LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Middle Passage
built 633 days ago
The Middle Passage was the second leg of the triangular slave trade route. It involved a horrific eight to ten week journey across the Atlantic in cramped and disgusting conditions on slave ships. Many of the enslaved Africans died of disease and many made the ultimate sacrifice and took their own lives. African men, women and children were treated like animals by European crews and on arrival in the Americas were equally inhumanely treated. The central interactive in this gallery features a two minute recreation of that journey. Please be warned that it includes graphic scenes of life on board a slave ship.
Source:
The Middle Passage was a time of extended suffering for slaves. Many ships' voyages lasted much longer than two or three months. The James, a ship commissioned by the Royal African Company, departed from England on April 5, 1675 and did not arrive in Barbados until May 21. 1676.
Source:
The Middle Passage did not begin with the transatlantic voyage, but with the capture and sale of Africans, and ended with their forced ‘adjustment’ to life in the Americas. It is one of history’s most horrific chapters, showing the human capacity for both cruelty and insensitivity and strength and survival. It is difficult to calculate the numbers of Africans that were transported; estimates have ranged from five million to 30 million. Further millions died during capture and on the journey across the Atlantic. History has seen few social disruptions on such a scale.
Source:
Support for the work of the Middle Passage Project has come from the College of William and Mary, The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy, The W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Source:
Recently, video recreations of the Middle Passage have been produced; these provide vivid illustrations of the horrendous conditions endured. Teachers should pre-view these videos, of course, as they are graphic in portions.
Source:
In order for starships to fill their staterooms with passengers, middle passage is offered on a standby basis, in the event that not enough high passages are sold. While middle passengers occupy staterooms normally similar to those occupied by high passengers, they do not receive the service or entertainment accorded the higher paying passengers. In addition, the quality of the cuisine is rather low. Baggage totalling 100 kilograms is allowed. A middle passenger may be 'bumped' and the stateroom taken by a late arriving high passenger; the middle passenger's ticket is returned, but no other compensation is made. The middle could then buy a high passage and 'bump' another middle passage, if the extra cost seemed worth it. Middle passage costs Cr8,000.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Middle Passage