many things during my completion of the sba.
 Rationale

According to (Oxford Learner's Dictionary, 2022) the middle passage is “the journey of

enslaved West African people across the Atlantic by ship as part of the slave trade.”

(Britannica,(2020) states that the Middle Passage supplied the new world with a major work

force and enormous profits to the international slave traders. Simultaneously it was

distinguished by the callousness to human sufferings it developed.

The reason I chose this topic is to discover what life was like for the African captives during

that time and also to examine the degree of torture and torment endured on this journey across

the atlantic.

The Middle Passage started in 1518 to the mid 19th Century. The Middle Passage began

during African tribal warfares where before African communities were developed they sold

the cargo of enslaved by the ship in which they received guns, gunpowder and ammunition to

help their tribe in war.This is how they forced the transatlantic community to be formed. The

voyage across the transatlantic had dire consequences for the captives onboard who often

suffered from diseases such as malaria, dysentery and yellow fever. It became so serious that

even the captors became susceptible to these diseases. The Middle Passage made major profits

for international slave traders and made a major labor force for the Americas during the 18th

to the 19th century. How was the life aboard a slave ship and how did a typical 18th century

slave ship contribute to the high death rate of slaves during the Middle Passage?
 Aims

1. To assess the Middle Passage and its purpose?

2. To describe the deplorable conditions experienced by slaves on the slaver which

contributed to the high death mortality?

 Chapter 1

To Assess The Middle Passage And Its Purpose.

Diagram Showing The Triangular Trade And The Items Exchanged During This Period

Transatlantic Slave Trade is the second of three stages of the triangular trade in which arms

textile and wine were shipped from Europe to Africa.

This is the section of the slave trade from all around the world, that transported between 10 to

12 million enslaved African people across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas that began in the

16th century and ended in the 19th century (Lewis, 2005) . Enslaved people were shipped from

Africa to the America’s and sugar and coffee were shipped from the Americas to the continent

of Europe. As shown in the diagram, Europe gave rum, textile and guns to african tribes, then

Africa sent slaves to the Americas. North America took the slaves then they would transport

sugar, tobacco and coffee to Europe. This is how the transatlantic slave trade trade began.
THE ORIGINS OF THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE OF ENSLAVED

PEOPLE

Portuguese ships began to transport Africans for use on plantations in the Cape Verde and

Madeira islands in the East Atlantic. Spanish conquerors took enslaved Africans to the

Caribbean after 1502 however,Portuguese merchants continued to dominate slave trade for 150

years, operating from bases Congos-Angola along the Western Coast Africa. During the

1600’s the dutch became the foremost traders of enslaved people and in the 17th century

English & French won half of the transatlantic slave trade. They took large amounts of the

human cargo from West Africa, between the Senegal and Niger rivers. In 1713 an agreement

between Britain & Spain granted the British monopoly on the trade of the enslaved people with

spanish colonies.

Under Asiento de negros, Britain had to supply those colonies with 4,800 enslaved

africans every year for 3 decades. The contract for his supply was assigned to the south sea

company, of which Britain's ‘Queen Anne’ got 22.5 percent of that stock. Before the 1600 only

a few hundred thousand were taken from Africa to the America’s. Demand for enslaved labor

rose sharply in the 17th century with the growth of sugar plantations in the Caribbean and

tobacco plantations in the Chesapeake region of North America. The 18th century had the

largest numbers of enslaved people taken to the Americas, when according to historians

estimate, three fifths of the total volume of the transatlantic slave trade took place. The slave

trade had devastating effects in Africa. Economic incentives for warlords and tribes got

permission to carry out the trade of enslaved people. This promoted an atmosphere of no law

and abundant violence. Depopulation and a continuing fear of captivity made the advancement

of agriculture and economy almost impossible throughout most of West Africa. Much of the
African captives were women in their child bearing year and young man who would be starting

a family. The European enslavers shunned elderly persons, disabled or otherwise dependent

groups who wouldn’t contribute to the economic health of their societies. Historians debate the

nature & extent of Europe and African agency in the capture of the enslaved. In the early years

of the transatlantic slave trade, the potuguese generally purchased Africans who had been

enslaved during tribal warfares.

Demand grew and portuguese began to enter the African continent to forcibly take

captives, Europeans became involved in the slave trade and remained on the coast to purchase

captives from Africans who took them from the interior. After capture, they abducted Africans

had to march to the coast, this journey could be as many as 300 miles (485 Kilometers). Some

people died on the way to the coast.

CHAPTER 2

To describe the deplorable conditions experienced by slaves on the slaver which contributed
 to the high death mortality?

