How did the transatlantic slave trade develop?
The transatlantic slave trade forcibly transported millions of Africans to the Americas between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Historical context and developments
European colonial economies, plantation labor and African political networks were entangled in the system. People suffered before embarkation, aboard ships and in bondage. Commercial profit rested on family separation and generations of forced labor.
Consequences and interpreting sources
Enslaved people resisted, built communities and contributed to abolition. Bans came at different times and places; legal endings did not instantly end racism or economic inequality.
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