The Transatlantic Slave Trade

What happened

To work the plantations and mines of the Americas, European powers built a vast transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans. Over roughly three and a half centuries, an estimated twelve to eighteen million people were seized from Africa and shipped across the Atlantic in brutal conditions, with great numbers dying on the 'Middle Passage.'

Why it matters

The largest forced migration in history, the slave trade enriched Europe, built the plantation economies of the Americas, and inflicted centuries of suffering whose legacies endure.

Sources

• World History Encyclopedia. Transatlantic Slave Trade: The Shame of Nations · Reputable source