
Details of horrific first voyages in transatlantic slave trade revealed - Thevet
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/transatlantic-slave-trade-voyages-ships-log-details-africa-america-atlantic-ocean-deaths-disease-a8494546.html
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jzl
_" Almost completely ignored by the modern world, this month marks the 500th
anniversary of one of history’s most tragic and significant events – the birth
of the Africa to America transatlantic slave trade."_

A (relatively) small step in the right direction: The slave trade and its
origins is one of the primary focuses of the incredible new museum in
Washington DC: the National Museum of African American History and Culture
(NMAAHC), steps away from the Washington Monument. This museum is a national
treasure. I highly, highly recommend it to anyone who might have an
opportunity to visit. The subject matter, the incredibly detailed and thorough
exhibits, the culturally infused architecture, the underground memorial, and
many other factors all combine to create one of the most engrossing and
memorable museum experiences in the US. It's a must-see if you're in DC.

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perfmode
as a black person, it is hurtful and alarming to read these comments and see
how people in our industry feel about the slavery of my people. the callous,
cold minimizations lack humanity.

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Bucephalus355
In school, I used to wonder how people survived this voyage if they were
shackled below the whole trip (3 weeks). Wouldn’t the stores they were in,
which were only a few feet high (couldn’t stand up), fill up with feces?

Apparently they were let up on deck for 2 hours a day.

If anyone has any clarification to add to this / that wasn’t in the article,
please add.

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goatlover
I still wonder how anyone can do that to other human beings for three weeks.
Even if you don't view them as the same status, they can clearly speak and
think and come from societies with tools, clothing, art and shelter. Were the
slave traders all sociopaths?

I also wouldn't want to do that to any animal, although apparently it's seen
as acceptable with factory farming.

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BadassFractal
Contemporary Westerners constantly underestimate a human's ability to commit
unthinkable atrocities under the right conditions. I don't know if it's our
education's fault. Maybe we just don't bother to ever emphasize this point.
Maybe it's too uncomfortable of a subject to deal with.

This last century has presented a rich buffet of historical options to choose
from when looking for examples of ideologies that allowed otherwise perfectly
normal, God-fearing, salt of the earth folk to turn into horror-machines of
rape, mutilation and slaughter. Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia,
you name it. Maybe even a relative or a next door neighbor in our very own US
of A, sent to the wrong Vietnamese village at the wrong time. That seed of
pure horror is in all of us, and it's ready to rear its ugly head when the
conditions are right.

I don't think as a species we've quite figured out how to suppress it.

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roadnottaken
Pinker’s “Better Angels of our Nature” is a masterwork on the subject. It’s
also a terrific read and will change your view of history and make you happy
to be alive in the present!

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Better_Angels_of_Our_Nat...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Better_Angels_of_Our_Nature)

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BadassFractal
I've been meaning to read it, however the criticism from historians about it
has made me somewhat uncomfortable about it:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Better_Angels_of_Our_Natur...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Better_Angels_of_Our_Nature#Criticism)

Is there anything conclusive about how cherry-picked the numbers in the book
are?

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sasaf5
Auto-loading video. RIP mobile data...

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dylanz
I made it through 1/4 of the article and couldn’t take the reading experience.
I’m on an iPhone and it was nonstop ads and odd breaks in content. Bummed!

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CharlesW
Safari's Reader Mode is ideal for this scenario. You won't see the associated
media (at least not on this particular page), but you can read the story in
peace.

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foxes
Why should you have to use a "reader mode" in the first place?

++ As in it's a "workaround" for an issue that should never have been allowed
to exist in the first place - bloat, ads etc.

That aside, umatrix on firefox mobile has been the best improvement in mobile
browsing.

