Deck 2: Middle Passage

Question 1

After arriving off the Guinea Coast,Portuguese captains traded with African leaders for which of the following items?

A) jade
B) hemp
C) ivory
D) salt

Answer 1

ivory

Question 2

Who was the first known Portuguese merchant to begin to formally trade for slaves with the Africans?

A) Antam Goncalvez
B) Oba Dahomey
C) Ruy do Siqueira
D) Bartolomeu Dias

Answer 2

Ruy do Siqueira

Question 3

In what form did the Portuguese use captured slaves until the early sixteenth century?

A) as domestic servants
B) as labor in the sugar cane fields of North America
C) as soldiers in some of the Europeans' wars of the era
D) as teachers of African culture and language for wealthy, young Portuguese children

Answer 3

as domestic servants

Question 4

Which European country took the lead in the exploration and colonization of Africa,Asia,and the Americas in the early 1400s?

A) Portugal
B) France
C) England
D) Switzerland

Question 5

How did the early Europeans usually obtain their supply of African slaves?

A) They raided along the west coast of Africa, forcibly capturing large families.
B) Arabs brought slaves up to the coastal cities in Europe and Europeans bought them.
C) Europeans captured large land areas through warfare, and subjugated entire groups of people into slavery.
D) They obtained their slaves through trade with native African tribes, primarily in West Africa.

Question 6

Why did the British want to take over the slave trade in the late-seventeenth century?

A) Their ongoing war with France demanded a supply of soldiers.
B) They needed labor for tobacco and sugar cultivation in North America and the Caribbean.
C) The availability of Native American labor was dwindling.
D) They had begun to establish cotton plantations in Brazil and needed labor.

Question 7

According to Map 2-2,most African slaves in the Caribbean in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries lived on which of the following islands?

A) Cuba and Aruba
B) The Bahamas
C) Jamaica and Hispaniola
D) Puerto Rico and the Leeward islands

Question 8

Which accomplishment did the Portuguese achieve before other European nations?

A) rounding the Cape of Good Hope
B) sailing around Alaska
C) the discovery of the New World
D) reaching Antarctica

Question 9

What steps did the Europeans take to reduce the risk of rebellion at the slave factories in Africa?

A) Slaves were kept drugged.
B) Families and ethnic groups were separated.
C) Men and women were confined in the same rooms.
D) Europeans did not really have to take many steps, as the completely overwhelmed Africans often submitted to the process.

Question 10

Why did Europeans need labor from Africa for their colonies in the Americas?

A) Native Americans quickly began to die in huge numbers from European diseases.
B) Native Americans refused to be captured or work as slaves in fields or mines.
C) Europeans avoided Native American people and did not seek their labor.
D) Native Americans relocated to Europe for survival.

Question 11

Which nation ended Spanish and Portuguese domination of the slave trade in the early-seventeenth century?

A) Holland
B) England
C) France
D) Germany

Question 12

Which of the following is an example of the accomplishments of Christopher Columbus in the late 1400s?

A) Columbus reached India and Japan.
B) Columbus successfully sailed east to reach China.
C) Columbus proved that the earth was much smaller than its actual size.
D) Columbus made navigation mistakes that led to his accidental landfall in the Americas.

Question 13

Which of the following statements best describes the triangular trade system produced by the Atlantic slave trade?

A) one part of the system entailed traders carrying African goods to Europe in exchange for slaves, ivory, precious gemstones, and art works
B) the middle part of the trade included traders carrying African slaves to the West Indies and exchanging slaves for sugar
C) Sugar was exported to Australia on the third leg of the triangle
D) White Americans from Britain's New England colonies were not involved in the trade.

Question 14

In what century did the Atlantic slave trade reach similar proportions to the Muslim trans-Sahara slave trade?

A) 1600s
B) 1700s
C) 1800s
D) 1900s

Question 15

Examine the late-sixteenth/early-seventeenth century Benin bronze relief sculpture shown in Chapter 2.2.What aspects of the image indicate that the individuals are European?

A) European livestock is shown in the image.
B) European cities are shown in the image.
C) European clothing styles are depicted in the image.
D) European languages are shown in the image.

Question 16

Which of the following groups conducted the Islamic slave trade?

A) Chinese sailors
B) English farmers
C) Sudanese horsemen
D) Russian soldiers

Question 17

Why did Africans enslave other Africans and sell them to Europeans?

