Gil Hahn

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The majority of the 9.5 million who survived the middle passage cut, crushed, and boiled cane.82 Fully 80 percent of slaves came to Brazil and the Caribbean, while most of the rest went to Spanish North America and South America. So massive was this involuntary migration that as early as 1580, slaves constituted well over half of voyagers to the New World; by 1700, three-quarters; and by 1820, 90 percent. Truly, the settlement of the Americas would not have been possible without black slaves, who constituted fully 77 percent of those who crossed the Atlantic before 1820.83 Only after the ...more
A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World
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