Christopher Columbus: The Growth Of Slavery

The native populations suffered incredibly by the Europeans colonization, because of the purposeful mistreatment they put on them. For instance, a Spanish reporter for the government, wrote to his king in 1516 about the behavior his expedition put on the natives. He stated how the native populations had to ender limbs being cut off, and being eaten alive by dogs (Document 1). This is purposeful mistreatment because hearing the natives cry in agony, and watch in terror as their friends and family die in front of them, was not necessary. This could have been easily avoided if the Spanish weren’t so brutal. Secondly, Father Bartolomé de Las Casas, who was an energetic activist who aimed to protect the natives by writing a book in 1542. His book said that the native populations were kidnapped, abused and later killed. If the Spanish did not kill them directly, the natives would end up killing themselves because the brutal treatment was not worth living (Document 8). The consequences of this include a native population decrease, and suicidal tendencies on the natives. This

The letter Christopher Columbus wrote back to Spain to report his findings in the New World sparked intrigued me and sparked my imagination. Why I have been so absorbed in this letter I can not explain. This letter is supposed to be about describing an unknown land, a land that has not been seen by anyone besides the natives, but it seems that there is more to it than that. Columbus is known in elementary schools as the man who found the New World, and is regarded as a hero. To the contrary, historians who have done more research on Columbus say that he was driven by fame and fortune and that he was tyrannical in his ways with the indigenous peoples of the places that he came to find. I feel that the contradictory tones Columbus uses

Columbus never even walked on what we now call the United States of America. Where ever he did land, he was motivated only by his own greed. Columbus came for the gold, spices, and slaves. In his diary, he mentioned gold 75 times just in the first two weeks, alone (Katz 13). Indians who weren’t able to find gold, were punished by having their hands cut off. Most slaves died en route to Spain. Many Indian females were taken as sex slaves, some as young as nine and ten years old. Columbus forced cooperation from the Indians by disfiguring them and using them as examples. Even worse, he used hunting dogs to tear the Indians apart. Many natives committed suicide, and murdered their own children to save them from such a horrible life. Those who survived the voyage were worked to death. Still, another huge portion of these Indians died from disease brought over by Columbus and his

The origins and development of slavery in Britain’s North American colonies during the colonial period can be traced down to the fact that North American colonies were created for the economic profit of Great Britain. Reasons for the development of slavery in the North American colonies can be the switch to slavery from indentured servitude due to the desire of free labor and the results of Bacon’s rebellion, the introduction of cash crops such as sugar and tobacco and the introduction of the plantation system, and the easy access of slaves due to the triangular trade and the middle passage.

All my life, I have been hearing about Christopher Columbus. Since little, first, my family talking about him, then in school learning about him. I really thought he was a hero. The way they teach you about him in grammar school or middle school makes you think he really is a hero. But later on, doing research on him, looking for what he really did, where did he came from etc. I realize that he is not a hero. There are many reasons why people think he is good as well there are many reasons why they think he is bad. Personally I think Columbus is a villain, he did a lot of bad things that most people don’t know a bout. However if they know them, it would make them think a little bit deeper if Columbus is the Hero

It is no secret that the Native Americans were treated unfairly. They were enslaved and forced to do horrid, dangerous tasks. Casas states how harshly the Indians were treated. One example being the dangers act of pearl diving. This was such a brutal task that Indians were forced to perform by the Spaniards. Pearl diving was known for its danger and severity. When fishing for pearls, the Indians were forced to stay underwater for extended amounts of time. Sometimes they were underwater for as long as hours at a time. Pearl divers typically did not survive long do you to the waters being so cold. They would go into hypothermia which made their lungs tighten. This caused them to cough up blood or cause them to have severe diarrhea which made them dehydrated and leading to death. The Spaniards basically murder the Indians in order to acquire these precious

From as early as the time of the early European settlers, Native Americans have suffered tremendously. Native Americans during the time of the early settlers where treated very badly. Europeans did what they wanted with the Native Americans, and when a group of Native Americans would stand up for themselves, the European would quickly put them down. The Native Americans bow and arrows where no match for the Europeans guns and cannon balls. When the Europeans guns didn’t work for the Europeans, the disease they bought killed the Native Americans even more effectively.

