Atlantic Slave Trade

Atlantic slave trade

The Atlantic slave trade begins in the 16th century after high rates of death by the Native Americans workers caused by diseases brought by the Europeans or physical abuse.This trade consists in the exportation of African slaves to replace the ones that were dying. The brutal trade begins because of a strong demand for labor on plantations in the Americas. Eventually, itbecame an international trading system in which Europeans exchanged guns or other products for human beings.
The first slaves imported from Africa across the Atlantic began with Portugal bringingAfricans to Brazil to replace the natives dying from disease, Spain followed Portugal with England and France, establishing slave during a few centuries. 
The Africans had already come in contact withEuropeans and as a result they were immune to their diseases, they had experience in agriculture, they were used to tropical climate and resistant to tropical diseases making Africans perfect forworking on plantations.
The majority of Africans slaves were exported from the coast of West Africa, some 3,000 miles between what is now Senegal and Angola, and mostly from the modern Benin, Nigeria andCameroon. It is estimated that by the early 16th century as much as 90% of Lisbon's population was of African slaves.
Muslim invaders did most of the capturing of slaves. After selection and killingof those who wouldn’t work or were too young, the rest were forced to go to the slave markets in Khartoum, Algiers and Zanzibar. These were the three largest slave markets in the world. A smallportion came from direct capture by Portuguese in Angola- and ended in Brazil. If you were caught you were put in chains and marched to a slave fort on the coast. Because you were on foot that could takemonths. About one in five died in these death marches.

The conditions of slaves in the Caribbean were horrible. Most died within three years of coming to the plantation while about 40 percent died...