What ocean was crossed during the Middle Passage?

The Middle Passage was the voyage from West Africa to the Americas. For most enslaved people, the voyage began in one of several "factories" or slave fortresses on the west coast. Many of these people had been captured or kidnapped from inland towns and villages. They were purchased by slave traders and put onto ships. The conditions on board these ships were notoriously bad, as the captains had an incentive to cram as many people...

The Middle Passage was the voyage from West Africa to the Americas. For most enslaved people, the voyage began in one of several "factories" or slave fortresses on the west coast. Many of these people had been captured or kidnapped from inland towns and villages. They were purchased by slave traders and put onto ships. The conditions on board these ships were notoriously bad, as the captains had an incentive to cram as many people as they could below (and often above) deck. By some estimates, almost half of the people captured and enslaved died before they reached the Americas. After a lengthy voyage, the ships reached port cities, mostly in either Brazil or the Caribbean, where the people on board were purchased by slave buyers to be sold on to planters. This horrible journey was called the Middle Passage because it was part of a larger "triangle trade" that made up the Atlantic system of exchange connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas.