Slavery in the South of America

 

Slavery in America started  long ago. This practice appeared with the Spanish and Portuguese people when they needed laborers in their plantations in the new found land America. And this continued with other European explorers and conquistadors. Africans were traded to the new found land America to become slaves. The enslaved people lived harsh life and in an extreme poverty.

 

By the fifteen hundreds, Spain and Portugal had American colonies. They forced the native Indians to work in large farms and mines in the colonies. Most of the Indians died from European diseases such as smallpox and influenza, to which Indians had no natural immunity. So the Spanish and Portuguese began to bring people from west Africa as slaves. France, Britain and the Netherlands did the same in their American Colonies.

 

At that time, the Africans had been captured by enemy tribesmen and sold to African slave traders. The New England boat captains would buy as many as they could put on their ships. The conditions on these ships were severe. The Africans were crowded together and forced to travel in small areas where they hardly could move. Some were kept in chains. Many killed themselves rather than live under such conditions. On the other hand, others died of health disorders they caught on the ship. Yet many did survive the trip, and become slaves in the southern colonies, or in the Caribbean islands. Black slaves were needed to work on plantations.

 

For their life, many slaves lived on large farms called plantations. These plantations produced important crops traded by the colony, crops such as cotton and tobacco. Enslaved people worked in the fields, each day from the time of the sun rose until it set; they lived in extreme poverty in small houses with no heat or furniture. In addition, laws approved in the southern colonies made it illegal for slaves to marry, own property, or earn their freedom these laws also barred slaves  from receiving an education, or even learning to read. Enslaved people lived harsh life.

 

To sum up, slavery started long ago, around the fifteen hundreds. Europeans, such as Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French.. had American colonies, and owned large plantations where laborers were needed to work in . This need led to seek for labor and the  appearance of Slavery.