The Atlantic slave trade became vital to the colonial economy and it was a trade cycle. Millions of African slaves were forced across the Atlantic to the New World in a horrific journey called the Middle Passage. On the first leg of the journey, traders brought goods to Africa in exchange for slaves. It was an overland journey involving delivering slaves to the coast. On the “middle” leg, slaves were transported to the Americans on an ocean voyage. According to the accounts of Olaudah Equiano, a survivor of the journey, he wrote that the journey was terrifying and resulted in the deaths of millions of Africans. This was due to the barbaric conditions inside the ships, the spread of disease and brutal treatment, which caused some slaves to desperately escape such situations by committing suicide. African slaves were treated disastrously, crowded into limited space and lying in a pool of excrement. Dysentery was the greatest cause of death. Cruel means, such as whipping, were used by ship crews to control large numbers of slaves. During the third leg of the journey, traders sold the slaves to other locations in America, such as plantations and mines, in exchange for other products, such as sugar and tobacco. As a result, slaves were unevenly distributed in the New