Slavery In Latin America
Slavery in the Americas was quite diverse. Mining operations in the tropics experienced
different needs and suffered different challenges than did plantations in more temperate areas of
Norther Brazil or costal city’s serving as ports for the exporting of commodities produced on the
backs of the enslaved peoples from the African continent. This essay will look at these different
situations and explore the factors that determined the treatment of slaves, the consequences of
that treatment, and the conditions that lead to resistance by the slaves working in their various
capacities.
After the initial conquest of Mexico and South America it was time to develop the
economy and export the resources that would benefit the monarchy back home in Spain and
Portugal. Silver and Gold were two such commodities. Silver mines in Northern Mexico were
supervised by blacks who directed the Indians in the arduous task of extracting the precious
metal. Gold in Central Mexico was also mined by blacks. The Gold mining regions were hot,
tropical, isolated areas of the jungle. The regions were sparsely populated and it was difficult to
keep the locals as a work force. The introduction of disease in the tropics made these areas
death zones to the indigenous people as they had no resistance to the virulent plagues. There was
a need to get cheap or free labor that would be capable of resisting the disease and who would be
easier to dominate than the locals who could run off and establish themselves elsewhere
relatively easily. The natural answer was to obtain slaves from the African continent. The slave
trade was already in operation on the African continent. Coastal cities there often enslaved
inland peoples so it was not difficult to obtain the stock and export them to the Americas.
Slaves in the mining regions were subject to harsh, isolated conditions. There were few
females and little or no community amongst the slaves. Some of the workers did have access to
money and as a result could negotiate there freedom for a price. In 1732 1/3 of the African
population of Choco was free as a result. Less fortunate slaves who found the conditions
unbearable fled to even more isolated areas of the back country to survive on their own or in
small colonies.
The Sugar plantations of Northern Brazil were a major c...
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...so manumission possibilities increased.
Slaves isolated from family life and culture working in miserable conditions were often flight
risks as they had no real options and the terrain lent to good hiding. There were also no whites
around to hire as cheap labor to search them out and return them. Mulatto and Criollo slaves
were higher on the socioeconomic ladder than the Bozal and were therefore less likely to resist
as they were a step away from freedom which meant they would not consider fleeing as good an
option as remaining in the social circle and family they had established.
Slavery under any conditions is not the optimum existence for human beings. It is a fact
that human nature seeks to dominate. Greed and money are often at the root of such efforts. The
Israelites, the Irish, the Africans, and enumerable other groups have heritage that includes a
period of slavery or of enslaving or both. African Cimarron communities even enslaved other
African fleeing the plantations. It is not rooted in race as much as it is rooted in human nature.
The preceding essay is just a synopsis of how it functioned for African’s in certain regions
during a space in history.
Servitude is a usual part of African ritual. Tribes would often use trade to obtain slaves by going to the head chief and trading for livestock. Not only did various tribes trade with the people of their countries, but with the Europeans of other nationalities as well. There were times that tribes would go to war and keep chiefs and prisoners of war were kept as slaves, to trade with European countries. Many times slaves were sold due to being punished, or to rape and other various crimes. Some were also forced into life of captivity. It was common for young individuals to be kidnapped and taken to a home of a common family to work and serve them. Many owners would treat their slaves fairly. The masters would own a piece of property and have an apartment for their own personal family along with a home for the enslaved family. Equiano talks about how many slaves owned their own slaves in some cases. If a family was wealthy enough, they would accommodate their property, meaning the slaves. They were a part of the owner’s family and were as brutally treated comparing to slaves of the Colonial U.S.
the land and yet it had such a weak economy and could use the money
did not depend upon slavery. They had no slaves, no need for slaves, and saw
To understand the desperation of wanting to obtain freedom at any cost, it is necessary to take a look into what the conditions and lives were like of slaves. It is no secret that African-American slaves received cruel and inhumane treatment. Although she wrote of the horrific afflictions experienced by slaves, Linda Brent said, “No pen can give adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery." The life of a slave was never a satisfactory one, but it all depended on the plantation that one lived on and the mast...
Plagues and Peoples. By William H. McNeill. (New York: Anchor Books: A division of Random House, Inc., 1976 and Preface 1998. Pp. 7 + 365. Acknowledgements, preface, map, appendix, notes, index.)
The introduction of Old World diseases was a substantial catalyst in the building of American colonial societies. Diseases such as smallpox devastated the native people’s populations. According to one estimate, within the span of the 16th century, the native population of central Mexico was reduced to about 700,000 from at least 13 million. (The Earth and Its Peoples, 475) Other regions were similarly affected by the disease and others such as measles, typhus, influenza, and malaria. These diseases, in effect, cleared the way for European settlers, although, in a somewhat gruesome fashion.
ways of technology to survive in there environment. They used many different farming tools in
see and feel what the Indians had to go through. Much of the literature they had
So, why did slavery happen? The roots of slavery, more than likely, will stem from trying to
route for them. Their very first task was the escaping from their actual slaveholder. For several
...s. These lands were “usually in less desirable locations and discouraged any successful transition to agriculture”.24
territory, such as plants and even animals. According to Calloway some of the food items brought from
that had many living species. The people of the island used the natural resources like the trees for
Throughout history, Africa has been a vulnerable player in the eyes of the rest of the world. From the slave trade to various civil right injustices that have taken place over in every century, from what we have studied in this class, we have been able to see the lasting impact on the continent as a ramification of certain events occurring. Using various sources from the text, which serve as evidence, and help prove how the western world exercised its power in order to capitalize on the African continent and exploit the African people and land.
seasons and crop rotation, in order to secure work they had to reserve land with