The Atlantic slave trade was an oceanic trade in enslaved African peoples, including men, women, and even children. For over three centuries, European slavers transported approximately 12.5 million Africans on slave ships across the Atlantic Ocean. Around 11 million survived the brutal passage to slavery in the Americas.
Originally organized by the Portuguese and Spanish after sugar plantations were set up in the Americas, European settlers sought slave labor to cultivate and expand their plantations. In the Caribbean and the Deep South, planters sought to grow profitable crops such as tobacco, rice, sugar, and cotton. Products were produced for export to Europe, North America, and elsewhere in the Atlantic world.
