During this time in Europe, many leaders were looking to find another way to the East Indies through the Atlantic ocean as a way to take over the spice trade. Early in the Age of Exploration, the Portuguese dominated most of the sea routes and were beginning to colonize Africa. They then started to capture slaves for relatively free labor, then set up deals with African slave traders so that they were trading European products for the slaves. These slaves were used in the sugar plantations that had been created by the Arabs, which were taken over by the European forces during the Crusades in the 1200s. Many people didn’t agree with slavery in the beginning due to religion and their morals, before influential people like the kings and priests
