Middle Passage Killed 1.8 Million

Between 1500 and 1866, an estimated 12.5 million enslaved Africans embarked for the Americas, but only about 10.7 million arrived alive, leaving roughly 1.8 million dead during the Middle Passage. Captives endured severe overcrowding, poor sanitation, disease, violence, and extreme heat aboard slave ships. Mortality averaged about 15 percent overall, exceeding 20 percent during the early decades of the transatlantic slave trade.

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