Chapter 18: The Atlantic System and Africa, 1550–1800 155

CHAPTER 18
The Atlantic System and Africa, 1550–1800

Use the following to answer questions 1-15

Key Terms

1. Royal African Company

2. chartered companies
3. Dutch West India Company
4. plantocracy
5. driver
6. seasoning
7. manumission
8. maroon
9. capitalism
10. mercantilism
11. Atlantic Circuit
12. Middle Passage
13. Songhai
14. Bornu
15. Hausa
16. What were the effects of the Middle Passage on both slave traders and slaves?

17. What were the pieces of the new Atlantic economy? Explain how each piece was necessary for the
economy's success..
18. What was the life of a slave like on a West Indian sugar plantation in the eighteenth century? Include
details from slaves' work lives, as well as from their family and social lives.
19. Describe the lives of free people in West Indian society in the eighteenth century.
20. Compare and contrast the European mercantilist and capitalist systems.
21. Give a detailed description of the Atlantic Circuit.
22. Discuss the role played by African traders and political leaders in the Atlantic slave trade. What steps did
Africans take to control the trade with Europeans and how successful were they? How did the slave trade
differ across different regions of Africa?
23. How did the Saharan slave trade differ from the Atlantic slave trade?
24. By the eighteenth century, colonies in what region were the largest sugar producers in the world?

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156 Chapter 18: The Atlantic System and Africa, 1550–1800

25. Although tobacco was a New World plant long used by Amerindians,
A) Europeans attempted to outlaw its use in America.
B) it was Europeans who began growing the crop on large plantations.
C) European diseases made the plant extinct.
D) it never became popular in Europe because of its unhealthy effects.
E) it was originally from Turkey.

26. Chartered companies were

A) private investors with trade monopolies in colonies.
B) maritime manufacturers of maps and charts.
C) companies of missionaries and religious societies.
D) groups of Amerindian investors who pooled money and resources.
E) illegal in most European countries.

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 Chapter 18: The Atlantic System and Africa, 1550–1800 157

27. Which of the following does not describe the Dutch West India Company?
A) It was never very profitable.
B) It seized sugar-producing areas in Brazil.
C) It shipped slaves to Brazil.
D) It paid stockholders huge dividends.
E) It was a private trading company.

28. The expansion of sugar plantations in the West Indies required

A) a sharp increase in the African slave trade.
B) an increase in arable land.
C) new fertilizers and seeds.
D) the creation of new markets among the Amerindians.
E) government consultants to oversee farming.

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158 Chapter 18: The Atlantic System and Africa, 1550–1800

29. In the seventeenth-century Caribbean, indentured servants cost _________ as African slaves.
A) twice as much
B) three times as much
C) half as much
D) approximately the same
E) four times as much

30. The cultivation and production of sugar can best be described as

A) requiring farm methods only.
B) requiring farm as well as factory production methods.
C) requiring factory methods only.
D) requiring little labor and high amounts of technology.
E) simple and inexpensive.

31. Byproducts of sugar manufacture were

A) wicker and paste.
B) lye and "whey.”
C) molasses and rum.
D) soap and leather.
E) jute and twine.

32. Sugar plantations caused environmental damage through

A) the disposal of used canes.
B) soil exhaustion and deforestation.

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 Chapter 18: The Atlantic System and Africa, 1550–1800 159

C) supplying power for the mills.

D) overfertilizing the fields.
E) silting up of bays and estuaries.

33. Where did free blacks rank in the social hierarchy of Saint Domingue?
A) Third: below grandes blancs and petit blancs
B) Second: below grandes blancs but above petit blancs
C) Second: below grandes blancs and on the same level as petit blancs
D) On the same level as slaves and indentured servants
E) They were excluded from the social hierarchy.

34. On most sugar-producing islands, the percentage of slaves in the population was
A) 35 percent.
B) 55 percent.
C) 75 percent.
D) 90 percent.
E) 20 percent.

35. In the eighteenth century, West Indian plantations were controlled by a plantocracy,
A) a group of people concerned about the environment.
B) a small number of rich men who owned the land and slaves.
C) a group of botanists who encouraged the growth of new and exotic plants.
D) a religious sect of Protestantism.
E) none of these

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160 Chapter 18: The Atlantic System and Africa, 1550–1800

36. Men outnumbered women on Caribbean plantations because

A) twice as many men were imported.
B) men lived much longer than women.
C) women were not as strong as men.
D) women were more susceptible to disease than men.
E) women refused to consent to plantation work.

37. “Drivers” were typically

A) white indentured servants.
B) white overseers.
C) free black overseers.
D) male slaves.
E) ship captains.

38. Plantation slaves were motivated to work hard

A) to earn extra wages.
B) because they were promised freedom.
C) to escape punishment.
D) because they were rewarded with extra food.
E) because they were promised a share of the profits.

39. Manumission permitted slaves to

A) sell their surplus produce or goods from their own work.
B) have time off during certain religious holidays.
C) purchase or receive their freedom from slavery.
D) marry and not have families separated.
E) switch job practices on the plantation.

40. Life expectancy for nineteenth-century Brazilian male slaves was

A) 10 years.
B) 23 years.
C) 39 years.
D) 50 years.
E) 65 years.

