Slavery In The British Colonies Essay

Slavery in the British Colonies During the 1600s and 1700s, slavery was being immersed into life in the British colonies. The economy was greatly supported by and even thrived because of the growth of slavery in the early colonial economy. The geographic location of the colonies (which effected the crops that grew in each region), social factors (such as religion and overall acceptance into society), and economic factors contributed greatly to the success of slavery and furthermore the economy of the early British colonies. Slavery was first brought to the Americas by the Portuguese in the late 1400s. The Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494 divided the New World between Spain and Portugal. In this treaty, Portugal was given the land of what would …show more content…
Over time, the Portuguese set up trading posts along the western African coast for trading goods and slaves. This became a crucial part of the early success of the colonial American economy. Spanish also actively participated in the spread of slavery though the Americas. The Spanish attempted to use Indians as slaves but they soon died of disease so they decided to buy African slaves instead. They put these slaves to work in the Caribbean colonies. Africans made ideal workers because they had a genetic immunity to many of the European diseases. This meant, unlike the Indians, they would not die from disease upon first contact with Europeans. The Caribbean was one of the main encouraging regions in terms of slavery. The support of this came from the success it brought to the Caribbean colonies. Geographically, the Caribbean was ideally located for slavery. In comparison to the North American colonies, the islands were much closer to Africa, and therefore the root of slave exports. This made accessing the slaves much easier. Being the middle leg of the triangular trade, the islands played a …show more content…
In this region, slaves were increasingly being used to harvest and process the tobacco crops in the late 1600s. These crops, however, were much easier to process than the sugar of the Caribbean and could often be done by the planter. On large farms few slaves may have been used to expedite and simplify the treating of tobacco, however, the majority of workers on tobacco farms were indentured servants because of the cheaper cost to own a servant than a slave with the same benefits of free labor. This helped support the economy because tobacco was in high demand and best produced by the Chesapeake. It was the region’s main source of income due to