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Middle Passage Essay

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The Middle Passage refers to the forced migration of slaves from Africa to the Americas. It was one of the trade route legs of the infamous triangle of trade. The triangular route started in the early 16th century and last until the mid-19th century. These routes saw finished and manufactured goods from Europe, slaves from Africa, and raw materials from the American and West Indies. All of these goods were bartered and traded for with sometimes very little to no currency changing hand. The goods and the enslaved Africans served as the currency themselves. This paper will highlight some of the horrors and provide an insight to the personal hell that Africans faced on their enslaved voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.
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Many of the diseases that the Europeans brought with them were killing the Native Americans at a staggering rate. Death tolls that were seen were sometimes as high as 80-90 percent, and sometimes entire groups of people would vanish entirely (Ojibwa, 2009). The diseases that were introduced by the Europeans could be classified as group diseases that ranged from smallpox to tuberculosis. These diseases were also prevalent amongst the African population as well, however, the Native Americans were much more devastated by the waves of illness. Native Americans were also much more likely to escape and never return because they knew the territory whereas the Africans had almost no chance of escaping once they arrived in the …show more content…

They were allowed to exercise and given fresh provisions in order to shape them up prior to being sold in the local market. The slaves were also shaved and coated with oil in order for them to look healthier and more appealing in order to bring a premium on the auction block (Sparks, 2014, p. 171). In Northrup’s book, he captures the story of Mahommah G. Baquaqua. Baquaqua relays his sentiments about being off of the slave ship as “I was thankful to breathe pure air…I cared but little that I was a slave, having escaped that ship was all I thought about” (Northrup, 2011, p.

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Smallpox was also a threat. One settler describes it as a “cloud over this province.” It drove off people and killed the people who stayed. It was also one of the major causes of the decline in the Native American population. There were definitely other kinds of diseases, but Smallpox was the most common.

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Outline Johnson, Charles. Middle Passage. Scribner, 1990 Summary The story “the Middle Passage” by Charles Johnson set in 1830 is a narrative of a period described by transportation of human African shipment across space and time to America.

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These diseases are very malignant and leave many dead. The diseases that came among the Native Americans were, “a great sickness. killing vast numbers of people”(Doc.2). The diseases did not kill only a few people, the “diseases killed possibly more than three-quarters of the native peoples,”(world civilizations,800). As you can see, these diseases were very ruthless and killed almost all of the Native Americans.

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This chapter addresses the central argument that African history and the lives of Africans are often dismissed. For example, the author underlines that approximately 50,000 African captives were taken to the Dutch Caribbean while 1,600,000 were sent to the French Caribbean. In addition, Painter provides excerpts from the memoirs of ex-slaves, Equiano and Ayuba in which they recount their personal experience as slaves. This is important because the author carefully presents the topic of slaves as not just numbers, but as individual people. In contrast, in my high school’s world history class, I can profoundly recall reading an excerpt from a European man in the early colonialism period which described his experience when he first encountered the African people.

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In fact, “Native Americans died in appalling numbers, in many cases up to 90 percent of the population.” The diseases were at its worst in the Aztec and Inca Empires since the people lived close together. However, in the old world, disease related deaths were not nearly as prevalent as in the Americas. The reason for this difference is that the Native Americans had no domesticated animals (except llamas), which resulted in no acquired immunities to old world diseases.

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Another negative effect of the Columbian Exchange was the disease that it brought to the New World, which was a leading cause of widespread death throughout the area. When the Europeans sailed across the Atlantic, they brought all of the germs that were native to the Old World, such as smallpox and tuberculosis, with them. The Europeans were not affected by this, as they had already developed an immunity to these bacteria. The natives, however, were impacted greatly by the germs that were brought to their homeland, for they had never seen viruses like the ones brought aboard European ships. Diseases spread quickly amongst indigenous peoples, killing, in some places, 100% of a population as they travelled from person to person.

