How much did a single slave cost when we bought them from Africa?

Question:history teacher is offering extra credit to whoever finds the answer. please help

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: history teacher is offering extra credit to whoever finds the answer. please help

When bought from Africans the slaves were valued in gold ounces.
Males were worth approximately 6oz of gold,
Females 4oz.
They were not paid for in gold though they were paid for in trade goods equivalent to the amount of gold.
i.e ten lengths of linen cloth = 1oz of gold,
A musket = 1/4 oz of gold.

It varied at different ports and at different times depending on what was desirable in trade goods, that's why the price was set in gold ounces.

Usually they were auctioned off so you need to couch it in terms of "one slave" or "three horses, in good shape" or something like that to compare value....................then what did things cost at that time, such as, you could travel by stage from Boston to Philadelphia in 1830 for x number of dollars and get a household slave, single woman, for x number of dollars. Make some sort of comparison chart to compare, and that would be very interesting to read about that..................

ask teacher what currency
in africa,raids or goodies like guns, bottles of rum and blankets were enuff to hoodwink kings.

Ten dollars and a bottle of "Wild Irish Rose" wine from the corner liquor store.

It depends during which time.

But in the heyday, (the 1860's), slaves could easily sell for $600 in those days.

So convert it out.

about as much as a beat up an old Ford

As George Carlin pointed out, nobody would risk their chattel (@ $1000) when they could just rent a few Irishmen to croak for virtually free...so who dove into the water and risked their lives to retrieve something or other? (you figure it out).