Europeans enslaved Africans and indigenous peoples in the Americas to exploit natural resources and produce lucrative crops. Africans accompanied conquistadors and helped colonize lands while providing forced labor on plantations and mines. High mortality rates among indigenous peoples increased demand for African slaves, who were seen as better suited for the labor and climate. Approximately 12.5 million slaves endured the traumatic Middle Passage to the Americas between the 15th-18th centuries, establishing slave societies in the Caribbean and Latin America producing sugar, tobacco, and other commodities through brutal conditions. Resistance by slaves was common but punishable by severe whippings, hangings, and other cruel acts sanctioned by slave codes.

2. Finding New Lands &
Labor
 Africans and the Conquistadors: Africans accompanied the conquistadors on their
exploration of the southwestern parts of the United States. The Africans helped
them claim the land and lives of the native American peoples.
 Demand for Slave Labor: Europeans became interested in exploiting the natural
resources in this new world. European conquers enslaved Indians making them
work in mines and agriculture fields. Unfortunately disease carried by Europeans
wiped out the entire native population. They needed Africans to make up for the
deficiency of Indian labor. Plus the Africans were already familiar with the cultivation
of these crops because they had worked with those crops before .
 From Indenture to Slavery: England more then other nations attempted to use white
indentured labor, but ultimately this proved unsatisfactory. “Indentured Servitude”
meant that a laborer agreed to serve a master for a term of years after which he or
she would gain freedom and ideally a grant of land. Many of the white slaves went
so far to sue masters for illegal detention, also many ran away. Blacks presented so
few of the difficulties the white laborers caused them. Also Africans slaves cost less.
In a period when economic consideration dominated colonial policy this calculation
made New World slavery a fixed institution.

3. Trading in Slaves
 Acquiring Slaves: Slaves were mostly obtained through negotiation although slave
raids by Europeans did occur. Europeans’ sales of guns cause new levels of havoc
and civil strife among Africans, ensuring that rising numbers of slaves were captured
for the transatlantic market.
 Africans in the Slave trade: Africans were both perpetrators and victims of the
Atlantic slave trade. Europeans followed strict rules of protocols for trade
negotiations. They consulted doctors when uncertain about age or physical
condition.
 Slave Trade Challenges: Europeans ran into costly delays. They would bring goods
that weren't desired leaving them unable to find a sufficient number of slaves at a
single trading post. The ship might be compelled to call at four or five ports in order
to purchase as many as five hundred slaves.
 The Trauma of Capture : They could not understand the white people, their
complexions differed so much from the Africans. They believed they were going to
be eaten by them. Enslaved Africans offered stiff resistance to their capture , sale
and transport across the Atlantic.
 African Resistance: Would jump off the ships into the ocean and drown themselves
or into the mouths of sharks just to avoid enslavement of the new world. They also
attacked the slave ships or attempted to rescue captives.

4. The Middle Passage
 A Profitable Trade: More slaves on the ship meant
more profits: hence few traders could resist the
temptation to wedge a few more in. The slave trade
was one of the most important sources of European
wealth in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
From African slave trade Europeans income had a
steady increase throughout the centuries.
Approximately 12.5 million slaves were transported
to the New World.

5. Slavery in the Caribbean
 The Spanish Monopoly: They had control over the Caribbean because of the prior claim done by
the popes actions in 1493.African slaves produced very desirable staple crops which caught
other countries eyes.
 Loss of Spanish Control: They lost all claim to Denmark, Dutch Republic, France, and England
which all acquired their own respective lands. They gained control by their sneaky monopoly of
slave trade in the Caribbean's New World territory.
 Living Conditions: Deaths became extremely high due to improper food, disease, intolerable
working conditions, suicide, and far more males then females. The Caribbean did not become a
place of residence but merely a temporary source for wealth.
 Slave Codes Punishment: The African population quickly came to outnumber whites. The
Caribbean promoted the enactment of slave codes to regulate the African Americans on the
British Plantations. This prohibited slaves from leaving plantation. If they revolted back they were
severely whipped or branded.
 Punishment: Suspend Slave from tree by a rope and tie iron weights around his or her neck
 Slave Revolts : Cruel punishment towards the African slaves only made them revolt. they
terrorized the whites which made Britain sign treaties with the maroons during the 1700s.
Conspiracies, uprising and revolts were happening everywhere.
 Seasoned Slaves: Time proved that slaves adjusted to climate, disease and food. Slaves were
regarded as seasoned within 3 or 4 years and were shipped out to other islands.

6. Slavery in Mainland Latin
America
 Mexico: Demand for slaves in mainland increased. More then 60,000 Africans
entered Mexico during the first century conquest. The Mexican market was a
veritable paradise for slave traders. At one point there was about 120,000 slaves.
 Central America: The number of slaves was never larger then 10,000 but the slaves
were a considerable source of trouble for the Spanish. The Guatemala City found it
impossible to subdue them so slaves became free and developed into substantial
citizens.
 South America: The largest concentration of blacks were in the viceroyalty of New
Granada. New Granada's ports became the largest slave markets in the New World
off the Caribbean.
 The Viceroyalty of Peru: Served as a market from which Andean planters and
herders purchased black workers, some arriving from Panama and others came
directly from Africa and around Cape Horn. They also had two currents converging
on Peru.
 Uruguay & Argentina: Large plantations of blacks lived here. There was about
seven African societies that lived there.
 Brazil: 44,000 Africans arrived annually here. Africans were largely responsible for
the increase in total population. Brazil had the largest percentage of slaves brought
to the new world.

7. Slave Societies in the
Americas
 The Catholic Church: Scholars argued for pivotal role of
Catholic Church in shaping the slaves experience in Latin
America. Priests insisted that slaves became baptized.
Reading was open and optional for them. Owners were
not permitted to work slaves on Sundays.
 Intermarriage: Choices for white men in South American
colonies were limited. Interracial marriage was frowned
upon greatly. Most of the time slaves could not get
married, it was not really an option. The consent by their
owner however, was the only way for a slave man and
women to share the equivalent of a marital relationship.

8. Works Cited
Franklin, John Hope, and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. From Slavery to Freedom. New
York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2010. Print.
Jiménez, Michael. "What Is Atlantic History." CPAS Newletter, 2001.
Web.<www.marcusrediker.com/Articles/what_is_atlantic_history.htm>.
Smithsonian Institution Libraries. "Web of Connections.” http://www.amhistory.si.edu/.
Smithsonian National Museum of American History, 2011. Web.