Pacific World Barbaric

Despite differences in economics, social institutions, and politics, these modern-day countries are united under the common theme that Europeans, the spanish and portuguese in particular, enslaved and killed millions of natives and imposed their culture upon the remaining native peoples and the newly-introduced African slaves.

European colonization of the Americas should be remembered as a tragedy for the impractical and immoral acts upon Native Americans and slave laborers. The European colonization of the Americas was a series of atrocities committed upon underdeveloped territory by settlers throughout the Americas. Many European countries took part in the advantages of the land to increase economic trade and newly found resources. However, the net result of this colonization for the indigenous who already inhabited these lands was the exploitation of Native Americans and Slaves through forced labor, Christian ideals being forced upon those certainly from different beliefs, and the general theft of land and natural resources.

One thing being disease, such as malaria. Christopher Columbus introduced the “Columbian Exchange”, an exchange of pathogens, causing 90% of people to die off. The Portuguese captured many Tupi Indians and either killed them off or they died of the flu. Since the native people had never been exposed to disease before, they would die off quickly once exposed. When they began digging for gold and silver in North America, they needed people to do the work for them. They could not enslave the indigenous people anymore since they had mostly died off, so they brought over 9 million African American slaves who had already been exposed to disease and had a likely chance of surviving. The Portuguese also used slaves to produce sugar. There were 4-5 million slaves brought to Brazil over a span of about 200 years. Many Portuguese men mated with the slaves, and this is the reason that Brazil’s population is so diverse today. There was such a demand for slaves that they become a major part of trade. The Europeans were trading slaves as well as trading fish, grain, and cheap textiles to feed and clothe the slaves. The reason for this is that the slaves mainly produced sugar, cotton and tobacco, not their own food or textiles. This concept is termed “peculiar

Though they needed the laborers for their resources, the indigenous people and imported slaves that worked for them were dehumanized and mistreated for the colonist’s greed.

As Tindall and Shi put it, “ tribal cohesion and cultural life disintegrated, and efforts to resist European assaults collapsed” (15). The Spanish and Portuguese immediately began to enslave the surviving Indians and put them to work in mines and on sugar plantations under a system they called the, “encomienda system”. Many of the elite American Indians who survived disease did not fare any better, as their legitimacy as chiefs and religious leaders was stripped away from them. This system was meant to colonize, subjugate, and forcefully assimilate the Native Americans to cruel and harmful condition, all in the name of profit (Parker 54). Soon, however, the European empires faced a problem regarding the low amount of laborers due mainly to the smallpox epidemic. This caused the Spanish and Portuguese empires to switch from American Indian labor, to African slave labor. Bringing the African slaves to the Western hemisphere began a long history of bondage that would continue in the American continents until Brazil finally abolished slavery in 1888. To add to all of that, the African slaves brought their own diseases that not even the white europeans were immune to such as, malaria, yellow fever, and cholera among others. The diminution of American Indian populations continued even after the fall of the Incan and Aztec empires. As the

The Transatlantic transition for Africans to the New World was horrific. They were forced to partake in the march to the sea to start their journey on the sea voyage that would bring about a new lifestyle. It was stated that this journey represented modernity itself. The European’s power and expansion prospered which eventually lead many people of the working class from different cultures and homelands coming to the Americas to give their contribution, but it was the enslaved Africans hard labor that paved the way for the others. In the chapter Enslavement, Brazil and Portuguese was considered the starting point with having the largest amount of slaves. Soon after many of the slaves from Brazil were transported to islands such as Barbados,

The book “Atlantic Creoles in the Age of Revolutions” written by Dr. Jane Landers explains the impact of the slaves being used by many different nations