When the Europeans arrived in the Americas they were looking for riches, spices, and new trade routes to India. When they found this new world and the Native Americans that lived there, they deliberately mistreated them. Looked at as obstructions, the Natives were driven from their land and homes and pushed west. Europeans that encountered the Native Americans had different ideas about them depending on their political and religious beliefs but none were positive. Those ideas ranged from pity for them as non-Christians to be converted (Doc. A2) and treated as children to a lower status of human to be taken advantage of for profits. The Natives were forced to mine precious metals, and farm sugar cane and tobacco. They were not viewed or treated as equal persons. They were considered part of the wild land to be conquered, enslaved, killed, and beaten into cooperation.

Everyone has their own understanding of what slavery is, but there are misconceptions about the history of “slavery”. Not many people understand how the slave trade initially began. Originally Africa had “slaves” but they were servants or serfs, sometimes these people could be part of the master’s family. They could own land, rise to positions of power, and even purchase their freedom. This changed when white captains came to Africa and offered weapons, rum, and manufactured goods for people. African kings and merchants gave away the criminals, debtors, and prisoner from rival tribes. The demand for cheap labor was increasing, this resulted in the forced migration of over ten million slaves. The Atlantic Slave Trade occurred from 1500 to 1880 CE. This large-scale event changed the economy and histories of many places. The Atlantic Slave Trade held a great amount of significance in the development of America. Africans shaped America by building a solid foundation for the country.

The issue of slavery has been in infamous part of American history since it first started in the 1600’s in Jamestown, Virginia. During the colonial era, white male landowners needed help on their land taking care of crops, so they would purchase the African slaves after they arrived by boat and have them work the land as well as other tasks that needed to be done such as tending to

“They were traumatized with several diseases (like chickenpox and measles, which were brought, by the settlers)”(Document-Impact of colonization on Native Americans). The natives bodies had never met these diseases before so they couldn’t fight off the illness, just Smallpox alone killed 24 million natives(Impact of Colonization on Native Americans”-Document). The Europeans later enslaved the natives to work on the farms or just to be a servant. Harsh treatment also contributed to the death of many Native Americans. There were many missions that were set up that were trying to convert native Americans over to Catholicism, but when the natives kept practicing their own religion they would get punished such as being whipped and harshly treated(DN-Life in the colonies).

The two majors drivers that led to the transatlantic slave trade was the European desire for the agricultural products of the Americas and the need for laborers to work the land in the Americas. All participants, besides for the slaves, benefited from the trading.

The changes in African life during the slave trade era form an important element in the economic and technological development of Africa. Although the Atlantic slave trade had a negative effect on both the economy and technology, it is important to understand that slavery was not a new concept to Africa. In fact, internal slavery existed in Africa for many years. Slaves included war captives, the kidnapped, adulterers, and other criminals and outcasts. However, the number of persons held in slavery in Africa, was very small, since no economic or social system had developed for exploiting them (Manning 97). The new system-Atlantic slave trade-became quite different from the early African slavery. The

The Native Americans were one of the most affected cultures during the Age of Exploration due to introduction to new European disease, which led up to the mother countries to conquer the already weakened Natives, causing the Native Americans to be enslaved under these mother countries, which finally led to the influence of Christianity on these enslaved slaves by their masters. In 1518, around the same time Europeans arrived in the Americas, the population of Native Americans was an estimated twenty-five million. In just 75 years after the arrival of Europeans, the population dropped to less than 2.5 million (Doc 4). This decrease in population was caused primarily by the Native Americans coming into contact with diseases they weren’t immune to from Europe. According to Doc 3, “We were covered in agonizing sores from head to toe...no one could move or walk...many others died of hunger”

     Between the 15 century to the 18 century slavery was very much and economic institution. The Cost factor in those times was very expensive to buy slaves from Africa. This played an important role on the upkeep and how those slaves were treated. There were free blacks who owned slaves of their own. The slaves that were bought were already slaves from the African kingdom. The slaves in the Americas had no rights over themselves and their children had no social status. Slaves who worked on the Hacienda large farms had to produced surplus for regional market places. They overseen by the Haciendado a person who ran the farm. Slavery was not partial to only Africans and Indians but at a later time Asian and Europeans too. The Indians laboring cleaning the silver oar lives were at stake from being poisoned from the mercury used to clean the silver oar.