What is the atlantic slave trade?

The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, and existed from the 16th to the 19th centuries. read more

As a result of the slave trade, five times as many Africans arrived in the Americas than Europeans. Slaves were needed on plantations and in mining. The majority was shipped to Brazil, the Caribbean, and the Spanish Empire. read more

The transatlantic slave trade: introduction Themes The transatlantic slave trade was responsible for the forced migration of between 12 - 15 million people from Africa to the Western Hemisphere from the middle of the 15th century to the end of the 19th century. read more