Preview

Slavery In The Aztecs

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1109 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Slavery In The Aztecs
This trade was known as the Triangular Trade. This roughly shaped path was very profitable for the merchants that sailed the seas gathering slaves, trading them, or obtaining other goods. Slavery itself was not forgein to Africans. They themselves also "owned slaves" in a sense. However, it was not in the same sense that the Europeans or Americans owned slaves and they did not treat their slaves as the Americans or Europeans had. Slavery existed in Africa before the arrival of European traders on the coast. In most sub-Saharan African societies wealth was measured in persons. A wealthy lineage or state had large numbers of dependent people. In exchange for a share of theirproduction and protection in times of famine or war, dependents provided …show more content…
The Aztecs had slavery in their culture ,however, it was much different than other cultures of the world. Slaves were treated more humanely. Their children were born free and they were able to escape slavery. There were some incidences when the person became a slave by their own decision. Their were others that were captured during war and became slaves in that way as well. Oddly, slaves could own other slaves in the Aztec culture. Even in the Greek culture slaves were own. It is thought that nearly every person ownedslaved unless they had very little money, nearly nothing. It was considered a needed part of life to have slaves. They were the laborers used for building things, farming, making such items that were used in everyday life and many more. The Greek wealthy often rotated slaves between each other. Many of the slaves were prisoners or war and were not allowed to vote. The privilege to vote was a show of status, saying they were citizens and free. This shows that it seems to be drilled into human history that there will always be some sort of slave or servitude. People of lesser wealth working for those who have great wealth. The standards may change and the way people obtain them have changed as well. However, it is a simple fact that slavery has been and it seems always will be apart of society. Thus, returning to the film Amistad. It reveals how horribly the slaves as a whole were treated. Many people wanted to abolish slavery but it there are just as many people who wanted to keep it. Those who had plantations or a great deal of slaves wanted to keep them. They were viewed as property, no better than livestock. In truth, it sometimes is shameful to be connected to the people in history who did such horrible things to other human beings. All in all the point is slavery is not good nor is it bad. The way those people are treated is what really is the issue. Being a slave one may not

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The development of slave trade begun in the mid 15th century , when Portuguese sailed down to the African coast in order to get spices and gold from there they started capturing slaves. Eventually the African…

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout history, slavery has been a vital asset to many cultures including Egypt, Rome, Greece, Portugal, and parts of Africa. Slaves were used as laborers; they were the reason sugar, tobacco, and cotton were such prominent products during the time period. Although slavery was common in ancient cultures, the most well known slave trade is the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Spanning for over four hundred years, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade robbed approximately thirteen million African people of a normal life with their families and communities.…

    • 1626 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Slavery has changed a lot since the Roman Empire, for example slavery was very normal almost everywhere in Rome in the Ancient Times but now it is only normal in very few…

    • 307 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Chapter 26 Essay

    • 1394 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Portuguese brought a few slaves home from Africa, but found that they were impractical for use in Europe with its small, family-based farms and town life. However, it soon was clear how slavery could be readily adopted in the Americas. Like the overwhelming majority of preindustrial societies, African kingdoms practiced slavery, and when Europeans offered to trade their goods for slaves, African traders accommodated them. As a general rule, African slave hunters would capture Africans, generally from other groups than their own, and transport them to trading posts along the coast for European ships to carry to the New World. However, despite the fact that slavery already existed in Africa, the Atlantic trade interacted with and transformed these earlier aspects of slavery. Before the Atlantic slave trade began, slavery took many forms in Africa, ranging from peasants trying to work off debts to those that were treated as "chattel," or property. The Atlantic trade emphasized the latter, and profits from the trade allowed slaveholders both in Africa and the Americas to intensify the level of exploitation of labor. African slaves were traded to two areas of the world: the Western Hemisphere and Islamic lands in the Middle East and India. Fewer slaves crossed the Sahara than the Atlantic, but the numbers were substantial. Whereas most slaves that…

    • 1394 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nearly every continent on earth has had slaves. Not long ago it was a huge threat to many people. It took away their freedom, their life, and their families. People were sold and traded like they were nothing. If the slaves tried to run away they would be hunted down until they were found. When they were caught there were very harsh punishments.…

    • 119 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slaves where considered property of another person (Slaves, n.d.). This means that the person does not chose to work for someone else. During Colonial America slaves were people that were either war prisoners or West Africans or Native Americans captured. They were used as labor for wealthy farmers so they did not have to hire people and would keep more of their money. In the New World they could not earn their freedom and where bound to slavery for life as well as their children and many generations…

    • 1700 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Slaves were free and able to own and/or rent their own property but wasn’t able to transform as individual contributors and owners to produce and establish a solid foundation for their families. Slaves didn’t have an efficient transformation that included the proper education education, resources, and available opportunities that would have solidified them becoming profitable.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Slavery existed in africa long before the arrival of europeans and was widespread at the period of economic contact. slaves were generally the unfortunate victims of territorial expansion. Slave trade in the europeans and over to the east side of north america like asia,africa,europe and china the slave trade was started long before it was brought to the americas. Some slaves ran away from their plantations most didn't make it but tried to, if they didn't make it they were brutally beaten. Many africans had been exposed to european diseases and had built up some immunity many africans had experience in farming and could be taught plantation work africans were less likely to escape because they didn't know their way around the new land their skin color made it easier to find them if they escaped and tried to live among others. Between 1500-1600 nearly 300 thousand africans were transported to the americas.during the 17th century more than 40 percent of all africans brought to the americas went to brazil. The indentures goods were there farming knowledge and some disease resistance the negatives are new disease and the assimilation and population. Natives the negatives are knowledge diseases grantland there were no…