41. Most slaves died of

A) poor nutrition.
B) disease.
C) overwork.
D) abuse.
E) accident.

42. To reduce the risks of overseas trading, companies

A) built larger ships.
B) bought insurance.
C) created the capitalist system.
D) conducted most of their commerce by land.
E) attacked one another's ships.

43. Mercantilism is
A) the recognition by the state that all individuals have economic rights.
B) the belief in a completely free-market economy.
C) a government policy that protects trade and demands the accumulation of gold and silver.
D) the political doctrine that only people who produce economic wealth may vote.
E) another name for capitalism.

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 Chapter 18: The Atlantic System and Africa, 1550–1800 161

44. The English Navigation Acts in the 1660s were meant to

A) confine trade to English ships and cargoes.
B) restrict the English shipping industry.
C) put a tariff on English goods.
D) restrict the English slave trade.
E) encourage free trade.

45. The “clockwise” network of trade in the Atlantic was the

A) Continental Trade Route.
B) Reverse Option Market.
C) Robinson Route.
D) European Circuit.
E) Atlantic Circuit.

46. During the first 150 years after the European discovery of the Americas, how many Africans were
transported in the Atlantic slave trade?
A) 200,000
B) 800,000
C) 1.6 million
D) 5.2 million
E) 6.9 million

47. During the “sugar boom” from 1650 to 1800, ________ slaves were transported.
A) 800,000
B) 1.6 million
C) 5.5 million
D) 7.5 million
E) 10 million

48. What was the principal cause of mortality aboard Atlantic slave ships?
A) Abuse
B) Execution
C) Disease
D) Suicide
E) Piracy

49. Africans who provided slaves to Europeans most often preferred to receive in return
A) beads and blankets.
B) gold and ivory.
C) rum and horses.
D) guns and textiles.
E) silk and porcelain.

50. The African state most dependent on the slave trade was
A) Oyo.
B) Dahomey.
C) Asante.
D) Elmina.
E) Kush.

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162 Chapter 18: The Atlantic System and Africa, 1550–1800

51. Most slaves taken from Africa were

A) kidnapped.
B) prisoners of war.
C) criminals.
D) political opponents.
E) Muslims.

52. In the eighteenth century, what was the major source of slaves in the interior of the Bight of Biafra?
A) Kidnapped people
B) Children sold into slavery by parents
C) Prisoners of war
D) Criminals
E) All of these

53. Generally, the Atlantic African slave trade was based on a partnership between
A) European opportunists and Arab merchants.
B) Asian and European elites.
C) European and African elites.
D) Islamic and African elites.
E) Arab merchants and African elites.

54. Most slaves in the Islamic world were

A) agricultural workers.
B) part of the Atlantic Circuit.
C) soldiers and servants.
D) translators.
E) galley slaves.

55. Islamic law prohibited the enslavement of

A) pagans.
B) Christians.
C) women.
D) Muslims.
E) anyone.

56. Both Muslims and Europeans obtained slaves from sub-Saharan Africa, but
A) the Islamic trade was much smaller.
B) the European trade was much smaller.
C) both slave trades ended soon after they began.
D) Africans refused to deal with Muslim traders.
E) Africans refused to deal with European traders.

57. Which of the following is not true of population loss in Africa as a result of the slave trade?
A) Areas near the Slave Coast lost a disproportionate number of people.
B) Population loss was uniform across all areas of west Africa.
C) Even at the peak of the trade, the population of Africa remained large.
D) New foods from the Americas helped to offset population losses due to the slave trade.
E) Population loss was reduced by the fact that more men than women were traded into slavery.

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 Chapter 18: The Atlantic System and Africa, 1550–1800 163

58. Which of the following is true regarding the Atlantic slave trade?
A) Africans gained far more wealth than Europeans.
B) Europeans gained far more wealth than Africans.
C) Europeans gained only slightly more wealth than Africans.
D) Europeans and Africans gained nearly the same amount of wealth.
E) Africans benefited from their inclusion in the world trade system but were harmed by European
diseases.

Use the following to answer questions 59-65:

Geography Questions
59. Refer to Map 18.1 and discuss the different commodities traded. How did the rise of an Atlantic trading
network lay the foundation for European wealth? How did the trade in these goods give Europe access to
Asian markets?
Page: 514
60. Refer to Map 18.1 and explain how the Atlantic Circuit worked. What were the different parts of this trade
network?
Page: 514
61. Refer to Map 18.1 and explain the slave trade in nontraditional regions such as Angola and the use of slaves
along the Pacific territories.
Page: 514
62. Refer to Map 18.2 and identify the regions that slaves were sold to. Why did the West Indies and Brazil
require most of the slave trade?
Page: 515
63. Refer to Map 18.2 and identify the African regions that were most affected by the slave trade. How were
these regions affected? How did they recover from this depletion of population?
Page: 515
64. Using Map 18.3, discuss the incentives for Africans to participate in the slave trade. Were there internal
pressures that motivated their participation?
Page: 518
65. Locate the different African kingdoms on Map 18.3. What kingdoms are in these locations today? Use the
Internet and the newspaper to discuss the issues of the states in this region today.
Page: 518

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