18. One of History’s Darker Episodes
History is full of dark and sad episodes, and one of the darker and more macabre ones was the transatlantic slave trade, which lasted for almost four hundred years from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. It was part of a triangular exchange that linked the New World, Europe, and Africa. Raw goods were shipped from the New World to Europe, and manufactured goods were shipped from Europe to Africa, where they were traded for slaves who were then shipped to the New World.
Upon their arrival in the New World, the slaves were made to toil in often horrific conditions, to produce more raw goods for shipment to Europe, and continue the cycle. While it lasted, the transatlantic slave trade saw the transportation of an estimated 12 – 15 million Africans to the New World for a life of slavery that was often dark, cruel, brutal, and short. At least it was for those who survived the horrific Middle Passage from Africa to the New World, during which millions of slaves perished.
