e. Negro slaves from Africa, working the plantations and by the turn of the century, many of the plantations owners had grown extremely wealthy as a result of slave labor.
During the last half of the 17th century, there were a number of efforts to normalize the slave trade or, in other words, to make it appear legitimate and necessary for the growing economies of Europe. Part of this normalization involved the plantations, due to their overwhelming need for a large labor force. Before this normalization, "indentured servants (i.e. slaves) were freed every few years," but with the introduction of permanent servants, this situation was done away with. Also, as permanent slaves were brought to work the plantations, this gave plantation owners "a greater degree of control over the life of slaves," such as being able to sell off the children of slaves to the highest bidder. This normalization was brought to a head in 1672 when "the British government established the Royal African Company to conduct the slave trade from Africa" which resulted in slavery becoming a very big and important part of colonization (Gustaitis, Internet).
In order to demonstrate the insidious nature...
Before 1600, less than 2,000 slaves were brought annually to the Americas; by 1700, the number grew to about 55,000 annually (Nevins and Ehrmann, 367). Thus, it is easy to see that slavery virtually drove the economies of the "New World" and made many Europeans wealthy and prosperous. Therefore, it is perfectly clear that without slavery, the United States and many
European countries would be very different, especially in relation to the so-called "melting pot" so prevalent in the U.S. today.
Bibliography
Clark, George N., Ed. The New Cambridge Encyclopedia of Modern History. MA: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Gustaitis, Joseph. "Special Feature: Slavery in the Americas." The World Almanac. Internet. February 2007. Retrieved at http://www.worldalmanac.com/newsletter/200702WAE-Newsletter.html
Langer, William L., Ed. The Rise of Modern Europe. New York: Macmillan, 1965.
Nevins, Allan and Howard M. Ehrmann, Eds. A History of the Modern World. MI: University of Michigan Press,…
