•Slavery was practiced since the beginning of documented history.

•Spanish people used slaves to work on sugar plantations.

•Spanish and Portuguese expanded African slavery into Central and South American after enslaved Indians died

of disease and mistreatment.•1619: the first recorded introduction

of African slaves into Jamestown•Only 20 slaves were purchased

Slaves captured in Africa

Slaves aboard ship—Middle Passage

Slavery in the Americas

SLAVE TRADECaptured Africans forced to exist in crowded conditions

• 7 to 10 million slaves brought to Americas.

• 10-20% died on ships (sickness)

• “The(y) are so wilful and loth (unwilling) to leave their own country, that they often leaped out of the canoes, boats, and ship, into the sea and kept under water till they drowned, to avoid being taken up.”

• Q: Why did they risk death by jumping out of the ship?

Growth of SlaveryAfrican to Americas, 1451-1810

• Brazil – 2,501,400• English Colonies – 2,013000• French Colonies – 1,600,000• Spanish Colonies – 945,600• Dutch Colonies – 500,000

• 348,000 – in North Africa• 1,665,000 in English colonies

in Caribbean islands

African Slaves in English Colonies

• Most of slaves came to Virginia from the Caribbean as field hands to plant, tend, and harvest tobacco.

• Increasingly used for tobacco, cotton, rice and indigo (blue dye) down South

This is called the Middle Passage

Indentured ServantsIndentured servants became the first means to meet this need for

labor. In return for free passage to

Virginia, a laborer worked for four to five years in the fields before

being granted freedom. The Crown rewarded planters with

50 acres of land for every inhabitant they brought to the New

World.

1607-1700Plantation owners were given 50 acres for

every indentured servant they sponsored to come to America.

ContractContract: Served plantation owner for 7 years as a laborer in return for passage to America.

Once servant completed his contract, he/she was freed….They were given land, tools, seed and animals. However, they did not receive voting rights.

What factors led to the introduction of African slaveryAfrican slavery replacing

indentured servitudeindentured servitude as the labor force in the American Colonies?

It proved more profitable for landowners to use slaves than to use indentured servants.

Most indentured servants worked for a few years than gained their freedom.