Caribbean Slavery Essay

Slaves were flock captured in war, used to break up a debt, or make slaves as a means of punishment. The Spaniards in the Caribbean had little contain for African slaves in the early 1500s for miscellaneous reasons. The pact of Tordesillas, which was a line of product line drawn north to south, west of the Azores and blanket Verdes, stipulated that the areas west of the line belonged to the Spaniards and the east to the Portuguese. As a result of the treaty Africa was on Portugals side of the line, so in order for Spaniards to obtain African slaves they had to go through the Portuguese.During the period of the early 1500s the Treaty of Tordesillas resulted in the Portuguese being the commencement ceremony nation that the Spaniards granted an asiento. This was granted in 1515. These special licenses, asientos, only allowed a specific bod of slaves into a diverse number of countries and limited the need for African slaves. The comprise to ship slaves from West Africa to Port ugal and Spain and then to the Americas turn up prohibitive. There was easier access to Taino tire and it was redundant to spend extra money on importing slaves.Tainos were used to find and exploit the specie because they were familiar with the surroundings and thither were enough Tainos to mine the little gold the Spaniards had found. hold servants or white servants overly contributed to the need for only a little(a) number of African slaves in the 1500s. obligate servants (contracted exerciseers poor people from Europe) started to migrate to the Caribbean from Europe, as the Caribbean were advertised as having prospects of a parvenu life and jobs. Their contracts usually lasted four to cardinal years. The is dirts that were found in the Caribbean needed to be developed in order to soak up them suitable for living.The Spaniards offered property as an fillip to attract people who would develop the islands and settle there. This was how bound(p) servants were coaxed into migrating. Eventually however, the Amerindians and white servants were no longer a sufficient churn force. B. The Amerindians were non used to the working conditions and thence died. Also, mature World diseases such as measles, diphtheria, typhus, cholera, scarlet fever, chicken pox, yellow fever, whooping cough, smallpox, grippe and gonorrhea affected them while well-nigh died from depression.Indentured servants were unskilled in glossiness and unwilling to work. They were unaccustomed to the conditions of the Caribbean and succumbed to various bran-new World diseases such as syph and yellow fever. Africans worked harder, survived the conditions of the Caribbean better (similar conditions existed in Africa), knew how to mark equatorial plants, and were more(prenominal) resistant to Old World diseases. They were also less costly than hold servants and there was a more uniform supply of African slaves than indentured servants.The trade winds which blew from east t o west made coming to the Caribbean from Africa very easy. That is in analogy to traveling from Europe to the Caribbean which was demanding as the trade winds worked against sailing ships. Also ships had a longer distance to cover when they sailed to the Caribbean from Europe. African slaves were their masters property. Masters could do whatever they pleased with the African slaves as they paid for them and they were their property. Offspring produced by express slaves was also their masters property.This added to the reliableness of African slaves as there would incessantly be another generation to enslave. Indentured servants could soft escape as they had the uniform appearances, knew the culture and language and therefore could easily blend into the crowd and disappear with the inflow of people coming and leaving the Caribbean islands. Africans could not do this because of their colour and it would be difficult for them to escape. This added to the appeal of using African s laves. grove owners became greedy and no longer wanted to give or offer their net lands so as to attract indentured servants to come to the Caribbean. The plantation owners saw the Africans as a commodity therefore did not have to give any incentive to attract them because they were their property and enslaved to them. For these reasons the Africans were seen as a perfect source of labour. Increased work resulted in increased productivity, which increased the riches of the Spaniards. C. By the 1600s and 1700s African slaves became more familiar in the Caribbean.Amerindians had died out by the 1500s due to diseases, overwork and ill-treatment. Indentured servants had preoccupied fervour in coming to the Caribbean as it was costly to travel and the chances of surviving the tropical conditions were slim. Some ran away, breaking their contract, to become Buccaneers. The surrender in the number of available indentured servants and Tainos, and the growth of the colonies increased th e need for labour. scratch had become very popular and was in demand on the European market. The wealth that excoriation brought was recognized and more land as cultivated for sugar production. The sugar revolution had begun and the Dutch saw an chance to sell slaves in the Caribbean as there was a rise in labour needs. The Dutch were granted an asiento in 1667, by this time Dutch trading in African slaves became very popular. Additionally, slaves were severely mistreat and thus many died. The rapid death of slaves from the harsh conditions resulted in a constant need and this also added to the great address of African slavery in the tranquillity of the Caribbean in the 1600s and 1700s.