Option C: Module 3: Transatlantic Slave Trade The Transatlantic Slave Trade was a brutal system where millions of Africans were taken from their homes and sold as slaves in the Americas. It began in the 16th century, when Europeans started trading enslaved Africans to work on plantations. Slavery changed with global contact because Europeans needed more labor for their colonies and found enslaved Africans to be a cheap and accessible source of labor. Different people experienced the slave trade in different ways: Africans were captured and endured horrific conditions; Europeans profited from the trade; and enslaved Africans resisted and fought for their freedom in various ways. Ottabah Cugoano’s autobiography Ottabah was a little boy when he …show more content…
His reaction to being captured was very similar to others, as he showed a sense of defiance and resistance to the Europeans. Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography Similar to Ottabah, he was stolen from his family, but not by whites. His own black friends turned him in for money and abandoned him on a ship. As described in his biography, the ship was constantly filled with the stench and cries of men, women, and children who were starving. "I wished for the last friend, Death, to relieve me." Constantly hearing screams and having to smell the awful stench of waste and dead bodies eventually got to him, as Olaudah too would rather suffer the pain of death than live a life of slavery. John Newton’s Thoughts John Newton was one of the captains who worked during the slave trade. In his remarks, he provides the layout at which the slaves were stored. Like books on a shelf," he says. His uneasiness in his writing and constant topic of death prove that he definitely held remorse for the slaves. I understand his experience was obviously much better than what the slaves had to endure, but he still noted that death and disease were also a very prominent fear for the