The New York Historical Society (n.d.) states, “historically New York has been considered the capital of American liberty, hosting monuments devoted to freedom and promoting economic ambition as well as diversity; however, it is also, paradoxically, the capital of American slavery.” Slavery in New York started in the 1600s when the Dutch West India Company brought African slaves to what is today New York (GSA, n.d.). During the 17th and 18th-century, slavery was considered an investment and according to the New York Historical Society (n.d.), “almost every businessman in the 18th-century had a stake in the traffic of human beings.” Slaves improved the economy, they produced sugar, tobacco, indigo, coffee, chocolate, and cotton, which permitted
Why were Africans chosen by the Europeans to be enslaved? Initially Europeans tried enslaving Native Americans, but due to their weak immune systems Native Americans could not fight off Old –World diseases such as smallpox
United States in the 1540’s in search of gold and other treasures. As the conquistadores traveled they came in contact with a few different Native American groups. They tried hard to convert these new people to Roman Catholicism, which was the Spanish religion. In the 1680’s the
The Columbian Exchange (also known as The Great Exchange) was the exchange of numerous foods, animals, cultures, and even technology; having the biggest impact on the whole country. Native Americans and African Americans experienced a majority of the negatives of the exchange, while the Europeans started a new life. Establishing ownership of land and people, causing poverty over time. Also having a dramatic effect on the population as the two worlds began to collide. Like so, the Columbian exchange shaped and formed the society we have today.
The use of slaves has always been present in the world since the beginning of civilization, although the use and treatment of those slaves has differed widely through time and geographic location. Different geographies call for different types of work ranging from labor-intensive sugar cultivation and production in the tropics to household help in less agriculturally intensive areas. In addition to time and space, the mindsets and beliefs of the people in those areas affect how the slaves will be treated and how “human” those slaves will be perceived to be. In the Early Modern Era, the two main locations where slaves were used most extensively were the European dominated Americas and the Muslim Empires. The American slavery system and the
Furthermore, disease also influenced the African Slave Trade to the Americas. With Africans being immune to Old World diseases other than the Native Americans, many Europeans preferred the African as the better slave. ”(The Great Disease Migration) Looking in the past at the discovery of the Americas during Columbus Day, most people forget the hardships the Native Americans faced. For years, many protesters have argued to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.
“Then there was great destruction of American Indians by war, disease, and killing work, and the importation of [African Slaves] into Spanish America was begun in order to fill the void in the labor market,” (Columbus, Document 5). This quote explains that Native Americans were dying from diseases, wars, and killing work that Europeans had to start buying slaves from Africa just to do the work of the dead Native Americans. Moreover, Native Americans did get sick, but the diseases weren’t as bad as the ones in Europe. A drastic population decrease happened from diseases which resulted in a small amount of Native Americans left. For one reason, it was common for rodents to get on ships and getting to the new land, and rodents can carry diseases.
Because they were too weak it often resulted in them being abused worse because they weren’t doing exactly what the Europeans wanted to even though they physically could not. They were beaten and chained together. In document 8 it says the slaves were cut, mangled, and all together treated with no respect. There was no respect for their lives and they were treated like animals. They were burned with an imprint to make it known that they were owned.
The rest arrived alive in Spain and were put up for sale by a local church official. Columbus, who was full of religious talk, later wrote, "Let us in the name of Holy Trinity go on sending all of the slaves that can be sold. Columbus and the Spaniards had shattered the Natives way of
Despite the different outcomes they were trying to reach, both held a common truth: natives and African slaves were both lesser than Europeans,
Freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. The foundation of America is freedom. Freedom from Britain. However, the freedom is limited to white males who own property. When colonists started to immigrate to America, they wanted to escape from under the rule of Britain.
It is estimated that approximately 95% of pre-Columbus Native Americans were killed by European diseases. Since the outbreak of the diseases spread because of the European colonization, it made conquering the Americas much easier. Health was definitely the most detrimental obstacle that the Native Americans had to face as a result of the European
Slavery was different for America then it was for the rest of the world. For the rest of the world, it wasn’t a race thing they just enslaved the people that they had conquered. They did not care what the color of their skin was it was just about the need for labor. In the article “New of New World Slavery” it explains how slavery was different in America than in Europe. “Slavery in the classical and the early medieval worlds was not based on racial distinctions”.
The slaves were all from Africa and were brought through the Atlantic slave trade. These slaves were mostly acquired through slave raids, which were becoming more and more frequent and penetrated farther inland as demand for slaves increased. The captured people were from different groups than the hunters’ own. They were then sold to the Europeans and the majority of them were shipped to the Americas. The African slave traders in exchange, received firearms and gunpowder, tobacco and alcohol, and European and Indian
Only three percent of the international slave trade arrived in the new colonies. Many African was sold into slavery because their family owed a debt and they had no other means to pay for it. Sometimes an individual voluntarily enter into a service contract, so they can pay off debt. Furthermore the individual would work for a specified period then eventually gain their freedom. When the first Africans slaves came to the new colonies they operated under a similar arrangement.