A) Africans viewed other Africans in terms of racial solidarity and wanted to help them.
B) Warfare among African tribes led to selling defeated tribes to make money and to get rid of opponents.
C) African leaders were forced by their own people under threat of annihilation to sell other Africans to the Europeans.
D) Africans wanted to move to Europe and create colonies.

Question 18

Which statement about the nature of the Islamic slave trade prior to European entry is true?

A) The Islamic slave trade did not exist in Africa prior to European entry.
B) The Islamic slave trade was not based primarily on race.
C) The Islamic slave trade mainly captured adult males for agricultural labor.
D) Slavery and the slave trade under Islamic society were as harsh as the European version in the Americas.

Question 19

By 1510 most of the slaves in the Americas were men and boys who served as agricultural laborers,rather than soldiers or domestic servants,in part because __________.

A) Europeans believed men and boys preferred to do domestic chores
B) Europeans believed men and boys were stronger laborers than women and girls
C) men and boys refused to become the chattel of their masters
D) men and boys willingly gave up their customary rights as human beings

Question 20

Examine the eighteenth-century print of Luanda that appears in Chapter 2.What aspects of the Atlantic slave trade surface in the image?

A) The city possesses a harbor.
B) African people are shown at work in the image.
C) European kings line the streets of the city in royal procession.
D) European armies fight in the distance over the slave trade.

Question 21

Which of the following is true about the use of medical remedies by doctors aboard slave ships?

A) Many collected African herbs and foods along the Guinea Coast to help treat illnesses at sea.
B) Since slavers wanted to keep as many slaves alive as possible, ships' doctors had an unusually sophisticated knowledge of medicine at the time.
C) Doctors lacked any medicine to keep slaves alive on the voyage.
D) Doctors relied upon Russian cures to keep slaves alive.

Question 22

French slave traders rested their slave passengers on which of the following Caribbean islands?

A) Barbados
B) Martinique
C) Cuba
D) Aruba

Question 23

Regarding provisions on slave ships,which of the following was eaten by a slave ship's crew?

A) caviar
B) yams
C) cheese
D) rice

Question 24

What was a common characteristic of a typical slave ship?

A) Slaves were separated by class position to prevent rebellion.
B) Slave captains packed their ships as tightly as possible to maximize profit.
C) Mortality rates were very low due to the presence of many Africans.
D) Slave ships were generally poorly constructed, and were more likely to fall apart at sea.

Question 25

What is the connection between piracy and the Atlantic slave trade?

A) As the Atlantic slave trade increased, piracy increased in the Caribbean.
B) As the Atlantic slave trade increased, piracy slowed in the Caribbean.
C) As the Atlantic slave trade increased, piracy remained the same in the Caribbean.
D) As the Atlantic slave trade increased, piracy disappeared entirely in the Caribbean.

Question 26

Which of the following diseases vied with dysentery to kill the most slaves while aboard slave ships?

A) typhoid
B) measles
C) smallpox
D) influenza

Question 27

Grog,the favorite drink of European sailors in the Atlantic slave trade,was a mixture of which of the following items?

A) wine and beer
B) water and rum
C) whiskey and milk
D) fruit juice and water

Question 28

How would an African most likely become a slave?

A) European armies raided the interior of Africa for people.
B) Thinking they would have a better life in the Americas, many sold themselves voluntarily.
C) Their town or village was conquered by another African army.
D) They were members of a very poor tribe that frequently sold children to make money.

Question 29

According to the Voices excerpt titled "The Journal of a Dutch Slaver," what were the major challenges experienced by the Dutch slaver?

A) Native Americans attacked the vessel.
B) Too much food was given to the African slaves aboard the ship, leading to illness.
C) Pirates raided the West African slaves at the end of the journey
D) The ship's surgeon died of dysentery.

Question 30

The account of Dr.Alexander Falconbridge in the second Voices section of the textbook discusses which of the following diseases as the primary problem for African slaves aboard slave ships?

A) sea sickness
B) measles
C) influenza
D) dysentery

Question 31

Which of the following was true of African health care aboard slave ships?

A) Some physicians aboard slave ships were frauds.
B) Generally, ship doctors used a primitive form of inoculation to prevent the worst diseases.
C) Slave ships had adequate and highly sanitary ways of disposing of human waste.
D) Slavers allowed their captives to avoid eating food.

Question 32

How did African women's experiences differ from African men's experiences on slave ships?

