How did European exploration and expansion cause the African slave trade to expand? A. European explorers discovered the slave trade and expanded it across the Indian Ocean into South Asia. B. Arab armies captured European explorers and forced them into slavery. C. European traders shipped enslaved Africans to work on plantations in European colonies in the Americas. D. European explorers captured African people and forced them to work on their ships.

Option C, European traders shipped enslaved Africans to work on plantations in European colonies in the Americas, is the right answer.

Explanation:

The exploration of Portuguese of the west, that was initiated to discover a sea trade route led to the beginning of the slave trade. By the year 1444, Portuguese brought the enslaved Africans to work on their sugar plantation. From there on, the slave trade expanded across the Atlantic, the main reason was the increase in the demand for labor as the  Europeans began the cultivation of labor-intensive crops such as sugar, tobacco and later on rice and cotton.

what are the options?

a.

congress passed laws allowing for free passage between states.