This CSET lesson on African Slavery is for teacher candidates taking the CSET Multiple Subjects exam and may be used to help with the CSET English and the CSET Social Sciences exams.
Teacher candidates studying for the CSET Social Science will also find this CSET practice lesson helpful.
Take a moment to read this brief passage on African Slavery and then attempt to answer the question below. An answer key is at the end of this lesson.
How Slavery Began
The Muslims were the first African slave traders. They had a complex system in place for kidnapping, selling, and then distributing slaves across the Mediterranean and beyond. Muslim slave traders would march African prisoners across the Saharan desert or on ships across the Indian Ocean. Early slaves from Africa were mostly male.
The Portuguese were the first European slave traders. Following in the footsteps of the Muslims, they captured many slaves and created a market for trading slaves. The more slaves on a sugar farm, the greater the production and profit of that sugar farm. So sugar farmers were in a race to acquire as many African slaves as possible. In the 1500′s, Portuguese slave traders were shipping slaves from Angola and Kongo to Brazil. Brazil quickly became the wealthiest sugar producing land in the entire western hemisphere.
But the Portuguese were not alone. The Spanish saw the wealth of Brazil and wanted a piece of the action. They began shipping African people from to the Americas and the Caribbean. The Indians that were defeated by the Spanish could not work on the land because the Spanish had used biological warfare that had wiped out most of the population. The Spanish shipped slaves to sugar plantations and to mines in Mexico, Peru, and Central America. By the 1600′s, English colonists began acquiring slaves to be used in North America.
The slave trade was mostly organized in triangles. Mainly, there were two intricate trade triangles that connected the western hemisphere to the eastern hemisphere. The first triangle involved Europe receiving raw materials from American colonies; Africa receiving manufactured products from Europe, such as firearms; and the colonies receiving slave from Africa. The second triangle is similar but does not include Europe. In the Caribbean, molasses was produced and shipped to New England, where it was then used to produce rum. The rum was subsequently sent to Africa, and from Africa, slaves were transported to the plantations in the Caribbean. Therefore, global economic connections can be seen through the sugar industry as plantations in America are tied to Europe, where their motherlands are, and also are connected to Africa, from where slaves are exported.
1. Why did slavery encourage polygamy in Africa ?
A. Lots of Africans became rich and thus could afford many wives.
B. Men began eating better and exercising more thanks to slavery and thereby attracted more women.
C. Most slaves taken were males and so the population of males to females became very uneven.
D. Because of the population increase.
The answer is C