What factors account for the high death rate on the Middle Passage?

Answer 1

The primary factor leading to the high death rate was the extreme crowding in the hold of slave ships. Slaves were shackeled and "stacked like cordwood" in the holds, lying for weeks or even months in their own and others' waste, and were exposed to any and all diseases present among the human "cargo". Add to that the heat in such close quarters, poor and limited food, shared drinking vessels, relative airlessness, the physical and mental stress, and often brutal treatment by the ships' crews, and it's not surprising that mortality in the slave ships was often 50% or greater.

For those not familiar with the term "Middle Passage", this was the middle leg of a common trading route: American and European traders sailed to Africa with cloth, beads and other cheap trade goods; they traded these or used the proceeds to purchase slaves, who were then transported across the Atlantic to the Caribbean or the Americas to be sold--this was the "Middle Passage"; and the proceeds of selling slaves were used for the third leg of the voyage, generally to Europe, to purchase more goods for sale.

Answer 2

Do you mean the Middle Ages? If you mean Middle Passage, I do not know what that is.

Answer 3

Overcrowding and poor food which led to disease