Change Over Time

2

Transatlantic Slave Trade

1. The topic I am focusing on is the Transatlantic Slave Trade and this will be the title of my project.

2. Primary sources that provide evidence for trans-Atlantic trade include: journal, letters and diaries, published books, newspapers and magazines published at the time, photographs, audios recordings, moving pictures and videos recording. These sources serves to interpret the Trans-Atlantic slaves’ trade that forcibly embarked over ten million African for transport to the Americans between the sixteenth and nineteenths century. The sources offers a chance to rediscover the reality of one of the largest forced movement of people in world history.

Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species by Ottobah Cugoano which is about Africans being purchased by European slave traders on the Coast.

The History of Mary Prince by A West Indian Slave, related by herself which is about European slave traders auctioning their cargo to plantation owners for more money than they did in Africa.

Amazing Grace by British slave trader John Newton was about a slave trader who felt guilty and ordered the ship back to Africa and all the slaves were freed. This caused him to abandon trade.

3. Secondary sources consist of they pictures, quotes and graphics of primary sources. Some types of visual secondary sources include publication such as text books, magazine articles, journal articles and encyclopedias. Secondary sources that provides information and resources for study of Trans-Atlantic slave trade include: Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade by David Eltis and David Richardson is a map of slave trade out of Africa, 1500-1900.

4. These sources serves as the raw material to interpret the past, when they are used along with previous interpretation by historians, they give necessary resources for historical research. Over time, the sources may not be very in-depth, therefore, it won’t be best to focus on them very much though still they can be used to explain the importance of studying Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Some of the books used as primary sources are very insightful and would be great sources to begin with since they give a good understanding of Trans-Atlantic but at the same time still broad enough that one would need to more research. The migration of slaves resulted in social change and resulted in tensions. Also, the Africans became depopulated because they were forced from their societies and shipped to American colonies.

5. Collections gathered both primary and secondary sources are important for the study of Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The sources provide interesting insight into different aspect of the slave trade. Not only do they showcase the scope of the trade, they also include maps, ports and statistics in regard to where slaves embarked and disembarked. The collections as well provide the full history of Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, they focus on both the viewpoints of slaves and their employers and bring up discussion on the middle passage and resistance.