In the textbook “Holt World History,”(Holt,pg.429) “ Portugal had colonized the region of Brazil.Spain controlled most of the rest of South Africa, Central America, and southwestern North America. Over several centuries, a distinct colonial life in Latin America developed and thrived. Both Spain and Portugal based their colonial empires on the principle of mercantilism. They believed that a nation gained wealth by obtaining gold and silver. As a result, the two nations took these precious metals from their colonies and used the areas as markets for their own goods.” Spain and Portugal had colonized certain parts of Brazil, America, and Africa to gain wealth by obtaining gold and silver, and producing a variety of goods such as meats, hides and sugar. Nonetheless the natives were forced into slavery while being treated awfully and with disrespect. The natives loss their remembrance of their culture, power, and

Before 1492 many North American Indian societies got their source of nutrition through hunting, or farming. Exchanging goods and services with other societies was the most common way of expanding consumption possibilities. Goods were exchanged mainly through trade which was one of the biggest factors in bringing Native American peoples into contact with one another. As tribes established permanent settlements, many of these settlements became well known for specific products or skills. This elaborate trading system set a steady base for the economy of Indian societies.

The journeys represent the European slave trader’s way of human trade labor to be secured. The millions of people who lived along the coastline of Africa were a major slave trade supply. The Portuguese began to exploit the Africans with a slave trade from Africa to America in 1526 by the Portuguese. Although slaves were in on a high demand the slave traders were not able to keep up, because of this they had to go on a different route. Brazil was known to be the sugar producer in this era. An old saying by Marcus Rediker, “That sugar was made with blood.”

During Brazil’s first few decades of colonialism, the Portuguese decided that to control the population they would directly enslave them. Captured native people were the ones that labored on the first sugar mills. Native slavery was abolished in Brazil in the 1570s but exceptions were made if a Native was captured during “just war”. Although a loophole existed that allowed for Natives to still be enslaved, by the 1590s it didn’t matter because they were

During colonial times, Central America was a place of hostility and unequal treatment to many of its indigenous people. War, starvation, cruelty, and death occurred occasionally due to the unfair treatment of many poor citizens during this time. The worst part about it is that not one, but many types of people and ethnic groups were subjugated to this mistreatment. Many groups such as the Mayans,, the poor, and even ordinary citizens underwent hardships in hope to barely survive the cruel world that they lived in. The exclusion of these people first began when Central America was first colonized.

The Ottoman Empires blockage of the once popular trade route to the east, led to the exploration of the America’s. In the late 15th century, with the European’s goal to find a new trading route, the Portuguese, with their strong maritime power, were the first to venture out. Not only was the establishment of a new trade route crucial, but so was the discovery of resources to exploit for European gain. Land empires formed, bringing about the enslavement of native populations, and control of production and labor. No more was this evident than in the Caribbean Islands. Small but crucial assets to Europe, why did the Caribbean islands have such a big impact on the slave trade? Many European countries had colonized several regions in North and South America, yet there was something about the Caribbean’s that made them indispensable to their respective economies. The politics in Europe, the Caribbean’s fertile soil, and its demographics were key factors in the Caribbean’s importance. All three factors were essential in the Caribbean becoming a staple in the slave trade.

Throughout history, the enslavement of native peoples around the world has been a driving force in what makes the great nations today. Unfortunately, this practice has also practically destroyed the lives of billions, and the nations that practiced it benefited from the pain and suffering of the lives it took. Four documents highlight the behavior of the Europeans towards the natives of South America, creating an insight into the shocking behaviors that were practiced to exert control over a very innocent people.

Studying history is a wonderful way of becoming less ignorant. Ignorance of other peoples and cultures and created the european attitude of superiority that characterized early colonization of the Americans and later imperialism. In the debates between Las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, we can see ideas that created and are informed by some of the horrible concepts of imperialism, such as eugenics and natural slavery. These debates arose after Las Casas took a moral objection to the treatment of the native population on the island of Hispaniola and returned to Rome to begin an effort to end the encomienda system. (Bartolomé de Las Casas debates) This system granted conquistadors and and number of slaves in exchange for his service as a soldier or official. (Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda) Las Casas argued that the encomiendas were unlawful and that it was “impossible for them [the conquest of the Indies] not to be, tyrannies, unjust and iniquitous.” (Bartolomé de Las Casas.)