I. Olaudah Equiano
II. Slavery and the Empire
A. The Triangular Trades
1. A series of triangular trade routes crisscrossed the Atlantic.
2. Colonial merchants all profited from the slave trade.
3. Slavery became connected with the color black and liberty with the color white. B. Africa and the Slave Trade
1. With the exception of the king of Benin, most African rulers took part in the slave trade, gaining guns and textiles in exchange for their slaves.
2. The slave trade was concentrated in western Africa, greatly disrupting its society and economy.
C. The Middle Passage
1. The Middle Passage was the voyage across the Atlantic for slaves.
2. Slaves were crammed aboard ships for maximum profit.
3. The numbers of slaves increased steadily through natural reproduction.
D. Chesapeake Slavery
1. Three distinct slave systems were well entrenched in Britain’s mainland colonies: a. Chesapeake
b. South Carolina and Georgia
c. Nonplantation societies of New England and the Middle Colonies
2. Chesapeake slavery was based on tobacco.
3. Chesapeake plantations tended to be smaller and daily interactions between masters and slaves were more extensive.
4. Slavery transformed Chesapeake society into an elaborate hierarchy of degrees of freedom:
a. Large planters
b. Yeomen farmers
c. Indentured servants and tenant farmers
d. Slaves
E. Freedom and Slavery in the Chesapeake
1. With the consolidation of a slave society, planters filled the law books to protect their power over the slaves.
2. Race took on more and more importance as a line of social division and liberties of free blacks were stripped away as “free” and “white” had become virtually identical.
F. Indian Slavery in Early Carolina
1. The Creek Indians initially sold the early settlers their slaves, generally war captives and their families.
2. As the Carolina plantations grew, the Creeks became more