African American
Related: About this forumThe trans-Atlantic slave trade in a two minute animation
This is haunting but people need to see it.
(Sorry, I can't seem to embed the animation... seriously, watch it.)
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_history_of_american_slavery/2015/06/animated_interactive_of_the_history_of_the_atlantic_slave_trade.html
Warpy
(113,131 posts)Most went to the Caribbean and Brazil, lesser amounts to colonies on the northeast coast of South America and relatively little to the southern US colonies/early southern states. I'd known all this but it was great to see it in animation.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)The Southern orientation of the Triangular trade was not clear to me before this.
SummerSnow
(12,608 posts)Response to Recursion (Original post)
MichiganVote This message was self-deleted by its author.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Response to Recursion (Reply #5)
MichiganVote This message was self-deleted by its author.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(26,826 posts)or that slaves had a better life here than they had in Africa, I start wondering what this country would be like today if instead of bringing Africans here as slaves, they'd immigrated voluntarily, as Europeans did. Well, more or less voluntarily since often Europeans were reluctantly leaving because of war or economic conditions or some such.
But I wish someone much smarter than I am would write an alternate history in which the slave trade never happened.
Buckeye_Democrat
(15,065 posts)... in their early colonization of North America.
It didn't work out as well for the exploiters.
The natives were more prone to illness and escape, and white slaves (who were often considered "undesirables" from England) could more easily blend in with other whites.
What a sick period in history, and we're still experiencing some negative after-effects from it.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Do you want to write that?
If not, do you mind if I give it a shot?
PoindexterOglethorpe
(26,826 posts)Oh, maybe I could dash off a short story which wouldn't require too much research, but the novel I'd love to read, better yet the series, would involve lots and lots of research that I wouldn't be willing to do.
Please try it yourself!
Buckeye_Democrat
(15,065 posts)GeoWilliam750
(2,543 posts)aikoaiko
(34,204 posts)It almost seems impossible for the Caribbean to absorb all those slaves. Were they traded/sold to South American and the US after that?
Or is my impression incorrect?
Warpy
(113,131 posts)due to the ravages of starvation and tropical diseases they had no resistance to, not to mention horrific injuries sustained harvesting sugar cane.
Most of the onshore trading was done from port cities like Charleston SC and Savannah GA in the US and ports in Bahia province in Brazil.
If you ever get a chance, visit the old slave market in Charleston SC. That place has haunted me since I was ten. The entries about each auctioned person as to physique and temperament in ornate copperplate script are chilling.