Vocabulary
What is an auction?
A public sale in which property or people were sold to the highest bidder.
What were two things that were very important to West African society/culture?
Possible answers: family, religion, honoring ancestors, storytelling, trading, farming
What were the main products traded from Europe to West Africa?
Guns, cloth, iron
True or False: The enslaved people that worked in their enslaver's home had an easier life than the enslaved people who worked in the fields.
True
What 3 continents did the triangular trade take place between?
Europe, Africa, Americas
What does it mean for some West Africans to live in an empire society?
Empires are groups of people living under the control of a king or queen.
What crops and products were enslaved Africans brought to the Americas to help produce?
Tobacco, cotton, sugarcane, indigo, rice, etc.
Slavery was most common on plantations in which colonial region?
a. New England colonies
b. Middle colonies
c. Southern colonies
Southern Colonies
What is the difference between an enslaver and an overseer?
An enslaver is the person who buys and owns an enslaved person. An overseer is the person who supervises the enslaved person's work.
Name 2 things that were different about West Africans during the 1500s.
Spoke different languages
Practiced different religions
Some lived in small villages, others lived in larger cities
Some Africans were enslaved while others were free.
How did enslaved people attempt to rebel while on a ship in the Middle Passage?
They would try to refuse to eat or drink. They would attempt to jump overboard. They would attempt to attack the crew and take over the ship.
What is the difference between an auction and a scramble?
Scrambles were public sales when the price was the same for each person. Auctions were more structured sales where enslavers placed different bids on enslaved people.
What happened on the Middle Passage of the triangular trade?
Ships brought enslaved people from West Africa to the West Indies and the Americas and sold them into forced labor on plantations.
Describe 2 characteristics of slavery before and after Europeans arrived in West Africa.
Before: People were enslaved because they were guilty of a crime or captured by enemy tribes during a war. Enslaved people still had rights, such as owning land, becoming skilled workers, and making money.
After: People were enslaved because new colonies needed people to perform the labor. Europeans created a racial motivation to enslave people. People were traded for weapons that were then used to enslave more people.
Why did enslavers not want the enslaved people to jump overboard?
They had to pay money to buy the enslaved people, so if they lost them before making it to the Americas, that meant they would lose money.
What were two different purposes of enslaved people singing while they worked?
They sang to keep their spirits high and stay hopeful. They created songs that served as secret codes for how and when to escape. They sang as a way to preserve their African culture.