Summary Of A Strange New Land

Strange New Land The time period and events of when slavery took place is a topic that is frequently and heavily covered in United States history. Peter Wood’s book, A Strange New Land gives an intrinsic synopsis of slavery from the very beginning of slavery in the Americas dating 1492 all the way through the start of the American Revolution in 1775. Wood reveals insight into the excruciating lives and the daily challenges slaves in the Americas endured. Wood begins with a preface that speaks of an African American graveyard. Wood’s brings up the graveyard to make his reader’s acknowledge slavery was very real here in the United States, and the people who were enslaved were from all different background and were in fact intrinsic and unique

Gomez suffered under the harsh ruling of Vasco Goncalez and would escape to live amongst the natives. Many other Africans would follow in Gomez’s footsteps were they lucky enough to have the opportunity to escape. Esteban was an African slave who had the opportunity to be somewhat of a leader of Native American slaves. He was a leader in the search for Cibola, or the “city of gold.” Esteban was met with resistance when he did eventually find a town he believed was the city he was searching for. The resistance he encountered would be fatal for Esteban and many of his group members. Esteban’s significance is that many other Spanish explorers used Africans in their conquest to discover new land. One can see from the story of Esteban, initially African slaves were often servants or soldiers for the Spanish army. In the beginning slaves did not work solely on plantations. Their roles would evolve as the society and economy in America

The Middle Passage was a horrific voyage from Africa to the Americas that slaves endured. While aboard the overcrowded, disease filled ships the slaves suffered unimaginable horrors. The suffering was not limited to physical pain only. These people were essentially kidnapped from their homeland. They did not know or recognize the people who were taking them. The captives certainly did not know where they were sailing to or what they would face when they arrived. The language their takers spoke was different. The Africans aboard the ship with them were from different regions and tribes, so they did not speak the same languages either. Wood reveals these horrors by stating, “Their current location, future destination, and ultimate fate a mystery” (41). Wood tells how attempts at uprisings were essentially suicidal, so most slaves relied solely on their faith in hopes of being saved from their horrific