All What's You Should Know

facts you (probably) didn't know about the slave trade The Atlantic slave trade started a lot earlier than you think. The Portuguese began trafficking African captives in the 1440s. In England, the Wars of the Roses had yet to begin. It wasn’t initially a transatlantic trade. In the early days, enslaved Africans were brought to Portugal or to Atlantic islands like Madeira to work in agriculture. The USA was not a significant destination for slave ships. When we picture slavery we habitually draw upon images of the American South. In fact, less than five per cent of the victims of transatlantic slavery were landed on the coast of the present-day United States. Most enslaved Africans were carried to the Caribbean (45 per cent) or to Brazil (45 per cent). The ‘triangular trade’ wasn’t always triangular. We commonly think of the Atlantic slave trade as a three-leg affair. Slavers sailed from European ports carrying manufactured goods. Slavers traded those goods for captives on the ...