The Role Of Slavery In Colonial America

The amount of slaves that one owns can correlate with one’s wealth. Those who were captive had to endure endless abuse. Some were lucky to come under the protection of the church, but those who were not ended up being worked to death. The treatment of slaves was different between countries. One thing is certain: that many of the slaves were kidnapped and torn apart from their families. The Spaniards began their colonization around 1492. The most famous exploration was Christopher Columbus’. He was attempting to find a direct route to India by going westward. Instead of finding India, he landed in the Caribbeans. He opened up the horizons for the likes of Pizarro and Cortes to come into the Americas and begin conquest. They used the
The English murdered and kicked out almost all of the natives. They had wars with one another leading to an uneasy relationship. Due to Bacon’s Rebellion, the colonials of Virginia and Maryland began to use slaves over white indentured servants. They used African slaves primarily for the cotton and tobacco fields of Virginia. Unlike slavery in Africa, those who were in Chesapeake they were enslaved for life. They primarily used African slaves due to many reasons. They were immune to most diseases, had no friends or families in the new lands, were cheap labor and had worked previously on farms in Africa. The leader of the North American colonies, John Smith believed the Natives should be treated as the Spanish previously treated them,and when things did not go his way then force was used. Raids were made which the Natives did in turn. The marriage of Pocahontas and Rolfe helped to better relations for some time. The death of Pocahontas and her father, Powhatan didn't help either, and Powhatan's brother attacked in 1622 and massacred many of the colonists. The use of chains were not uncommon in the North American colonies. The colonist of North America were mainly concerned with labor and production. They had quotas to meet and needed the land and slaves in order to accomplish
They were more concerned with trade and barely bothered the natives in North America. The beaver population suffered at the hands of the French due to its fur’s popularity among the Europeans. The French would usually marry one of the people of the native tribes in order to cement their ties. The French acknowledged that there were many things that the Natives knew better than they did. They treated the natives as equal partners to help bolster trade. They learned from the native instead of forcing new religions and languages on them. They expected temporary settlement instead of permanent which led to a softer more understanding approach than that of the English and Spanish