Exploration to the New World led to greedy rulers wanting more. There were many new resources and opportunities to make money; for example tobacco, sugar, and even minerals. Because of the demand for these crops, the Europeans needed someone to do the work. With the Native American population drastically declining, the Europeans had to find another source of labor so they turned to the African Americans. This began the slave trade where millions of slaves were taken from Africa to other areas as a source of income. The absence of humanitarian concerns greatly influenced the treatment of these slaves. The slaves were treated horribly due to the laziness, the greediness, and the uncaringness of the Europeans. The Europeans were lazy in …show more content…
They needed so many slaves to do all of the work required to meet the demands. The Slave Ship the Brookes is a picture of what a slave ship looked like- how the slaves were packed into the ship (Document 5). The need to make money drove the Europeans to the extreme when putting the slaves on the boats. The Europeans had such a high demand for slaves, they packed them in by the hundreds to sell them to those overseas. It did not matter that some died along the way; all that mattered to the Europeans was that they made money of off the sale and work of the slaves. James Ramsay wrote in the Essay on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies that “In the place of decency, sympathy, morality, and religion; slavery produces cruelty and oppression” (Document 7). This quote describes how the slaves were treated. For something as small as not working or eating the sugar sane, the slaves were brutally punished. This was because of the greediness of the Europeans. They wanted the maximum yields and work from each slave, not slacking and eating their products. When it came to purchasing the slaves, the Europeans were very stingy. Some slaves were purchased for as little as “Five or six dollars a head” (Document 10). The Europeans strong desire for money was a cause behind them abusing the slaves during the slave …show more content…
Both groups of people were forced to work for whoever took them, without pay and little food to eat. Like the slaves on the ships, the Jewish people were packed into rooms to sleep. During the slave trade, countries and owners would brand their slaves with a certain mark. This was done so to distinguish who a slave belonged to. This is similar to how the Jewish people in the Holocaust were tattooed with a certain number. The number was basically the “name” of that person; it was how they told who was who. Other similarities include the harsh and unusual punishments of the two groups of people. While the Jewish were killed in awful ways, both groups could be beaten to death for even the smallest of “crimes.” Both the slaves during the slave trade and the Jews in the Holocaust were treated horribly by those who captured