Atlantic Slave Trade Dbq Essay

People in power often dictate recordings of history, but the Atlantic slave trade found an exception to this pattern. Documents from both enslavers and enslaved of this time regarding management of captives provide an insight on the treatment of slaves in the middle passage. Data from both parties clearly illustrates slave trading as a massive industry, and one where enslavers valued efficiency over the well-being of captives to garner the maximum possible profit. Conditions illustrated in these primary documents two and three demonstrate the extremely poor quality of life which slaves faced at the hands of clearly apathetic enslavers within the middle passage.
Primary documents indicate clear disregard for the well-being of slaves, who enslavers saw as livestock. From an initial observation of deck arrangements , slave traders considered slaves as cargo (Document #3). This image appears as a figure explaining maximum storage of slaves, and traders likely created the document seamen who shipped their goods, demonstrating how to efficiently store cargo for the largest possible revenue. Written documentation enhances this perception by presenting the vantage point of a captive on a slave ship (Document #2). A slave penned this passage to
Both documents confirm this as they establish the terrible confinement of slaves during shipments. This apathetic treatment eventually blossomed into a devastating environment for slaves aboard the ship, however, as described by a slave who observed a “sickness among the slaves, of which many died” stemming from the dense packing of people and subsequent odors (Document #2). In fact, Equiano recounts the preference of death to captivity aboard slave ships, as two sick slaves drowned themselves rather than maintain their status. The only solace Equiano experiences stems from seeing land and realizing a temporary relief from