A) Crews isolated African women in separate slave ships.
B) African women experienced sexual violence from the crew.
C) African women controlled African men during the Middle Passage.
D) African women were spared psychological and physical punishment.

Question 33

What does the story of John Newton,a British slave-ship captain,indicate about the Atlantic slave trade?

A) Christians did not participate in the Atlantic slave trade.
B) Christians loved African people.
C) Ships' captains filled their ships with slaves quickly, usually in one stop at an African trading center.
D) Christians could be cruel, harsh slavers.

Question 34

What is the relationship between bathroom facilities and slave ships?

A) Three or four toilet tubs were provided below decks for the slaves to use during the Middle Passage.
B) Children had a relatively easy time of using the tubs due to adult assistance.
C) Africans who could not physically use the toilet were assisted by the ship's crew.
D) No major diseases surfaced from the bathroom facility arrangement.

Question 35

Which of the following is true about the path a slave-once captured-took to the market in Africa?

A) Generally, the captured slaves thought they would be treated fairly and submitted to the long stages of travel.
B) The trips to the coast were generally brief, as most Africans traded as slaves lived near that area.
C) African tribes denied the slaves access to food and water because they wanted as many as possible to die along the way.
D) The slaves were tied together with ropes, or had "yokes" around their necks, during the journey.

Question 36

Examine the nineteenth-century engraving on page 33 of the textbook.What clues emerge that reveal the interior stage of the Atlantic slave trade?

A) A coastal factory is shown on the ocean horizon.
B) Africans are shown chained together marching through grasslands.
C) Europeans are shown buying African slaves from other Africans.
D) Africans are shown on board a slave ship.

Question 37

Which of the following statements best describes the slave ship Brookes?

A) The Brookes was an exceptionally small ship for its time.
B) The Brookes sailed from Paris, France, in the late 1700s.
C) The Brookes weighed 300 tons.
D) The Brookes lacked the capacity to pack slaves tightly together below decks.

Question 38

What does the story by Olaudah Equiano,a former slave,reveal about the Atlantic slave trade?

A) Some slaves were treated with kindness and empathy by their initial captors.
B) The middle passage was an incredibly difficult experience for Africans.
C) Because of their advantage in numbers, some slaves succeeded in rebelling against their captors, seizing control of the slave ships and returning to Africa.
D) Slaves usually failed to resist the process of slavery.

Question 39

Which of the following was a common way for slaves to rebel or resist their imprisonment while at sea?

A) stealing life boats and rowing back to Africa
B) bribing the European crew with money
C) attacking other African slaves
D) refusing to eat

Question 40

Take a closer look at the plan of the British slave ship Brookes shown in Chapter 2.Which of the following statements best demonstrates the use of control by the ship's crew as revealed in the image of the Brookes?

A) Africans are shown walking about the ship.
B) Africans are shown to have ample room in which to situate themselves.
C) The slave ship appears tightly packed with Africans.
D) Africans are shown negotiating for their own purchase price.

Question 41

Mortality rates for Africans on slave ships were high because the crowded,unsanitary conditions encouraged seaboard epidemics.

Question 42

African women caught in the Atlantic slave trade were worth twice the price of
African men in Caribbean markets; as a result,captains took large numbers of women on board their vessels.

Question 43

How were the lives of Creole slaves different from other slaves?

A) Creoles were generally more familiar with European languages.
B) Creoles never became accustomed to the diseases and new climate of North America.
C) Creoles refused to help train new arrivals.
D) Creoles were considered less valuable than other Africans.

Question 44

As early as the 1580s,English pirates attacked Spanish ships to steal their human cargo.

Question 45

Columbus's voyages had little effect on the slave trade.

Question 46

Which of the following was the most important reason that the British abolished the Atlantic slave trade in 1807?

A) The British had begun to believe that racism was scientifically incorrect.
B) The British had begun to view the slave trade as violating their religious beliefs.
C) Many stories had been spread in Europe about the benefits of the slave trade.
D) The British economy was less dependent on agriculture by the late 1700s.

Question 47

The time period of "seasoning" a slave in the Americas lasted no more than how many years?

A) 8 years
B) 6 years
C) 4 years
D) 2 years

Question 48

What was typical of the slave-selling process in the West Indies?

A) Slavers allowed the slaves some time to rest and recuperate before sale.
B) Slavers adhered to a scrupulous code of ethics and refused to sell a sick or injured slave.
C) The sale process was very quick once the slaves reached the West Indies.
D) New owners were given detailed, written histories of their slaves, including accurate medical information.

