By the time the transatlantic slave trade reached its height in the 18th century, it had been around for well over 200 years. In this time millions of Africans would be forced from their homes and shipped across the Atlantic to suffer horrors beyond their wildest imagination. However, it was not only would African populations that would be changed forever, but Indigenous populations would also be almost eliminated by the effects of colonization and forced labor. The use of indigenous people on the sugar and tobacco plantations of the Americas presented a wide range of problems to early European colonizers, but they would soon discover that African slavery could serve as their wide ranging solution. The slave trade grew and was successful because black slaves were simply more useful to slavers. They were unfamiliar with the terrain of the Americas and they were already immune to many European diseases. Additionally, the enslavement of Africans was easily justified by those in powers despite the fact that it contradicted other popular ideas of personhood.
As the Spanish and Portuguese, followed by other European powers, began to populate the Americas one of their goals, beyond the acquisition of wealth, was to convert Native populations to Christianity. They viewed the Natives as heathens, and saw them as something put before them by God to bring into his fold. John Shea, a 19th century historian and theologian, described the discovery of America, “like every other event in the history of the world, [it] had, in the designs of God, the great object of the salvation of mankind” (Shea, 19). To countries like Spain, God had given them a new world filled with people they could grant the gift of God, through willing conversion, or by force. As methods of gaining fast wealth began to decline in the Americas, colonizing powers had to find more sustainable methods to help their economies, and so they turned to agriculture and the mining of precious metals. This required manpower and luckily the America’s were full of it.
Spain established the Encomienda system, though somewhat reluctantly, which granted land to settlers and gave them a level of control over the Natives living on this land. The Spanish Crown approved this system because it fixed two issues at one time: it rewarded the conquistadors for their acts abroad, and it was a simple and quick form of governance that the New World needed (Minster). The word Encomienda comes from the verb encomendar, meaning to entrust, which was exactly what the encomenderos were charged with (Encyclopædia Britannica). They were entrusted with the conversion of the people put under their control. Grants were given encomenderos (conquistadors, soldiers, and other officials) in Spanish colonies which allotted them a certain number of people who would pay tribute to them in gold and other resources, or in actuality in labor, in return for coaching them through the conversion process and for military protection (Encyclopædia Britannica). The Encomienda system established in the Americas was for the most part identical to the Encomienda system that has been used in Spain during medieval times (LDHI). It was essentially “a quasi-feudal system” originally used by Christians in the Iberian Peninsula against Muslims, “Christians who had performed valuable military service were granted authority to govern people and resources in lands conquered from Iberian Muslims” (LDHI). On paper the Spanish settlers were in charge of protecting those Natives and converting them to Catholicism but in reality, they were used as a free workforce on the new plantations, and often encomenderos failed to even begin the conversion process. While a grant of land ownership was not involved in the official processes, in practice the encomenderos gained control of Native lands and failed to fulfil their obligations on which the Spanish crown had given them their grants originally.
This quickly proved to be an unsuccessful system for several reasons. Not only could Indians run away into the bush quite easily, because they were familiar with the terrain, but they also lacked immunity to European diseases. The Columbian Exchange, or the mixing of the Old and New Worlds, brought some positives to both sides, like the introduction of the potato to Europe, and pigs to the Americas and the Caribbean, it also brought a large amount of diseases that Natives had simply not been exposed to. The extremely harsh working conditions, in combination with exposure to new diseases, became a serious problem when it came to finding reliable and numerous labor in the Americas.
These problems were only compounded by a lack of support from Spain. The plans of conversion the Catholic monarchs of Spain had for the New World fell in direct contradiction with the forced labor practices of the Encomienda system. When Christopher Columbus returned from his famous 1492 voyage, he brought back to Spain 300 Taino slaves from the island of Hispaniola, present day Dominican Republic and Haiti (LDHI). The monarchs of Spain, Fernando II of Aragon and Isabel I of Castile, were not pleased. It is likely that Columbus brought back these slaves to make up for the lack of gold he had managed to find in the Caribbean, and intended to set up a transatlantic slave trade of Natives americans in order to supplement profits (LDHI). The Spanish Crown on the other hand intended to protect Natives from abuse, while finding a balance with what they expected and needed from them. They expected Natives to accept Spanish rule and convert to Catholicism, but they also needed they Spanish colonies to be profitable, which required at this time Native participation. In attempts to drawback on abuses, in 1501, the crown ordered Hispaniola’s governor to return all property stolen from Taínos and other Natives groups, and to pay them wages for their labor on plantations (Encyclopaedia Britannica). More reforms were enacted in the 1512 Laws of Burgos, and 14 years later in the Laws of Granada (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Though many of these reforms were ignored by the Spaniards actually in the Americas, the lack of support of the Spanish monarchy did put significant pressure on the Encomienda system, and its use of Native labor.
