From Conquistadors to Slavery

Conquistadors Conquistadors- were conquerors from Spain and Portugal. Explorers came from other European countries too, Portugal, France, Great Britain, Italy They came to the New World to gain: gold and glory for themselves and their country. They also wanted to help expand their country’s territories; to become Empires.

God, Gold, and Glory God- missionaries were sent to spread Christianity Gold- everyone wanted to get rich, personal riches and money for their country Glory- explorers wanted fame for themselves and their country

Colonization After the conquistadors helped destroy most of the Native population, Europeans began creating colonies in the New World These were mostly agricultural colonies.

Agriculture The New World had many new crops and animals. Including: potatoes, corn, and vanilla The New World also had a perfect climate, and farmland for cash crops from the Old World. Cash crops- when crops are grown for profit Examples: tobacco, sugar, and cotton

Agriculture The high demand for sugar, tobacco, and cotton led to the creation of huge plantations (big farms) Working on these plantations was very difficult, the colonists needed people to work on the plantations.

Plantations At first the Portuguese and Spanish colonists used Native Americans as slave labor. However, the Native American population was greatly depleted because of the diseases the Europeans brought. Native Americans also did not make good slave labor, they were weakened from the diseases, and died from being over worked.

Plantations In 1518 the first shipment of slaves went from West Africa to the Caribbean, those slaves were put to work on sugar plantations. By the 1520’s, the Spanish had introduced slaves to Mexico, Peru, and Central America. In the early 17th century, the British introduced slaves to North America.

Columbian Exchange to Triangular Trade

Triangular Trade Africa to Americas Americas to Europe Europe to Africa Guns, steel, horses Africa to Americas Slaves Americas to Europe Sugar, tobacco, cotton

Slavery These new African slaves were physically able to handle the hard work of the plantations better then the Native American population Slaves became very important to the farming of sugar, tobacco, and cotton The demand for sugar kept increasing in Europe, which meant the demand for slaves kept increasing to have workers for the plantations.

Slavery

Slavery Slaves were seen as inferior– less than human Slaves were abused, and often times worked to death The slave population in Latin America did not reproduce itself, most slaves died from the strain of the labor More and more slaves had to be brought from Africa to replenish the workforce

Impact of Slavery Slavery helped expand colonies in the Americas It increased $$$ colonists were making Africans also brought their culture with them Music Traditions Food Language Religions