Essay On Slavery In Latin America

624 Words3 Pages

Slavery, is the condition in which a human being is owned and controlled by another. This institution has deep roots in human history. It was practiced in most of the world, from prehistoric times to the modern era. Despite this commonality, slave systems have varied considerably. Societies have experienced different degrees of it, with different practices and different outlooks, even though the basic characteristic was the same. Slavery in Africa and in Latin America was distinct, despite being connected through the Atlantic slave trade.While traditional African slavery was practiced largely by communities to help produce food or for prestige, slave labor in Latin America was practiced on a much larger scale, for it was central to the colonies’ …show more content…

The defeated people were taken prisoners, transported and then sold. Women were the first slaves, and made up of the majority of African slaves. They usually performed agricultural work, domestic chores, or economic functions such as trading and cotton spinning. Some were taken as wives or concubines by powerful African men, and symbolized wealth. Males were put to harder tasks, typically farming and herding cattle. Others were simply peasants trying to work off debts. Slavery was also a means of producing wealth. Land was communally held by villages, and the larger the number of workers a family had, the more land they were allotted, and thus the more they could produce. All in all, slavery in Africa was practiced to help with labor and produce food, or as a sign of status, though it was not …show more content…

The slaves were all from Africa and were brought through the Atlantic slave trade. These slaves were mostly acquired through slave raids, which were becoming more and more frequent and penetrated farther inland as demand for slaves increased. The captured people were from different groups than the hunters’ own. They were then sold to the Europeans and the majority of them were shipped to the Americas. The African slave traders in exchange, received firearms and gunpowder, tobacco and alcohol, and European and Indian

More about Essay On Slavery In Latin America

Open Document