Diagram Showing The Conditions Faced Aboard A Slave Ship During The Middle

Passage

Great Britain, the Netherlands,Portugal and France were the main captors.Slaver captains

anchored off the slave coast for months to trade for their cargoes of 150 to 600

persons.Africans was kidnapped and forced to march to the coast uncomfortably. Once slaves

were aboard a slave ship,they were stripped of their belongings,branded,chained,and sent

below decks (A Journey in Chains | African | Immigration and Relocation in US History |

Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress, n.d.).The slavers thought these human beings

were cargo with little concern for their health or humanity.The Africans were shackled

together side to side,head to foot.There were various forms of

death,suffocation,malnutrition,and disease were routine on the slave deck.The captors tortured

and murdered the African captives as they saw fit.er boarding the ships the journey across the

Atlantic ocean would last over 90 days,the travelers on these ships after leaving Africa were

exposed to epidemics,attack by pirates or enemy ships as well as bad weather.Although the

crew and the enslaved were ffected by those events ,they were more devastating to the latter

group,African captives had to cope with sexual,psychological,and physical abuse by their

captors. During the passage ,male slaves were shackled to each other to prevent mutiny,and

some who survived the horrors of captivity revolted.On the largest cargo the captives were sent

below decks chained to platforms,stacked in tiers ,with space not exceeding 6 feet,16 inches.

Below deck they couldn’t stand,erect or turn over,some died on the spot.Due to

bad weather the journey prolonged making food supplies decrease ,sometimes resulting in

starvation and attendant illnesses.During day Africans forcefully participated in dancing and

jumping on deck.Some captains insisted that the sleeping quarters be scraped and swabbed by

the crew.Bad,dry weather caused fever and dysentery ,resulting in multiple deaths.Deaths in

the Middle Passage was caused by Epidemics ,suicide and mutiny.Sharks followed slaveships

regularly on their westward journey because,dying or dead captives were thrown into the

ocean.The Middle Passage supplied the New World with major work force and enormous

profits to the international slave traders at the expense of tortured slaves,

Investigating Life On A Typical 18th Century Slave Ship.

The voyage from West Africa to the Caribbean lasted for about fifty days; plus the 100 or

more days it took to journey from inland points and capture to the coast,and the 200 days that

africans remained in storage (Beckles, 2004,).The time of their voyage increased mainly
 because of the unpredictable winds,and uncertain political and military situations in the

Atlantic.The Middle Passage was actually the shortest part of the journey to the New World.

A Journey in Chains | African | Immigration and Relocation

in ...https://www.loc.gov › classroom-materials › journey-in...

Slavery Images Africans Liberated from a Slave Ship, East Africa, 1869 Slavery Images

There were two ways of confining the slaves onboard ,these were loose packing and tight

packing.Tight Packing was done assuming that 20% of the africans onboard was going to die

so they thought that that loss wouldn’t affect there sale if they had the ship full to capacity

tucked and tight with no space on board.Loose packing is packing the ship to 75% capacity to

give slaves more space to reduce the death rate to less than 10%.

Slavers did not understand how contagious disease spread in confined

 environments.They also did not understand why exposure to diseases was fatal for some but

not the others.There were Epidemics on long voyages some infected people died on short

voyages when they arrived on the plantation.When voyages exceeded 50 days people died of

hunger and thirst due to shortages,but the main cause of death was epidemics of contagious

diseases.

Africans with various existing diseases were exposed to new viruses.Outbreaks of

Yellow Fever,Scurvy,Dysentery,Measles,and smallpox were known killers.Those who were

diagnosed with diseases were thrown overboard.Millions of Africans met this fate when

diagnosed with these plagues.Women survived the passage a little more than men.Scholars

estimated that death rate was 5% more death for men than women.Some say that women

handled stress,shock,pain,and malnutrition far better than men.Also women immune system

are more resistant to strange viruses. Women were used to social oppression and physical

domination.Scholars estimated 2 million African people died in the Atlantic crossing & maybe

another 4 million died as a result of capture and enslavement in Africa.Those who survived the

middle passage died young after some time in the New World.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that during the Middle Passage that the captoring of slaves by European

Slavers begun as a result of negotiations between the Captors and African war tribes,also
 planters wanted a strong labor force to work on the plantations during the 1500s.The black

negroes were use to the tropical climate and would reap great benefits for the slave masters.

These agreements involved the exchanging of African people for Guns and ammunition to help

in the tribal wars in Africa.During the transatlantic slave trade the slaves suffered from

inhumane conditions for example, Slaves were shackled together and stationary for several

weeks without movement onboard. Slaves suffered from different variations of disease and

illnesses, that created losses to the slave market when they docked at ports on their voyage to

sell the slaves to planters. Onboard they were whipped when they disobeyed the captors and

some even committed suicide and even ended there children's life as a form of resistance.

Sometimes war started onboard and several times the Africans lost. Africans were seen as

property and not another human being.

References

● Beckles, H. M. (2004). The Middle Passage and the Mortality Rate of

Africans. In Liberties Lost: The Indigenous Caribbean and Slave Systems

 (p. 89). Cambridge University Press.

● Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopedia (2020, January 29). Middle

Passage. Encyclopedia Britannica.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Middle-Passage-slave-trade. (2020, Jan

29). Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopedia. Middle Passage. Encyclopedia

Britannica. Retrieved 02 06, 2020, from

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Middle-Passage-slave-trade

● A Journey in Chains | African | Immigration and Relocation in US History

| Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress. (n.d.). Library of

Congress. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from

https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/african/journey-in-

chains/

● Lewis, T. (2005). transatlantic slave trade | History & Facts | Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from

https://www.britannica.com/topic/transatlantic-slave-trade

● Oxford Learner's Dictionary. (2022). the-middle-passage - Definition,

pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's

Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com. Oxford Learner's

Dictionaries. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/the-middle-
passage

Malik Popley

History SBA

2021-2022

CSEC