EUROPEAN SLAVE TRADE IN WEST AFRICA

Facing Slavery

WHAT WILL WE BE LEARNING TODAY? We will become familiar with

the European Slave trade in West Africa. Where the slave trade took place Why they were enslaved Response to slavery

WEST AFRICA IN THE 1500’S

The people were famers, miners, craftspeople, or traders

Caravans carried gold and ivory to other countries and in return got salt, cloth, and other goods

Small villages or large cities

Spoke many languages

Many were free but that was going to change…

THE DILEMMA

Many European traders arrived and enslaved Africans to work on their sugar and tobacco plantations

Eventually the slaves would be transported westward to the Americas

Traded cloth, rum, tobacco and other goods in exchange for the slaves

Others offered guns for slaves, which would alter life in West Africa

RESPONSE

Some refused to take part. Others tried to find slaves outside their community.

War struck as a result of this Some did not raid other villages,

but rather traded people who were already slaves (prisoners during war)

Many had no choice, this was a way to become rich and powerful

CAPTURING OF SLAVES

Slaves were hunted, captured, and sold by European merchants and even their own people

Men, women & children all captured

Once captured they would be sent to permanent jails called factories

WHAT DID WE LEARN TODAY?

We became familiar with the European slave trade in West Africa. Where the slave trade took place Why they were enslaved Response to slavery

INDEPENDENT WORK

With a partner Read pages 78-80 Complete European Slave Trade in West Africa

in your interactive notebooks Going over after everyone is finished

Finished.. Pretend you are a West African who has just

been captured.  Write a letter to your family about what happened to you. 

Exit slip