New
New
Year 8

The structure of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

I can describe the Transatlantic Slave Trade and explain how it developed.

New
New
Year 8

The structure of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

I can describe the Transatlantic Slave Trade and explain how it developed.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The Triangular trade was the system of trade across the Atlantic.
  2. Manufactured goods were transported from Europe to be traded in West Africa.
  3. Enslaved people were transported across the Atlantic and forced to work on plantations.
  4. Crops like tobacco, sugar and cotton would be grown by enslaved people on plantations and then sold in Europe.
  5. As slavery had existed across Africa, European traders used this to take enslaved people to their colonies in America.

Keywords

  • Colonies - colonies are countries or areas under the control of another country and occupied by settlers from that country

  • Indigenous - indigenous people are the original inhabitants of a specific area

  • Manufactured - manufactured items are items produced by a machine

  • Plantations - plantations are areas of land on which certain crops were grown using forced labour

  • Middle Passage - the forced voyage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas became known as the Middle Passage

Common misconception

The triangular trade was a simple trading route with three main points.

The triangular trade was a complex system of trade, that is often simplified to help us better understand it.

When explaining how European traders used an existing system of slavery in West Africa, emphasise the difference between the system of slavery used in West Africa and the system of chattel slavery that was used in European colonies.
Teacher tip

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which of the following countries had started building large empires across the Americas in the early 1500s?
Correct answer: Spain
France
Correct answer: Portugal
Italy
Q2.
When the Portuguese began colonising the Americas, who was first used to work on the plantations?
Correct answer: mostly indigenous people
mostly enslaved people from West Africa
only European labourers
Q3.
Which of the following are examples of goods Europeans would take to West Africa to trade for gold from the 1400s?
Correct answer: horses
enslaved people
Correct answer: guns
Q4.
Which of the following is the best definition of chattel slavery?
when people become legal property for a set period of time
Correct answer: when people become legal property and cannot be freed without permission
when people become sign a contract to work for a given period
Q5.
Which of the following is an example of a smaller kingdom along the coast of West Africa in the late 1500s?
Songahy
Correct answer: Kaabu
Mali
Benin
Q6.
Which of the following explains why the Kingdom of Benin was different to some other kingdoms in West Africa, after the arrival of Portuguese merchants?
they were the only kingdom to collapse
Correct answer: they continued to thrive through peaceful relationships with the Portuguese
they became rich from trading enslaved people

6 Questions

Q1.
Which of the following are examples of goods grown on plantations in the Americas?
Correct answer: tobacco
cloth
Correct answer: sugar
Correct answer: cotton
Q2.
Who was forcefully taken from the West African coast to be sold onto plantations in the Americas?
Correct Answer: Enslaved people, Enslaved African people, enslaved people, enslaved African people
Q3.
Match the words with the correct definitions.
Correct Answer:colonies,areas under the control of another country

areas under the control of another country

Correct Answer:indigenous,the original inhabitants of a specific area

the original inhabitants of a specific area

Correct Answer:manufactured,items produced by a machine

items produced by a machine

Correct Answer:plantations,land on which crops were grown usually with forced labour

land on which crops were grown usually with forced labour

Correct Answer:Middle Passage,voyage of enslaved African people across the Atlantic

voyage of enslaved African people across the Atlantic

Q4.
How many rebellions on slave ships have been documented?
Correct Answer: 500
Q5.
Plantations in the Americas grew many valuable crops, like sugar and cotton. These goods were taken to be sold in which continent?
Correct Answer: Europe, europe
Q6.
At first, the trading of enslaved people was limited and took place on the terms of local African rulers. This began to change as...
fewer people were being traded
Correct answer: many more people were being kidnapped and enslaved by European traders
Europeans only sold prisoners of war into slavery

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