Mobility II

The middle passage was the infamous forced displacement of millions of enslaved Africans to the Americas. It is remarkable that despite this inhuman system of exploitation, African groups were able to transfer their knowledge and traditions, which was diffused into the population of the Americas. This map traces some of these journeys from West Africa to the Americas and then to Europe, forming a "triangular trade" which maximized profit at the expense of enslaved people. Due to the horror of the middle passage, many people died in route to the Americas. One ship, which disembarked from Ghana and traveled to Suriname saw a number of deaths as the approached the port of Paramaribo. Four African males died outside of the port, with their bodies thrown overboard. It is possible that these men were killed defending themselves, or that they threw themselves overboard due to the grim reality of what lie ahead. Suriname was a major sugar producing colony, which is why so many Africans were stolen to work in the cane fields. The finished product (sugar), was then sent to Europe as a major commodity.
The Atlantic Ocean is at the center of this major upheaval in mobility, which for centuries was a barrier that prevented exploration. Weather, including the hurricanes shown in this map, made the journey unbearable for everyone, and deadly for many ships full of people.
Coincidentally, it was a major hurricane in the center of the Caribbean which caused a slave ship to crash in 1600s full of West African people. The Europeans on board abandoned ship, thinking that the people on board would sink. This groups of West Africans banded together and made it to the island of St. Vincent and later Central America, where they are now known as the Garifuna people.

A Garifuna restaurant outside of Tela, Honduras