The research compiled and presented by the Equiano group was detailed, and shed a light upon a topic that is known about but rarely discussed in length. Slave ships were arguably the most important component of the slave trade, and having so little said about what took place on them is surprising.
That being said, you really get what you would assume when it comes to slave ships. If you were to ask a random individual what they thought took place on a slave ship, they'd likely give an accurate overview, being that the slaves were treated more as livestock than humans, were cramped, malnourished, and the like. Of course, the details may be off, but it's essentially what occurred.
What caught my attention in the research excursion were two things in particular. Firstly, I was surprised to learn that the Igbo tribe in particular had a higher rate of suicides. My surprise came about due to multiple reasons; I was shocked to know that traders kept track of slaves' individual tribes enough to know that one tribe was more prone to suicide than another. Of course, that may have simply been a component of business, in the same way one might keep track of what breed a dog is. I was also surprised that a certain tribe would be more prone to suicide in the first place. Usually, it's not a cultural influence that makes people more likely to commit suicide, but an environmental one; the slaves were all on similar ships, so the fact that a tribe's culture would influence suicide in such a way, be it due to honor or the like, was a revelation for me.
The other thing that caught my attention were the cited statistics in general. As stated before, a layman could probably assume that the conditions on slave ships were inhospitable, but stating specific statistics, such as a 12.3% mortality rate over all slave ships, gives magnitude to the generality.
Overall, it was a great and unique research excursion that was informative.
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