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To the merchants and the crew of the slave ship, it was always a condition of “profits over people” (Rediker 142). In addition, this explains why African captives would be tightly crammed in the vessel so that they could be delivered in increasingly large quantities to gain profit, as long as the captives were delivered alive. Towards the end of the book, Rediker explains that “the dramas that played out on the decks of a slave ship were made possible, one might even say structured, by the capital and power of people far from the ship” (352). Merchants were highly influential in the constitution and economics the Atlantic slave trade. They funded and supplied countless voyages to other countries.

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It is estimated that approximately 95% of pre-Columbus Native Americans were killed by European diseases. Since the outbreak of the diseases spread because of the European colonization, it made conquering the Americas much easier. Health was definitely the most detrimental obstacle that the Native Americans had to face as a result of the European

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As the Europeans found native along the coasts of the New World, they found them easily malleable and able to be used, so they enslaved them and those who fought back were wiped out. Europeans, as well as the Africans, had built up a resistance to many diseases such as smallpox and were therefore not really affected as much by the diseases if they became sick. However, the Native Americans had not had contact with the disease and it quickly spread rapidly and slowly helped the Spanish rid themselves of the natives so they could take control of the land. Geoffrey Cowley offers insight on just how profound the effect of smallpox was when he writes, “ ...When the newcomers arrived carrying mumps, measles, whooping cough, smallpox, cholera, gonorrhea and yellow fever, the Indians were immunologically

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The early years of the American economy were filled with trade routes stretching across the Atlantic in ostensibly all directions. With trade between European countries, the goods and slaves coming into and out of America tended to be part of a multilateral system. This trading system between European countries, Africa, and America became known as the Triangle Trade, as the route was traveled in a triangle formation. Ships left Europe for African markets with manufactured goods which were traded for purchased or often kidnapped Africans. These Africans were transported across the Atlantic and would become slaves.

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The natives never having past exposure to such diseases, died in the masses due to their bodies not having any defense against them. Cows, pigs and other livestock were able to transfer diseases to the Europeans. Although since Europeans have been domesticating such animals for thousands of years, they simply grew immune to theses diseases and infectious epidemics on grand scales likelihood grew smaller and smaller from it. But for the Natives, they never had livestock nor large mammals like horses of pigs ever. Their bodies were taken by surprise by the highly advanced diseases that were trying to infect robust european bodies.

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Over twelve million Africans were captured and taken against their will by Europeans in the Atlantic slave trade from about 1525-1866. The experience that the slaves endured was horrendous, unsanitary and overall the worst time of their lives. The middle passage was where the slaves were taken from Africa to the Americas via ships. After they arrived in the Americas, they were sold and forced to work for their new owners. Due to strong European force, slaves experienced dehumanization through being captured from their villages and tortured, living with awful conditions on ships, and being sold against their will to Americans.

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Argument paper. The Middle Passage is the part of the trade, where Africans, tightly packed on ships, were transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the West Indies. The journey lasted for several months, at this time the enslaved people basically lay in chains in rows on the floor of the ship 's hold. Genocide, in turn, does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of the nation, except for the massacres of all members of the nation.

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Among the many things spread and shared in the Columbian Exchange, the trading of diseases is perhaps the most significant. The natives of the Americas had never experienced the serious diseases that European explorers carried over to the New World. From smallpox to influenza and malaria to cholera, Native American populations were drastically decreased due to their poor immunity. Between the numerous amounts of European diseases, though, measles was the most remarkable in that its effects were both widespread and enduring. Measles, also known as rubeola, is a respiratory infection caused by the measles virus.

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Between 1500 and the 1860s it is estimated that over 12 million Africans were abducted from West Africa’s coast and forced to work fertile lands cultivating crops such as sugar, tobacco, rice and cotton which was part of what we know today as the Atlantic Slave Trade. This essay will discuss the main reasons that the Atlantic Slave Trade began, these reasons are; deep-rooted racial attitudes, religious attitudes towards slavery, the legal position on slavery, military needs, the British economy, and the labour shortages in the West Indies. While it can be suggested that the labour shortages were the most important reason in the rise of the Slave Trade, this essay will argue that the deep-rooted racial attitudes towards Africans was the key

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