Friday, January 10

APWH
Discussed the slave trade through some questions and answers in groups.  Here's what we discussed:

How did the slave trade start? Foundations of the Slave Trade 706-707

·         Common throughout Africa after the Bantu migrations spread agriculture across Africa

·         War captives, but also criminals and those expelled from their own clans

·         In Africa slaves were a form of wealth—more laborers could harvest larger areas and gain more wealth.  Slaves could assimilate into their kinship groups and might obtain freedom and an honorable position in a new family or clan.

·         After the 8^th century, Muslim traders bought slaves and brought them around the Med. basin, SW Asia, India and SE Asia and China.  During the millennium of the Islamic slave trade, 10 milion Africans may have left their homeland to become slaves.

·         Europeans tapped into existing networks and expanded commerce in African slaves.

How did the slave trade work? Human Cargoes, Part I 707-708, end of top paragraph

·         Portuguese bought slaves and shipped them to Europe.

·         Brought them to Portuguese island colonies in the Atlantic.  1530s they imported slaves directly from Kongo and Angola to Brazil to produce sugar.

·         Spanish brought them to Caribbean and the Americas.   Sugar.  By 1600s, English had introduced slaves to the North American mainland.

·         Triangular trade: 1. Horses and European goods to Africa in exchange for slaves. 2. Slaves to Caribbean and American destinations. Sold to plantation owners. 3. Filled up with American products and went  back to Europe.

 What was the slave experience like? Human Cargoes, Part II 708, 3 full paragraphs

·         Brutal, inhumane, violent.  Raiding parties to capture slaves.

·         Families split

·         Forced march to the coast: lived in holding pens until a ship came to take them to the western hemisphere.

·         Middle passage: cramped, unsanitary, revolts, starvation.  4-6 weeks, sometimes 50% died.  Overall 25% did not survive.

What was the impact of the slave trade? The Impact of the Slave Trade in Africa 709-712

·         Involuntary migration of about 12 million Africans to the western hemisphere.  About 4 million died.  16 million total left Africa

·         Some African societies escaped the slave trade (Rwanda, Bugunda)

·         Africans who raided, took captives and sold slaves profited. Gained firearms.

·         Africa suffered great losses.  Several more million in Islamic slave trade in the early modern era.

·         Senegal and Angola were close to ports so were vulnerable to slave raiding.

·         Distorted sex ratios: 2/3 were males.  2/3 of population in Angola was female—polygamy occurred.

Politically:  Dahomey obtained firearms for slaves and expanded and profited by slave-raiding.

WORLD HISTORY

• Students completed a review sheet on the Industrial Revolution.  If you were absent, print it out, complete it and turn it in.
• Began video on the growth of cities.
• Don't forget that the review packet is due on Monday, Jan. 13