The Middle Passage was a trade that began with Europeans kidnapping African Americans to sell in North America, the Caribbean, and South America, especially Brazil. African Americans were forced to travel chained for months on slave ships, most slaves were sold, but other slaves preferred death rather than being enslaved. The Middle Passage was a horrendous act in which millions of slaves died and were sold, but the Middle Passage was necessary for the development of the United States during the time of slavery. Over ten million slaves were sold. The Middle Passage was a long journey that African Americans endured only to be sold into slavery once the journey was over. According to ushistory.org African Americans on slave ships were fed twice a day and holes were cut in the deck to allow the slaves to breathe, but these holes were closed in bad weather such as storms, regardless of attempts to retain the African Americans . Alive and healthy, most of them died from lack of water, food and air. According to (pbs.org) the slaves were crammed between the decks in spaces too low to stand, the heat was unbearable and the air almost unbreathable. Women were used sexually and men were chained in pairs, slave ships were very crowded for slaves and slaves were forced to lie on their backs with their heads between each other's legs, slaves had to lie in each other's other feces, urine and perhaps even blood. In these slave ships diseases spread very quickly, and sick slaves were usually thrown overboard to prevent an epidemic. At the end of the journey the surviving slaves were cleaned and checked by a doctor to see if they would fetch a good price in the ports, those slaves who were declared unfit to be so... half the paper... and food others died of disease, and many others committed suicide because the suffering they were going through was too intense. Slavery in America was very harsh and there were many types of slavery, however slavery was also beneficial to America, slavery helped America in many ways, especially economically, plantation slaves were responsible of the production of all the product that was traded in the United States and exported out of the United States, slaves also worked on the tobacco plantations, which made large profits, and in the sugar cane industry, which also made large profits, but most importantly slavery helped the nation understand that even though slaves were very useful, they were not necessary because they saw the wrong in slavery and made laws banning the slave trade and slave imports. In conclusion, the Middle Passage was essential to the development of the United States.