Slave trade

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/slave-trade

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What was the slave trade and why did it happen?The slave trade was a system where people were captured, sold, and forced to work without pay. It happened because powerful empires and colonial economies needed cheap labor and wanted to make money.
2. How did people become slaves in the Atlantic trade?People were captured through war, raids, or kidnapping, taken to coastal barracoons, then put on ships. The journey, called the Middle Passage, was very dangerous and many died.

Commodification: The process of treating something or someone as an object to be bought or sold.
Chattel Slavery: A system where enslaved people are treated as personal property, with no legal rights.
Triangular Trade: A historical network of trade routes connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas, often involving enslaved people.