The end of the fifteenth century is attributed as the time period in which Christopher Colombus “discovered” the Americas. Although he was allegedly the first European to have reached these unknown lands at the time, many sought to reach the new world, for a variety of reasons. Most of those people could be divided in two: the settlers and the conquerors. In North America, there were more of the former, people looking for a new home where they could rebuild their families and lives. In Meso-America, however, the goal was to exploit the lands in order to produce and extract new goods which they could trade. Despite the different outcomes they were trying to reach, both held a common truth: natives and African slaves were both lesser than Europeans, …show more content…
At the beginning, most of the slaves were indentured servants, who chose free labour in the colonies for several years over a death penalty. Those were mostly European, but in the seventeenth century, Africans were sent to Virginia to work as indentured servants. While some were able to gain freedom, others fell into permanent servitude, and by 1661, all black people in Virginia were considered slaves, and their numbers raised significantly. Nonetheless, slavery started as early as the 1530s in Meso-American colonies, as their aims with agriculture were much larger, and they had difficulty employing natives outside the areas where there had been large empires, such as Peru and Mexico. It can be argued that slavery in Latin America was not only more common; but also more brutal. Their lives were short and they were expected to live from five to six years, which was considered a large profit to the slave owners, as they were able to purchase new and healthier slaves with no financial loss. They were also heavily mistreated; being forced to work for hours under the scorching sun, with terrible living conditions and poor nutrition. Slaves were seen as barely human, and the loss of one only meant the loss of the slave owner’s financial gain. Sugar was produced by the masses, but it cost thousands of human lives. Overall, although both colonies benefited and profited from slavery, the numbers and the demand in Meso-America greatly surpassed those from North America’s, and resulted in slave trade being banned much later in those
Acquisition and discovery are two extremely separated concepts, as one is fueled by the unknown, while the other is driven on by the known. Since the popular discovery of the Western Hemisphere, European expenditures and ventures to unchartered lands have constantly taken place, evermore mapping the Earth. However, once the geography of the World was understood, those same Europeans began movements to seize and occupy the lands they were once mystified and intrigued by. Although the Age of Discovery and the time of New Imperialism share similarities, regarding where each took place, in lands outside of Europe, the differences between the two are obviously more pronounced. To begin with, the Age of Discovery, which occurred in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, can
After Christopher Columbus founded the ‘New World’, in 1492, many European nations began to form expeditions to the ‘New World’ in search for gold. Although Great Britain, Spain, and France settled in the Americas, their colonies developed in almost completely different ways, like: The Spaniards colonized mainly in South and Central America for economic purposes, like to grow sugar, which lead its colonies to be mainly plantations; The French’s main goals in the Americas were to trade fur with the Native Americans and to find a route to the Pacific Ocean to trade with Asia; and the Britishers’ came here for two main purposes, one for economic matters and to avoid the religious conflict that was happening in England. When first Columbus founded
The first Europeans came to South America and the Caribbean searching for the East Indies and stumbled across a new world in which they would ravage and dismantle the Native people’s previous way of life. The explorers came with the goal to spread Christianity, but also sought the fortune that the new land would bring European voyagers stumbled across a vast landscape full of flourishing societies, not just roaming tribes, and they saw nothing more than opportunity for their own greed. This greed would lead to the once self-sufficient people becoming slave workers before eventually disappearing from the region altogether. Spanish royalty gave explorer Christopher Columbus the power to travel east in exploration to gain wealth for Spain and
America’s colonization by the Europeans happened in the Age of Exploration, where Europe travelled the world in search of raw materials, land, and trade parties. North America was first discovered by Spain. The Spanish monarchs gave approval to Christopher Columbus to find new and faster route for the Asian Indies. Columbus ran into North American and was convinced he had bumped into the Indies and so he names the natives Indians, he soon learned otherwise. Spain realized the riches of the new world such as gold, silver, and the natives who could be used for slaves.
