Middle Passage

The Middle Passage was the stage of the Atlantic slave trade in which millions of Africans sold for enslavement were forcibly transported to the Americas as part of the triangular slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with manufactured goods (first side of the triangle), which were then traded for captive Africans. Slave ships transported the African captives across the Atlantic (second side of the triangle). The proceeds from selling these enslaved people were then used to buy products such as furs and hides, tobacco, sugar, rum, and raw materials, which would be transported back to Europe (third side of the triangle, completing it).

The First Passage was the forced march of Africans from their inland homes, where they had been captured for enslavement by rulers of other African states or members of their own ethnic group, to African ports. Here they were imprisoned until they were sold and loaded onto a ship. The Final Passage was the journey from the port of disembarkation in the Americas to the plantation or other destination for enslavement into forced labor. The Middle Passage across the Atlantic joined these two. Voyages on the Middle Passage were large financial undertakings, generally organized by companies or groups of investors rather than individuals.

The first European slave ship transported African captives from São Tomé to New Spain in 1525. Portuguese and Dutch traders dominated the trade in the 16th and 17th centuries, though by the 18th century they were supplanted by the British and French. Other European nations involved were Spain, Denmark–Norway, Sweden, Prussia, and various Italian city-states as well as traders from the United States. The enslaved Africans came mostly from the regions of Senegambia, Upper Guinea, Windward Coast, Gold Coast, Bight of Benin, Bight of Biafra, and Angola. With the growing abolitionist movements in the United Kingdom and in the United States, the transatlantic slave trade gradually declined until being fully abolished in the second half of the 19th century.

Modern voyage-level data estimate ~12.5 million people were embarked, and about two million died during the crossing (about 14%). They were transported in wretched conditions, men and women separated, across the Atlantic. Deaths directly attributable to the Middle Passage voyage are estimated at up to two million; a broader look at African deaths directly attributable to the institution of slavery from 1500 to 1900 suggests up to four million deaths. The Middle Passage was considered a time of in-betweenness where captive Africans forged bonds of kinship, which then created forced transatlantic communities.

The duration of the transatlantic voyage varied widely, from one to six months depending on weather conditions. The journey became more efficient over the centuries: while an average transatlantic journey of the early 16th century lasted several months, by the 19th century the crossing often required five to seven weeks.

Prisoners of war were sold to Europeans in the beginning, but when African nations learned the horrors of the chattel slavery system, they refused to sell their captured neighbors.^{[citation needed]} Private kidnappers sold the captives to Europeans who held several coastal forts. These men, women and children were usually force-marched to these ports along the western coast of Africa, where they were held for sale to the European or American slave traders in the barracoons. Typical slave ships contained several hundred slaves with about 30 crew members.

The captive men were normally chained together in pairs to save space—right leg chained to the next man's left leg—while the women and children may have had somewhat more room. The chains or hand and leg cuffs were known as bilboes, which were among the many tools of the slave trade and which were always in short supply. Bilboes were mainly used on men, and they consisted of two iron shackles locked on a post and were usually fastened around the ankles of two men. At best, captive slaves were fed beans, corn, yams, rice, and palm oil, once per day with water, if at all. When food was scarce, slaveholders would have priority over the enslaved. Sometimes captives were allowed to move around during the day, but many ships kept the shackles on throughout the arduous journey. Aboard certain French ships, the slaves were brought on deck to periodically receive fresh air. While enslaved women were typically permitted to be on deck more frequently, enslaved men would be watched closely to prevent revolt when above deck.

The enslaved Africans below decks lived for months in squalid conditions. As disease spread, ill health became of the biggest killers. Mortality rates were high and those who had been sick and died were not always found immediately. This made the intolerable conditions even worse. Though the bodies of those who died were thrown overboard, many crew members avoided going into the hold below. Many of the living could have been shackled to someone who was dead for hours, or perhaps days.