In an effort to try and enact real positive change in the Americas, unlike that which previous monarchs had tried and failed to do, Charles V passed the New Laws in 1542. The New Laws were a series of laws which aimed to stop the abuses occurring on Encomiendas, particularly in the colony of Peru, and reinstate the fact that Natives were considered citizens of Spain and should be treated as such. These laws stated that no new Encomienda grants would be fulfilled, that only ‘reasonable’ tribute should to be collected by the encomenderos, and that Natives could not be forced against their will to work. They also went on to say that anyone who took part in the abuse or misuse of Native labor would have their grants taken away from them, and that no encomienda grants could be passed down to other family members after the death of the original person they had been granted to. Once word of these New Laws reached the colonies, the encomenderos turned against their king. In two series of civil wars in Peru, the encomenderos fought against the crown and specifically against the imposition of the New Laws and almost won both times. Following this event, the Spanish Crown repealed the most hated aspects of the New Laws, but refused to allow encomiendas to be passed to posterity, and so the practice died out– in time with the drop off in population of the Natives who had enabled the encomiendas to function as profitable businesses. (Minster)
Efforts from leaders within the Catholic Church also had a hand in the destruction of the Encomienda. In 1537 Pope Paul III released a Papal bull, an order from the church, entitled Sublimis Dei (also known as Sublimis Deus), which discussed the enslavement of Natives and how it made their christianization impossible. Pope Paul III stated, “The enemy of the human race, .. [has] inspired his satellites… to publish abroad that the Indians of the West and the South… should be treated as dumb brutes created for our service, pretending that they are incapable of receiving the Catholic Faith”. That is to say that according to the Pope the Devil was working within those that wished to enslave Native populations, and any remarks on their inferiority were not only wrong but went against God’s desire to grow his family within the church. This declaration had a distinct impact on the Catholic rulers in Spain, and played a role in the passing of the New Laws which would ultimately destroy the Encomienda system. (Pope Paul III)
In contrast to this, the Catholic Church had little to say when it came to African slavery which would replace the Native labor they so openly condemned. The Catholic Church played a crucial role in everyday life, “Not only did it [the church] define the moral basis of society and determine the limits of its intellectual world view, but it also sanctified and legalized the most basic human relationships”. By condemning Native slavery the church said one cannot treat other people in this way, but by failing to condemn African slavery it allowed a massive loophole for those looking to make money off other peoples free labor. It is possible that the money made in the colonies, which greatly benefited the church through the role they played in Catholic monarchies in Portugal and Spain, was simply too much to pass up on. More likely however it was the history of interaction between Africans and Spaniards, dating back to times of the Roman and than Ottoman Empires, which gave the opportunity for the Catholic church to justify enslavement. The 13th century codes of law, Las Siete Partidas, enacted by Alfonso X, served as the basis for how African slavery was treated in the Americas. Las Siete Partidas, “recognized [slavery] as an institution of long standing and custom which had to be continued” and that it should be “considered a necessary evil rather than a positive good” and for this reason it could be justified in application so long as those in slavery were given the right to marry and take communion, some of the most basic rights of Catholics. (Klein)
In 1500 there were nearly 50 million Natives living in South America and in the Caribbean, but by 1600 there were a mere 8 million Natives remaining. The Columbian exchange, which was partly constituted by the transfer of European diseases to Native populations, in combination with forced labor resulted in nearly an 80% population loss in 100 years. Facing both pressure from home and such a devastating loss in labor, colonizing powers in the Americas turned to Africa as a way to maintain the income they so desperately needed. African slavery solved all the problems presented by the Encomienda system. African transplants were easily identifiable, unfamiliar with the terrain, and many were already immune to diseases like smallpox, influenza, and measles, because Afro-european interaction dated back the the 1400’s. They did not fit the grounds on which members of the church had rebuked indigenous enslavement, and could be far more easily justified at home and abroad. Very quickly African slaves became preferred throughout Spanish and Portuguese colonies in South America, and in English settlements in North America. (Johnson)