Slavery in America began when the first African slaves were brought to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, to aid in the production of such lucrative crops as tobacco. Slavery in the U.S. was the legal institution of human chattel enslavement, primarily of Africans and African Americans that existed in the United States of America
The use of slaves has always been present in the world since the beginning of civilization, although the use and treatment of those slaves has differed widely through time and geographic location. Different geographies call for different types of work ranging from labor-intensive sugar cultivation and production in the tropics to household help in less agriculturally intensive areas. In addition to time and space, the mindsets and beliefs of the people in those areas affect how the slaves will be treated and how “human” those slaves will be perceived to be. In the Early Modern Era, the two main locations where slaves were used most extensively were the European dominated Americas and the Muslim Empires. The American slavery system and the
Prior to Columbus’ arrival to the Americas, many of the early settlers migrated south and developed advanced civilizations such as the Incas in Peru, the Aztecs in Mexico, and the Mayas in Central America. It wasn’t until 1492 that Columbus sailed the ocean blue and landed on the Americas thinking he had arrived in the Indies. This landing was revolutionary. Despite the continued subjugation of native peoples, Columbus’ discovery of America marked a drastic turning point in the global economy and society through the introduction of the Columbian Exchange to the deaths of Native Americans and increased competition for New World land holdings among the Europeans.
When thinking of the economic structure of the past, one cannot ignore how it truly started. In colonial Latin America, the African slave trade was on the rise and Africans were prized beause they were already inslaved (Module). Andean people were put into harsh working conditions that were just a step above slavery and made little to no money. The economic platform was based on cheap labor by working people in return for a higher profit by their successors, with only the economy and wealth growth in mind.
In 1619, Virginians needed workers to grow corn and tobacco. Black slaves were sold in Virginia, Caribbean, and South America. The slaves were overpopulated due to their communal property and ability to sustain themselves properly. Europeans and Africans bought slaves to enhance their civilization. Overall, the black slaves were treated poorly and bundled aboard the slave ships.
Europeans tried to send more people to the American colonies by means of becoming indentured servants, people who would work for someone for seven years and be freed. This proved to have many flaws; since the servants were white, they could run away and live a new life without being questioned. When discussing how English colonists turned to Africans, Lester states, “Because they were black, it would be difficult for them to run away and escape detection,” (Lester 18). For this reason, slavery lived on for 245
In 1492, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus was determined to find a way to Asia by sailing west. Instead, during his exploration travels, Christopher Columbus stumbled upon the Americas. The Americas that were discovered on that day in 1492 were a far contrast from the Americas that we know today. Since then, interactions resulting from European exploration have affected diverse countries around the world all in the name of “God, Glory and Gold”.
As Berlin stated that, “The distinguishing characteristics of Atlantic creoles- their linguistic dexterity, cultural plasticity and social agility- were precisely those qualities that the sugar planters of the New World feared the most. For their labor force, planters desired youth and strength, not experience and wisdom. Too much knowledge might be subversive to the good order of the plantation (pgs. 29-30)”. Trans-Atlantic African slaves offered just what the plantations owners were looking for, naïve youth and strength. Later on, slaveholders would trade specifically with other countries based on specifics such as age and strength, and based on where pervious slaves were from.
Through history we can see how “slavery began, the factors that made it both possible and economically valuable to the European trading states, and the products produced by the slaves.” Slavery in South/Central America began with the natives doing much labor for those such as the Spanish. Planting, and tending to the crops the Spanish wished to trade. With much of the South and North Americans died out due to diseases, the U.S decided it was time to search out for a new mass number of slaves. They
Introduction: During the 1800’s, Slavery was an immense problem in the United States. Slaves were people who were harshly forced to work against their will and were often deprived of their basic human rights. Forced marriages, child soldiers, and servants were all considered part of enslaved workers. As a consequence to the abolition people found guilty were severely punished by the law.
The causes and effects of slavery during the Atlantic World, were mixed depending on if you were European or African and Native American. There are many reasons as to why the slave trade was started. One main reason as to why it started is that the Portuguese were trading in Africa. Back in Europe, Europeans had slaves to do their work for them. Some of them moved to the Americas and missed having slaves to do their work for them so, Europe sent merchants to trade the Portuguese manufactured goods for slaves.