Middle Passage (1 янв 1518 г. – 1 янв 1850 г.)

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The Middle Passage is a term used to describe the forced voyage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the so-called New World. It is one leg of the triangular trade route that took goods from Europe to Africa, Africans to work as slaves in the Americas and West Indies and items (raw materials produced on the plantations (sugar, rice, tabacco) back to Europe. The Middle Passage was used from about 1518 to the mid-19th century by countries such as Great Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and France.

Africans were kidnapped and forced to march to the coast under wretched conditions, to then start the journey from the slave coast to the West Indies for about 21 to 90 days. The ship crews and captives faced grave danger while at anchor and after the departure from Africa as they were often raided by hostile tribes, epidemics and attacked by pirates.
Besides the physical, sexual and psychological abuse of Africans at the hands of their captors, the enslaved Africans had to suffer from detrimental conditions on the ships. The captives were wedged belowdecks, chained to low-lying platforms stacked in tiers, with an average individual space allotment that was 6 feet long, 16 inches wide, and perhaps 3 feet high (183 by 41 by 91 cm). Unable to stand erect or turn over, many slaves died in this position. During the daytime, weather permitting, slaves were brought on deck for exercise or for “dancing” (forced jumping up and down).

The mortality rate of slaves on the ships has been estimated at 13 percent, caused by illnesses and epidemics due to the unsanitary conditions on deck, suicides, “fixed melancholy” and mutiny.

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