It is important to note however, that the use of Africans as slaves did not find a direct cause in the failures of the Encomienda system. The first import of black slaves to Europe occurred in 1441, when Portuguese explorers returned from West Africa with a cargo of gold dust and 10 West African slaves, decades before they would be introduced to the Americas. Shortly after this human cargo returned to Europe, Portugal struck a deal with a local tribe leader that allowed them to establish a trading post, Elmina, in present day Ghana. While this post originally served mainly as a stop for the gold mined in West Africa on it’s way to Europe, in time it became one of the largest passageway for African slaves heading for the Americas. (Williamsburg Foundation)
When Europeans first arrived in Africa, they began a relatively small trade in humanity, and the trade of life came second to the Afro-european exchange of goods and resources. Early slaves were purchased in small numbers from various African and Arab traders along the West coast and originated mostly from small wars within Africa’s interior. Most of these slaves went on to work in domestic service positions in Spain and Portugal, but when the New World became a main source of income for these nations through plantation crops and mining, what had been a small outflow of slaves became a flood. Humanity was no longer a secondary form of trade in West Africa, it was the main and almost sole form of commerce. (Williamsburg Foundation)
It was common for tribes to bring other Africans captured in war and raids to places like Elmina to trade them for gunpowder, textiles, weapons, and other commodities brought from Europe. Slavery had existed on the continent long before the arrival of Europeans, so it is not surprising that for a time Africans took part in this trade like a common business practice. It should be noted however, that the kind of slavery that existed in Africa was much different from that which existed in the Americas. In the kingdoms of West Africa slaves could marry, own property, and even own their own slaves. In many ways their service was similar to European feudalism, where peasants worked on land owned by people of a higher class in trade for payment and protection. The type of enslavement Africans would encounter in the Americas however was so completely different that they cannot be viewed as equal parts of a whole. (PBS)
African slavery in the Americas would not just change the fabric of colonial society however, it would also bring great change to African nations from the 16th century onward. Beyond the difference in resources among tribes that participated in the capturing and slaves of slavers, unequal power relations began to appear among African tribes as well. European traders formed alliances and pacts with certain tribes, giving them weapons and other goods in trade for waging war on rival tribes so long as the Europeans received the captured tribesman. African tribes participating in this system like the Asante and Dahomey would, over time, emerge as powerful kingdoms. They would eventually dominate the slave trade on the interior of Africa, selling off smaller tribes to European slavers to benefit their own kingdoms. This power imbalance also increased slavery within Africa as well. The demand for slaves increased it’s occurrence within Africa as elites and rulers tried to accumulate more and more slaves to be sold and for their own use a sign of prestige. The use of African slaves in the Americas made slavery a central element to life in Africa as well, though it was more of a secondary product of the transatlantic slave trade. (Williamsburg Foundation)
Between 1525 and 1866 more approximately 13 million Africans were transported across the Atlantic and sold into bondage, but this number does not include all those that died before before they could be sent across the ocean or those that died in transport due to the brutal conditions on slaving ships. In total, more than 54,000 slaving ships would cross the Atlantic with their human cargo (PBS). The journey to the slaving ports on the west coast of Africa, mostly in Guinea and Senegal, took months or even years, because as time went slaves were taken from deeper and deeper in Africa, as far east as what is now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Pruitt). Once reaching a slaving port, the journey across the Atlantic–the Middle Passage- took about two months, and the “a range of epidemic pathogens” and “periodic breakouts of violent resistance,” meant that 12-13% of those that began the journey would die in transport (Eltis). While many of these would go to the US, many more would find themselves on the sugar plantations and mines of Spanish and Portuguese colonies in South America.
