Slavery in Latin America

 Slavery in the Americas was quite diverse. Mining operations in the tropics experienced
different needs and suffered different challenges than did plantations in more temperate areas of
Norther Brazil or costal city's serving as ports for the exporting of commodities produced on the
backs of the enslaved peoples from the African continent. This essay will look at these different
situations and explore the factors that determined the treatment of slaves, the consequences of
that treatment, and the conditions that lead to resistance by the slaves working in their various
capacities.  
After the initial conquest of Mexico and South America it was time to develop the
economy and export the resources that would benefit the monarchy back home in Spain and
Portugal.   Silver and Gold were two such commodities.   Silver mines in Northern Mexico were
supervised by blacks who directed the Indians in the arduous task of extracting the precious
metal. Gold in Central Mexico was also mined by blacks. The Gold mining regions were hot,
tropical, isolated areas of the jungle. The regions   were sparsely populated and it was difficult to
keep the locals as a work force.   The introduction of disease in the tropics made these areas
death zones to the indigenous people as they had no resistance to the virulent plagues. There was
a need to get cheap or free labor that would be capable of resisting the disease and who would be
easier to dominate than the locals who could run off and establish themselves elsewhere
relatively easily.   The natural answer was to obtain slaves from the African continent. The slave
trade was already in operation on the African continent. Coastal cities there often enslaved
inland peoples so it was not difficult to obtain the stock and export them to the Americas.
Slaves in the mining regions were subject to harsh, isolated conditions.   There were few
females and little or no community amongst the slaves.   Some of the workers did... [continues]

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