www2.fiu.edu_~girardc_4700SLAV.15 - www2.fiu.edu girardc/4700SLAV.15.htm Slave r Brutal Incarnation of Colonial E pans ion I.The Slave Trade as part of

3/1/12 www2.fiu.edu/agirardc/4700SLAV.15.htm 1/2 www2.fiu.edu/agirardc/4700SLAV.15.htm Slaver\: Brutal Incarnation of Colonial E[pansion I.The Slave Trade as part of the Atlantic Triangle in European Colonial S\stem A.Modern period of enslavement begins: Spanish and Portuguese in 14th century B. 8-10 million African slaves brought to Western Hemisphere, about 5% to N.America C. slavery before colonialism,but powerful sys needed for massive transcontinental transfer D. slave trade outlawed by England and U.S. in 1808 E.If no more than ò million brought to U.S., why 4 million slaves by 1860? II.What caused slaver\? A.Why slavery in South Africa, West Indies, southern U.S., but not in Europe itself?: Economics rather than prejudice explain: 1. Slavery develops where land is abundant and labor scarce 2.Profitable Cotton, sugar, and tobacco require back-breaking gang-type labor a.Where land available for squatting, wages for labor driven up 1.Involuntary labor therefore needed for profitable plantations b.unskilled, gang-type labor easily supervised by horseman with a whip