Most notable of the South American colonies was Brazil. In the early years of colonization sugar plantations in Brazil had for the most part acted as a slaughterhouse for Native populations. The brutal conditions there had gone mostly unchecked by the Portuguese crown and was something that would only continue when African slaves were introduced. By the middle of the 16th century, the Portuguese were importing large numbers of African slaves to serve on new permanent sugar plantations to replace the Native workforce that had been lost. Of all the slaves taken to the Americas, close to 5 million would end up in Brazil where “they experienced a level of brutality even worse than in the Southern states of North America”. With that being said the level of brutality found in Brazil was found in other South American colonies as well. In Bolivia for instance, the average life expectancy of a slave working as a mule in a mine was just over two months. Interestingly in these colonies in particular slaves had more social rights than they did in the Americas, though they often suffered harshly when it came to their work. This is most likely thanks to the role of Catholicism, which demanded certain rights be granted to those in slavery, because of Las Siete Partidas as mentioned earlier. In Brazil for example, there were more slave marriages during the Colonial period than any other slave colony, in North or South America. (Johnson)
In British North America on the other hand slaves received no rights. Having little to no prior interaction with Africans and having no basis on which to create codes of conduct regarding their slavery, African slaves in North American colonies found themselves treated as less than human. Additionally, Native labor had played only a small role in British colonies and for the most part African labor was the only kind ever used there. When slaves were first introduced to North American colonies the ideas of Humanism and Individualism created during the Reformation had begun their transformation into ideals of democracy, justice, equality, and human rights in western political ideologies and general philosophy that would emerge by the early 17th century with the introduction of writers like Thomas Hobbes. Beyond the threat of revolt, which was a constant worry for slavers, the practice had to be rationalized in such a way that it became acceptable in an time of improving human rights. Much like those that argued against Native enslavement in South American colonies, there were many that argued against African slavery in North America. In order to solve this problem slavers in British colonies argued first that Africans were heathens, and through slavery and conversion, their souls were being saved, and therefore their enslavement had a positive effect on them. The second half of their argument however is much more important than the first. Those in favor of upholding slavery stated that there were innate differences between Africans and Europeans and so the ideals of Western philosophy did not apply to African slaves. Their natural inferiority made the institution of slavery acceptable. Such claims however were entirely made up by slaveholders, traders, and elites who needed to maintain slavery for economic gain. (US History)
The argument of natural difference satisfied religious complainants, because it gave Africans “God-given suitability” for the work they were doing, basically saying that God meant for them to be slaves (Smedley). For lower class whites, this gave them someone to be better than which raised their social status, making them less likely to identify with slaves. In order to solidify this difference between low class whites and slaves, high class whites began to dissolve communication completely between the two groups. In addition, slave codes were passed which outlined both the harsh punishments delivered to blacks for crimes, and what would not be done to whites for the same crimes. They also detailed what gifts that would be given to white indentured servants once their time had been completed with their master, further differentiating the two groups. Upper Class whites succeeded in driving a wedge between the two groups, and created a strong enough idea of human difference to make US slavery an institution that would outlast almost all other forms of slavery in the western world. (US History)
When the Americas were ‘discovered’ in the early to mid 16th century, the New World served mostly as a get rich quick scheme for conquerors and explorers. When countries realised the money that could be made off permanent settlements and plantations however, everything changed. In the next 300 years, nearly 90% of Natives in the Americas and in the Caribbean would be killed off by forced labor practices, disease, and slaughter. At the same time, close to 13 million Africans would be taken from their homes and shipped across the Atlantic in a months long journey where they would be sold into bondage. In North America they would have the same amount of rights as a an animal: slaves could not marry or own property, they were
forbidden from learning to read or write, and their children would become slaves as well at birth. In South American plantations they would suffer even more harshly, through receiving slightly more social rights. The progression through the Encomienda system and its eventual failure in South America would lead to the largest imports of African slaves in all of the slaving colonies and states. In North America the dehumanization of Africans would allow the practice to continue long after much of the world had banned it, and would leave a lasting impression on society that reaches into the present day. Both governments and churches excused and allowed African slavery for their own monetary gain, and the developments of slavery in the 16th century would shape the history