SETTLING NORTH AMERICA 1497 1732
RISE OF THE SLAVE TRADE BLACK HISTORY IN COLONIAL AMERICA
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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Starvation.
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Disease.
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Over exposure to direct sunlight.
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Overcrowding.
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Detailed explanation-1: -Seasickness was common and the heat was oppressive. The lack of sanitation and suffocating conditions meant there was a constant threat of disease. Epidemics of fever, dysentery (the ‘flux’) and smallpox were frequent. Captives endured these conditions for about two months, sometimes longer.
Detailed explanation-2: -The terrible conditions for those captive aboard slave vessels on the infamous Middle Passage across the Atlantic meant dysentery, fever, small-pox and eye diseases were common, compounded by over-crowding and poor ventilation below deck.
Detailed explanation-3: -In order to reduce the owner’s losses he would throw overboard the slaves thought to be too sick to recover. The voyage was insured, but the insurance would not pay for sick slaves or even those killed by illness. However, it would cover slaves lost through drowning.
Detailed explanation-4: -Some enslaved men and women refused to eat, hoping to starve themselves to death. This might involve holding food in their mouths and then spitting it out when the crew weren’t looking although this could lead to floggings and force-feedings as punishment. Leaping overboard to drown was another means of escape.