What is the Middle Passage?
Q: What is the Middle Passage?
A: The Middle Passage was the part of the Atlantic slave trade where African slaves were brought to the Americas on slave ships.
Q: How many African people were shipped to the Americas over the Middle Passage?
A: Millions of African people were shipped to the Americas over the Middle Passage.
Q: What happened to enslaved people during their journey on slave ships?
A: Enslaved people were treated so badly on the slave ships that about 15% of them died during the Middle Passage. Even more were killed before they left Africa, when slave traders were trying to kidnap them and force them onto the slave ships.
Q: How many African people are estimated to have died during this journey?
A: Historians think that up to two million African people died during the Middle Passage.
Q: How many African people survived and arrived in America as slaves?
A: Somewhere between 9.4 million and 12 million African people survived and arrived in America as slaves.
Q: What happened before leaving Africa for those who did not survive?
A: Before leaving Africa, some enslaved individuals were killed by slave traders while being kidnapped and forced onto slave ships.