Question 49

The origins of the Atlantic slave trade stemmed from Western Europe's expansion during the fifteenth century.

Question 50

How was work divided among slaves during the seasoning process in the West Indies?

A) Children worked alongside their parents, sharing work hours and tasks.
B) Masters generally divided the slaves into several gangs.
C) Creoles never worked in the fields.
D) Most of the slaves were chosen for skilled tasks, such as carpentry and bricklaying.

Question 51

Most African slave rebellions at sea took place while a ship prepared to set sail,the African coast was in sight,and the slaves could still hope to return home.

Question 52

How did a planter decide if a slave had been "seasoned"?

A) The slave began to long for Africa.
B) The slave began to speak Spanish, French or English fluently.
C) The slave seemed psychologically stable and not suicidal.
D) The slave settled down, married, and produced children.

Question 53

As early as 1502,African slaves lived on the island of ____________

Question 54

Slavery and slave trading have historically existed in all cultures for thousands of years.

Question 55

Slave ship captains used hot coals or a metal device called a speculum oris to force Africans to open their mouths for feeding.

Question 56

How did "the scramble" operate aboard slave ships?

A) The captain allowed the buyer to set the price of a slave.
B) The captain set standard prices and then allowed the buyers to grab their slaves.
C) The captain allowed African slaves to determine their own purchase price and bargain with the potential buyer.
D) The captain transferred the slaves to a third-party for official sale.

Question 57

Why did the African kingdoms of Guinea and western Central Africa fight fiercely to continue participation in the slave trade?

A) The kingdoms had developed a religious dedication to the slave trade.
B) Tribal women wanted the slave trade continued.
C) The kingdoms were economically dependent on the slave trade.
D) The British government forced Africans to continue the slave trade.

Question 58

The English by 1674 had driven the ____________out of the Atlantic slave trade.

Question 59

Prior to the early-sixteenth century,Portuguese seafarers conducted the Atlantic slave trade on an enormous scale to satisfy a limitless market for domestic servants.

Question 60

Around 1710,Spain joined Portugal in the Atlantic slave trade,and a new,harsher form of slavery appeared in the Americas.

Question 61

Trace the life of a West African slave through the major turning points of the Atlantic slave trade starting with capture in Africa.What stages would a typical slave experience as he or she awaited shipment to the colonies of the Americas?

Question 62

Britain abolished the Atlantic slave trade in the year __________ and tried to enforce that abolition on other nations through a naval patrol off the African coast.

Question 63

Differentiate among the four factors for successful seasoning of slaves in the Americas.Why was each important?

Question 64

Discuss the concept of "cruelty" as it applied to the treatment of African slaves during the Middle Passage segment of the Atlantic slave trade.Is it possible to use modern moral arguments to understand European and African participation in the Atlantic slave trade?

Question 65

In preparation for sale,slaves were required to __________ their bodies to conceal blemishes,rashes,and bruises.

Question 66

The cultivation of rice,__________,and tobacco increased British importation of African slave labor into North America.

Question 67

How did food supplies vary between captors and slaves on the slave ships?

Question 68

An example of cruelty aboard slave ships was the use of __________ by ship's surgeons to plug the anuses of African slaves suffering from dysentery.

Question 69

Explain the connection between the Atlantic slave trade and the Industrial Revolution.

Question 70

How did the Atlantic slave trade end? What major political figures were involved in the process? Why did slavery continue in the Americas into the mid-1800s?

Question 71

Slave masters assigned _____________to supervise slave labor on plantations,an example of the many layers of control within the system of slavery in the Americas.

Question 72

During seasoning,masters or overseers broke slaves into plantation work by assigning them to work __________.

Question 73

Why did slavery in the Americas develop along different lines than slavery in Africa?

Question 74

British slavers after crossing the Atlantic frequently rested their slaves in __________.

Question 75

How did European and African policies and beliefs regarding slavery differ over time during the Atlantic slave trade? What factors contributed to these differences?

Question 76

Slaves born in the Americas were known as _______________.

Question 77

Explain the connection between African slave levels of resistance and African attitudes toward enslavement.What does the level of resistance tell you about Africans' attitudes toward enslavement?

Question 78

Explain the technology of a slave ship in terms transporting African slaves.How did Europeans use technology to outfit slave ships for transporting Africans across the Atlantic to the colonies of the Americas?