1. Chapter 2-New Empires in the Americas
Section 5
Beginnings of Slavery in the Americas

2. What You Will Learn-Main Ideas
European diseases wiped out much of the Native American population, causing colonists to look for a new labor force.
Europeans enslaved millions of Africans and sent them to work in their colonies.
Slaves in the Americas created a distinct culture.

3. What You Will Learn-The Big Idea
Europeans forced millions of African slaves to work in their colonies.

4. Key Terms and People
Immune
Middle Passage
African Diaspora

5. If YOU were there….
You are an enslaved African living in North America. Your family is all that you have. You help each other and your family provides some relief from the forced labor and harsh life on the plantation. Still, you long for your freedom. A fellow slave has told you of a plan to escape.
Will you stay with your family or try to flee?

6. Building Background
European settlers in the Americas relied on support from their home countries to establish trade and provide protection. In return, the colonies were expected to produce money for the home country. Many colonies did this through plantations, mines, and other ventures that required a large labor force.

7. The Need for a New Labor Force
European diseases such as typhus, measles and small pox killed many Native Americans because they were not immune to them.
The death of many Native Americans led European nations, such as Spain, to find a new labor force to work in their colonies.
Another reason for a new labor force was the development of the plantation system. Owners would require a cheaper labor force to work the plantations.
Many decided instead of using the Native Americans for labor, they would use slaves from West Africa as a solution.

8. Reading Check-Analyzing
How did disease contribute to the slave trade?

9. The Slave Trade
Began in 1510 when the Spanish legalized the sale of slaves in their colonies.
The slave trade began eight years later.
Nearly a century later, more than 1,000,000 Africans were brought to the New World by the Spanish and the Portuguese.
The Dutch and English, during the 1600s, also began taking part in the slave trade.

10. Middle Passage Enslavement was a horrible experience for the slaves.
The slaves were captured in the interior of Africa and then they were marched nearly 1,000 miles to the Atlantic coast.
The Middle Passage was the voyage slaves took across the Atlantic Ocean.
Slaves were chained together and packed like cargo on these ships.
In this confinement, slaves died from disease, suffocation, malnutrition and suicide.
Estimates show that one out of six Africans died during the Middle Passage.

11. African Diaspora
Ten million enslaved Africans reached the New World between the 1520s and the 1860s.
This slave trade led to the African Diaspora.
Once arrived, the diaspora scattered these new enslaved Africans across North, Central, South America and the Caribbean Islands.
There were some communities where there were free African Americans living.

12. Nearly four million African Americans were working the Brazilian sugar plantations owned by Portugal.
Two million slaves worked in the colonies of New Spain including the plantations of the Caribbean.
Three million slaves worked in British and French colonies in the Caribbean.
600,000 slaves were brought to Britain’s North American colonies.

13. The European nations regulated the slave trade and slave behavior in the colonies.
Slaves were limited in their rights and their freedoms. Slaves were seen as property and not as people.
Slave owners had the upper hand. Many slave owners were innocent if they murdered a slave.
Only a small minority of slaves reported that their owners treated them well but severe treatment was commonplace in the New World.

14. Reading Check-Generalizing
How were enslaved Africans treated in the Americas?

15. Slave Culture in the Americas
Although slaves came from different parts of Africa and they spoke different languages they were able to build on common customs and viewpoints to create a new African American culture.
Families provided a refuge from the harsh life of slavery. However, many families were broken up so it was very hard for slaves to create stable families.

16. Religion was also a refuge for slaves because it allowed for freedom of expression away from the master’s control.
Slaves were able to create a religion that combined traditional Catholic beliefs with elements of traditional African religions.
In religion, slaves used spirituals, songs and spirituals to convey their stories of help, hope, sorrow, agony and joy.
Slaves were also able to express themselves through art and dance. Dances were communal events in the slave community and were heavily influenced by traditional African ideas and movements.

17. Reading Check-Identifying Points of View
Why was religion important to slaves in America?