The Middle Passage

What was the Middle Passage?

The Middle Passage was the process of forcibly removing Africans from Africa and shipping them to the American colonial region as enslaved persons.

Each voyage from Africa to the Americas lasted approximately 80 days. The ships traditionally used during the Middle Passage (see image above) were outfitted to carry approximately 300 people. However, ships often carried between 400 to 600 individuals. Enslavers intentionally overcrowded ships primarily because they were paid based on how many individuals arrived in the Americas, and thus did so in an attempt to maximize their personal profit.

When did the Middle Passage take place?

The Portuguese and the Dutch dominated the slave trade in the 16th, and 17th centuries. The trade was then dominated by the British and the French by the 18th century.

Current studies estimate that somewhere between 12 million to 13 million Africans were enslaved through the Middle Passage, although some findings place that estimate higher. Scholars believe that more than 1 million Africans died en route to the Americas. Estimates are difficult to conclusively determine due to the lack of viable primary sources about the Middle Passage.

Where did the Middle Passage take place?

The journey of the Middle Passage began on the western coast of Africa. Slave traders set up posts along coastal regions where they would purchased enslaved Africans. They would then remove any clothing, regalia, or hairstyles that might connect them with their tribes, Kingdoms, Empires, families, or ancestral ties overall. Thus, European enslavers intentionally stripped enslaved individuals of their identities in a process of dehumanization.

Most enslaved Africans were then sent to South America or the Carribbean. The Carribbean served as a central hub for slave traders to dock their ships and then sell all of their enslaved populations to slave traders in the Americas. Most enslaved individuals who arrived in the 13 colonies and later the United States arrived from the Carribbean and not directly from Africa.

This map outlines the major routes from Africa to the Americas.

Who did the Middle Passage primarily involve?

Most enslavers were Portuguese. When Europeans began embarking upon the journey to find a viable ocean route from Europe to Asia, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama used the west coast of Africa to sail directly to Asia.

In 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain financed Christopher Columbus's endeavor to find an all-water route to Asia. Columbus did not believe there was a continent between Asia and Europe, and thus believed that he could sail directly west and arrive in east Asia.

After Spain began colonizing the Americas, and Pedro Álvares Cabral accidentally arrived in present-day Brazil, the Spanish and Portuguese crowns petitioned the Pope to settle future territorial gains. The Papacy eventually established the Line of Demarcation (first in 1493 then revised in 1494) to divide land for future conquests. This gave all territory west of the line to the Spanish and all territory to the East, including Africa, to the Portuguese. Thus, the Portuguese ruled over the transmittion of Africans from Africa to the Americas for the purpose of enslavement. Over time, the Dutch also became major slave traders. By the 18th century, British and French slave traders began to dominante the region.

Enslaved people came from the western coast of the African continent. Enslavers typically aligned with powerful African Kingdoms, Empires, and tribal groups to acquire human capital in the form of enslaved persons. Africans had a long history of slavery, where they would capture war captives from rival groups and then either enslave them for life, or incorporate them in their own socieities as recognized members. They continued this system after Portuguese arrival, but instead of incorporating them into their socieites, they were sold as enslaved human labor in exchange for finished European guns and weapons. Consequentely, these trade imbalances meant that the Portuguese only had slave trading posts on the coastal regions and relied on African groups, who became dependent on European goods and trade relations for economic gain, to caputure and bring enslaved captives to the coasts.

How did the Middle Passage occur?

Enslavers controlled the population on slave ships. They would intentionally place people next to eachother who were from different regions and spoke different languages in an effort to prevent rebellions and resistance.

Men were typically kept chained below deck for the entire trip. They experienced starvation, malnourishment, dehydration, and contracted diseases in these small cramped spaces. The image above depicts the small spaces where these people stayed for the trip's duration.

Women had more ability to move around the ship because enslavers deemed them less of a threat simply because they were female. Documentary evidence suggests that women would sometimes be unchained and allowed to move freely above deck. In addition to the health condiditons that men experienced, women also endured more rape and sexual abuse as compared to their male counterparts. Due to their ability to move around more freely, historians theorize that women may have facilitated more uprisings on slave ships.
Historical documentation written by enslavers also mentioned high rates of suicide amongst the enslaved. People would either jump overboard or refuse to eat in an act of defiance against the brutaility of the Middle Passage. Enslavers would routinely punish any form of resistance with harsh physical punishments and would sometimes murder rebellious enslaved persons to demonstrate the potential consequences of any resistance against them.

Why is the Middle Passage important?

The Middle Passage contributed to the creation of an increasingly globalized society. European enslavers kidnapped and enslaved Africans and took them to locations across the world.

Additionally, the Middle Passage was not a process of willing participation for the enslaved. They then experienced unimaginable brutality at the hands of enslavers upon their arrival in the Americas. European colonizers quickly began engaging in plantation agriculture, growing cash crops for their mother country. They used enslaved persons as their primary labor source, both of Indigenous and African descent. This process served as the basis of colonial profit, and furthermore demonstrates African contributions to the world we live in today.

Due to the forced nature of the Middle Passage and Chattel Slavery, many people of African descent have sought recclamation of their ancestral ties with the mainland of Africa. This is commonly described as the African Diaspora, which you can learn more about on this website.

The African Diaspora for Education

History & Resources