Our local history topic is really making us think; think about British history, think about the primary resources we have and the information it gives us; think about how people were treated in the 1600s, and making us think about the effect on our lives today.
We’ve been learning about The Atlantic Slave Trade during the 1600s and how enslaved people were brought across from Africa to the West Indies, by boat, to work on plantations there. The British were the most active trading nation during these times.
We learnt about the horrific journey that people took, with only 5ft by 1ft of space for a child. This was easier to understand when we measured the space out on the floor to ‘feel’ how craped the conditions were. Unbelievably, boys were chained to this space for a minimum of 6 weeks whilst aboard the ship. We sadly learned that not all people made it and died on the journey because of the unsanitary conditions.
Here are some photos of the ship.
