Atlantic world · 1500s-1860s

The Middle Passage and the Atlantic slave trade

For more than three centuries, about 12.5 million Africans were forced onto ships bound for the Americas. Students map where captives came from and where they were taken, hear the voices of those who survived, and ask how this history should be remembered.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
13–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1750
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

For more than three centuries, about 12.5 million Africans were forced onto ships bound for the Americas. Students map where captives came from and where they were taken, hear the voices of those who survived, and ask how this history should be remembered.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Describe the scale of the transatlantic slave trade and the regions it connected.
  • Locate slave-trading ports in Europe and the Americas and one place of resistance.
  • Explain how enslaved people resisted and how the trade is remembered today.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1750

Three continents

Open the map in 1750 and turn on Trade Routes. Follow the Atlantic Triangular Trade between Europe, West Africa and the Americas. What was carried on each side of the triangle?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1783

African states

Jump to 1783 and zoom in on the coast of West Africa. Find states such as Asante, Oyo and Dahomey inland. European traders mostly stayed in forts on the coast. Why could they not simply march inland?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1750

Where captives were taken

Zoom out to the Atlantic. Find Brazil, the Caribbean islands and the east coast of North America. Which region do you think received the most captives? Check your guess during the lesson.

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. European laws treated enslaved people as property. How did that make the trade possible?
  2. Some African rulers and merchants took part in the trade, while others resisted it. Why is it important to know both?
  3. Captives resisted in many ways, from revolts on ships to keeping their languages and beliefs alive. Why does resistance matter to this story?
  4. Olaudah Equiano wrote about his life in 1789. Why are accounts by formerly enslaved people so valuable to historians?
  5. How should countries and cities that grew rich from the slave trade remember it today?
4

Game round

10 min

Play a round of Rule History as Elizabeth I. In the 1560s she backed the voyages of John Hawkins, the first English slaving voyages. Discuss: which decisions in the game have consequences for people who never had a say?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.