The Transatlantic Slave Trade :

By the end of the XVIIIth century (1700’s), Britain faced two major changes :

1- New trade routes were established along the ATLANTIC OCEAN towards the American
continent

2- A new way of trading people took place: the SLAVE TRADE. Even though slavery existed
before in Europe, Africa, and Asia, it was different than the slave trade, as slaves could be
prisoners of war, or bought / traded for domestic use. However, the transatlantic slave
trade was the first time humans were systematically traded as commodities and shipped to
faraway lands to work as labor on big plantations overseas.

Context

By the end of the XVIIIth century, Britain dominated global trade (partly because of the scientific and
technological advances carried out during the Enlightenment). This domination brought with it great
wealth for the country, making some people very rich, and transforming many British towns and
cities. It was Britain’s ports that changed the most, in particular Liverpool, Bristol and London.
 ** PRESENTING DOCUMENTS**
1- Type of document + basic content
2- Name of the artist/writer/author
3- Date of production or publication
4- Source [where the document comes from, where it can be seen/found: a
museum/archives/internet/a book)

Presenting Source A. (p. 96 of your textbook)

Source A is a painting of the city of Liverpool and the river Mersey around 1771. The author is
unknown, the source is the textbook.

Describing Source A.

The focus of the document are the boats we can see on the foreground of the city of Liverpool.
There are eight boats on the Mersey river.

In the middle ground we can see the city of Liverpool. The city looks crowded, as we can see many
buildings, houses, churches, which suggests that many people lived there.

In the background we can see fields and hills, which suggests that there is land available to be
planted and harvested.

I think this document has to do with the transatlantic slave trade because of the dense naval traffic
which shows that Liverpool was a very active port. Boats probably sailed towards Africa to fetch
slaves or came back from the American continent with goods to be sold in Britain and Europe (like
cotton, sugar or tobacco or even rhum).

Transatlantic Slave Trade

The forced movement of around 12 to 15 million Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas
and the West Indies, where they were used as slaves. It occurred between the 16 th and the 19th
centuries.

In this lesson we have learned:

1- The Transatlantic slave trade introduced a new way of commerce of slaves as they were
bought or exchanged for goods to be taken as forced labor on plantations overseas

2-