Atlantic Slave Trade

The Atlantic Slave Trade was a brutal and inhumane system from the 16th to the 19th centuries where millions of Africans were forcibly taken from their homes and sold into slavery in the Americas. European traders would capture or buy enslaved people, transport them across the Atlantic Ocean under terrible conditions, and sell them to work on plantations, particularly in sugar, tobacco, and cotton industries. This trade had devastating effects on African societies and economies and laid the foundation for systemic racism and inequality that persists today. The trade contributed significantly to the wealth of European nations and the development of the Americas.