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Slavery in the MODULE

British Colonies 2.6
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Slavery shaped the economy and society of British North America. While it was more prevalent in
the southern colonies, its existence in the middle and northern colonies proved significant as well.
Enslaved Africans and African Americans found overt and covert ways to rebel against slavery and
maintain their families and distinct cultures.
As you read this module, prepare to explain causation by writing down your observations about
major historical developments and the chain reaction effect of their causes. One way to help keep
all of this at the forefront of your mind as you read is to periodically ask yourself why developments
occurred. The overarching question you should keep in mind as you read this module is: Why did
some English colonies develop economies that relied on enslaved labor?

The Human Cost of the

Atlantic Slave Trade

As part of an expansion of England’s role in the Atlantic slave trade, Parliament char-
tered the Royal African Company to bring enslaved Africans to British colonies in
1660 and then re-chartered the company after financial difficulties in 1672. Between
1700 and 1808, some three million captive Africans were carried on British and
Anglo- American ships, about 40 percent of the total of those sold in the Americas
in this period. Half a million Africans died on the voyage across the Atlantic. Huge
numbers also died in Africa while being marched to the coast or held in forts wait-
ing to be forced aboard ships. Yet despite this astounding death rate, the slave trade
yielded enormous profits and had far-reaching consequences. In effect, the Africans
whom British traders bought and sold transformed labor systems in the colonies,
fueled international trade, and enriched merchants, planters, and their families and
communities.
European traders worked closely with African merchants to procure their
human cargo, trading muskets, metalware, and linen for men, women, and children.
Originally many of those sold into slavery were war captives. African groups secur-
ing trade with Europeans rose in wealth and power, building empires and defeating
rivals to conquer vast interior lands. Many Africans who traded in enslaved labor
feared the consequences if their rivals secured the lucrative trade with Europeans
for their guns. Over time, African traders moved farther inland to fill the demand,
devastating large areas of Africa, particularly the Congo-Angola region in the
southwest, which supplied some 40 percent of all enslaved people who crossed the
Atlantic.

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