Transatlantic Slave Trade: A History from Beginning to End

The empires of the ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Greeks, Romans, and Chinese were underpinned by slavery, where one person could be owned by another, and their obedience and labor were forced by the threat of violence or even death. Some of these people were prisoners captured during wars, some were sold into slavery to pay debts, while others were born into slavery. In many ancient empires, slaves accounted for anything from one-third to half of the total population. All were regarded as property, few were entitled to even the most basic human rights, and most lived lives of abject poverty and suffering.

By the sixteenth century, slavery had become less important as a part of the international economy, but the discovery of the Americas changed that fundamentally. New lands were conquered, first by Spain and Portugal and then by other European nations. Vast new areas were available for cultivation, but that required a large workforce. A new trade began in slaves purchased in Africa and shipped to the Caribbean, North, Central, and South America.

The transatlantic slave trade would see a staggering total of around 12 million people forcibly transported from Africa to the Americas, often in the most appalling conditions. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a new movement arose that questioned the moral and ethical basis of this trade. This is the story of the origin, rise, and eventual collapse of the transatlantic slave trade.

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Lydbog: 5. september 2026