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Today, there still exist several types of slavery. One type of slavery that exists is children and adults forced into agriculture, domestic work, and factories. Others are women to prostitution and early and forced marriages. One type of slavery that is very common, yet not considered slavery is bonded labour. Bonded labour is when one owes another a repayment for a loan. That person is forced to work for very little or no pay.…

    • 1053 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The history of slavery between the Spanish and the Aztec was well known. Each nation thought of the enslavement differently. The Aztec society was focused on producing good citizens who would contribute to the community. Each citizen had to live by the written laws that have been made by the Aztecs. In Tenochtitlan you could become a slave if you violate the law. Unlike slaves in Europe, the Aztec’s perspective of being a slave was not shameful, but simply viewed as bad luck. Despite their position in the society, the Aztecs established laws to protect the rights of the slaves, because of imperative work that they had performed. Slaves had the right to keep their property and even their own slaves. Nobles could be executed for beating a slave to death. The Aztec philosophy of slavery consisted of improving your mindset and developing your freedom which meant that slavery was not considered permanent. An Aztec slave could buy back their liberty by showing that they have been abused, run to the emperor’s palace, have children which were born free or get married to their commander in the higher level. After the discovery of the New World, Christian colonists decided to use slaves for labor and improvement of Spain. During their exploration, the Spanish converted many Indigenous people to Christianity and abolished their culture. A big population of the Indigenous people were used as slaves. More than 90 million of the Indigenous people died from diseases and the harsh work brought by the Spanish. To increase their income, Christian Spain also traded slaves with other nations. Zero respect was given from the Spanish to their slaves who could not earn back their freedom and faced death as the only choice of survival. By looking at how each of these nations managed the enslavement in their societies, it is hard to believe that the Spanish and the Aztec shared any similarities about it.…

    • 1533 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Paper

    • 1959 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The Atlantic slave trade began with the exploration of the English to the New World in the 17th century. “ Textiles, beads, firearms and metal ware were shipped to West Africa and bartered or sold for Africans drawn from various tribes in the interior” (Morgan, 2000). Merchants would invest money in these items for a long voyage across the Atlantic in exchange for slaves. The slaves coming from Africa were placed on ships, often packed into the ships tightly, chained down and were exploited in human trafficking. Slaves were often at risks of catching many diseases and some of them died on the ships while sailing through the Atlantic. In Africa, people were taxed rather then land and as a result of this slavery and slave…

    • 1959 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Slavery took place in Colonial America in a complicated way. Around 1960 historians describe slavery in certain in a way, which leads them to think that there is differences between Whites and Blacks when it comes to intelligence, civilization, morality or physical capacity. All of the sudden White starting to think they should be the leader of people from Africa. They think that people from Africa should be the one doing all the hard work. Then the Civil right movement began in the 20th century, which lead historians to rethink about race and also, that African are just as smart and capable of doing the things that White people are capable of doing. Slavery then became racial slowly in colonial America, which means slavery were force labor and was not dealt with race. The thing is not all forced laborers were black and to be black did not mean they were enslaved. Most of the Africans in America were enslaved. From early moments in the history of slave traders came to Jamestown around 1690 and in Massachusetts by 1630. Slavery began to grow slowly from east to west until after the American Revolution, slavery was not well know in the south at this time. Many of the men In Jamestown was indentured servants they were brought to America to work without pay under a rich white person for many years before they could become free. Indentured was over used during this time before slavery became well known. So for example the African that were brought to Jamestown in 1619 were not brought to be slave they were brought to be indentured servants. Some Africans were enslaved but they all had the same status as White indentured servants. White and black indentured servants were not treated very well. Just like African slaves, white servants received the same treatment. This typical labor lasted for several years for white and black. Most of them started to run away. They used to pay people back then to find slaves that ran away. Most slaves started to see each other as equals…

    • 1972 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Slavery has existed in Africa since some of it’s earliest times of civilization. It’s believed that the origins of slavery started when Egyptians came to neighboring communities to buy slaves to bring back with them for work. The roles and duties slaves had depended on their genders. Women were more likely to get sold into slavery to perform household chores, spin and dye cotton, and sometimes be shown off to let everyone know of a man’s wealth. Men would usually work outside either farming, doing repairs, or building things. In later years, when European countries came into the slave trade, slaves from Africa could be bought with a trade of goods of clothing, food, firearms, and even liquor. Though, by the 18th century, most slaves were obtained…

    • 184 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slavery has always been a major part of history. Slavery predates written records. There has been slavery in all of the major civilizations such as Rome, Greece, and United Kingdom. Slavery can still be found in some parts of the world such as South America.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Slavery in Mexico

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Slavery in Mexico was just as brutal as slavery in any other region, if not worse. Slaves were tortured especially and psychologically. The abuse was constant and resisting oppression would…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays