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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.
The Numbers
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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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