Keeping enslaved people in crowded ships during the Atlantic crossing shows which problem?

Correct answer: The inhuman conditions of the journey

The Atlantic crossing, often called the Middle Passage, involved the forced transportation of African people in severely overcrowded ships. Captives were chained or confined in cramped spaces, received inadequate food and water, and faced disease, violence and death during the voyage. These conditions were created to maximise the number of people transported for profit, treating human beings as cargo. Option A is correct because the crowded ships directly demonstrate the physical cruelty and denial of human dignity at the heart of the slave trade. The royal court, French education and feudal privilege do not explain the conditions of this voyage. The example also reveals that the trade was not merely commercial; it was a profound moral and humanitarian crime.