Essay On The Middle Passage

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The Middle Passage was a voyage from Africa to the New World. The Middle Passage, however, was not the first voyage. The first section or the Outward Passage was the first of them and ran from Europe to Africa. Next was the Middle Passage and then came the final journey known as the Return Passage which was from the Americas to Europe. During the Middle Passage, millions of Africans were shipped to the New World as a part of the Atlantic slave trade. Ships would depart from Europe to African markets with manufactured goods that would be traded for enslaved Africans, who were then transported across the Atlantic and were sold or traded for raw material. After this, the goods would be transported back to Europe to complete the voyage. It lasted …show more content…
The slavers thought that they were better than the slaves and therefore treated them very badly. “The deck, that is the floor of their rooms, was so covered with blood and mucus which had proceeded from them in consequence of the flux, that it resembled a slaughter- house.” From this description puts an image in your head of how badly the slaves were treated. From the beginning of the voyage till the end the slaves were being treated the same way which led to the slaves wanting to starve themselves so that they would die and wanting to commit suicide. When the slaves would refuse to take sustenance, coals of fire, glowing hot, were put on a shovel and places so close to their lips as to scorch and burn them. If they were still refusing to eat they would force upon threats for them to swallow the coals. It has also been said that a certain captain in the slave trade poured melted lead on such of his Negroes as obstinately refused their food. The slavers didn’t care how they were treating the slaves and didn’t see anything wrong with the way they were going about handling certain situations. The slaves did not deserve that kind of treatment because it was as if they were being treated inhumanly. In fact, John Barbot said, “These slaves are severely and barbarously treated by their masters, who subsist them poorly, and beat them