Lesson Y8-U03-L03

The Middle Passage Quiz: KS3 History, Unit 9

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

In partnership with Revision Ninja

Lesson Y8-U03-L03, The Middle Passage: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 History (National Curriculum), Unit 9: Year 8: Slavery, written with Revision Ninja.

Host it live on the board and students join with a game code on their own devices, or revise alone with Free Play. The answers are revealed in the game.

Host this setFree Play

The 20 questions

  1. What was the Middle Passage?

    • European coastal route
    • Plantation transport road
    • African river journey
    • Forced Atlantic voyage

  2. Which 1839 revolt, led by Sengbe Pieh, seized a ship and later won freedom through the courts?

    • The Boston Massacre
    • The Bristol Riots
    • The Peasants' Revolt
    • The Amistad revolt

  3. Roughly how long did the Atlantic crossing typically take?

    • 6 to 10 months
    • 6 to 10 days
    • 6 to 10 weeks
    • 6 to 10 hours

  4. What is an example of quiet resistance during the Middle Passage?

    • Singing home songs
    • Learning captain names
    • Surrendering quietly
    • Accepting new clothes

  5. Who wrote the 1789 autobiography describing being forced onto a slave ship as a boy?

    • Olaudah Equiano
    • Mansa Musa
    • Ibn Battuta
    • Matthew Hopkins

  6. Roughly how many Africans were forced onto ships between the 1500s and 1800s?

    • About 12 million
    • About 120 thousand
    • About 12,000
    • About 12 billion

  7. What does the historical term 'agency' mean?

    • Following direct orders
    • Working without pay
    • Accepting harsh fate
    • Making personal choices

  8. Which phrase does the lesson recommend because it keeps the person first?

    • Cargo
    • Enslaved person
    • Slave
    • Human property

  9. What is historical testimony?

    • Modern textbook summary
    • Government tax record
    • First-hand account
    • Secondary historical novel

  10. What did the slave-trading captain's logbook record about captives?

    • Family tree charts
    • Personal life stories
    • Human cargo counts
    • Wages earned

  11. Whose first-hand written account provides vital historical evidence of the Middle Passage?

    • Thomas Clarkson
    • William Wilberforce
    • Olaudah Equiano
    • Granville Sharp

  12. What was the main purpose of abolitionist campaign posters?

    • Persuading against slavery
    • Advertising slave ships
    • Encouraging plantation work
    • Promoting sugar trade

  13. Why did slave ship crews keep vessels under heavy guard and nets?

    • Preventing revolts
    • Catching fish
    • Stopping storms
    • Blocking sunlight

  14. Which action showed enslaved Africans keeping their humanity during the Middle Passage?

    • Complying with orders
    • Accepting new laws
    • Preserving cultural traditions
    • Working without pay

  15. Which leg of the triangular trade is described by the historical term 'Middle Passage'?

    • European return
    • African march
    • Atlantic crossing
    • Plantation transport

  16. What key aspect of enslaved people's experiences do historians emphasise alongside suffering?

    • Compliance
    • Resistance
    • Ignorance
    • Agreement

  17. What does the logbook's language treating people as goods reveal?

    • Accidental clerical errors
    • Generous treatment
    • Deliberate dehumanisation
    • Standard maritime law

  18. Which act is an example of open, direct resistance on a ship?

    • Fighting the crew
    • Remembering family names
    • Quietly grieving
    • Singing traditional songs

  19. What did preserving hope and dignity during the crossing represent for enslaved people?

    • Accepting fate
    • Royal pardon
    • Form of resistance
    • Legal surrender

  20. What business document provides historians with quantitative records of the Middle Passage scale?

    • Novel manuscript
    • Poetry book
    • Church sermon
    • Ship logbook

All KS3 History quizzes