Atlantic Slave Trade

Forced Immigration & Enslavement

Feb 9, 1428

American Indian groups had slaves prior to the arrival of Europeans
Some of these captives were even forced to undergo human sacrifice in certain Amerindian civilizations, such as the Aztecs.
The Spanish continued this with the enslavement of local aborigines in the Caribbean.
As the native populations declined from European diseases, forced exploitation, atrocities, they were often replaced by Africans imported through a large commercial slave trade. 

Atlantic Slave Trade

Feb 9, 1502

Captured Africans were sold to European slave traders on the West African coast.
“Middle Passage” – Millions of Africans were taken in ship, under inhuman conditions, for the voyage across the Atlantic to the New World.
Treatment – enslaved Africans were auctioned and forced to work under brutal conditions.

Scope of the slave trade

Feb 9, 1502

12 million Africans were transported on the slave trade
The vast majority of these slaves went to sugar colonies in the Caribbean and to Brazil, where life expectancy was short
About 600,000 African slaves were imported into the U.S., or 5% of the 12 million slaves brought across from Africa.
Life expectancy was much higher in the U.S. (because of better conditions) so the numbers grew rapidly by excesses of births over deaths, reaching 4 million by the 1860 Census.

The Slavery Question

Feb 9, 1537

In 1537, the papacy definitively recognized that Native Americans possessed souls, thus prohibiting their enslavement, without putting an end to the debate. Some claimed that a native who had rebelled and then been captured could be enslaved nonetheless.
Later, the Valladolid debate between the Dominican priest Bartolomé de Las Casas and another Dominican philosopher Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, each took opposing positions to justify enslavement and nothing was resolved.

Indentured Servants

Feb 9, 1580

Indentured servants were the main source of labor from 1587-1680's & made up 75% of all immigrants to the Chesapeake region. Most indentured servants were teens from England that came from poor families. They were given basic needs & taught to work. American landowners paid for a servant's passage in return for work The majority died w/in the 1st years

Virginia Colonies

May 14, 1607

Leaders like John Smith convinced the colonists of Jamestown that searching for gold was not taking care of their immediate needs for food and shelter and the biblical principle that "he who will not work shall not eat.“
The extremely high mortality rate was quite distressing and cause for despair among the colonists. Tobacco later became a cash crop, with the work of John Rolfe and others, for export and the sustaining economic driver of VA and the neighboring colony of MD.

Search for Riches

May 14, 1607

Inspired by the Spanish riches from colonies founded upon the conquest of the Aztecs, Incas, and other large Native American populations in the 16th century, the first Englishmen to settle permanently in America hoped for some of the same rich discoveries when they established their first permanent settlement in Jamestown, VA in 1607.
They were sponsored by common stock companies such as the chartered Virginia Company financed by wealthy English men.
The purpose of this colony was to find gold

Religious Immigration

May 14, 1607

Roman Catholics were the first major religious group to immigrate to the New World
Settlers in the colonies of Portugal and Spain (and later, France) were required to belong to that faith.
English and Dutch colonies, tended to be more religiously diverse.  

Migration to North America

Jun 1, 1629

A strong believer in the notion of rule by divine right, Charles I, King of England and Scotland, persecuted religious dissenters.
Waves of repression led to the migration of about 20,000 Puritans to New England between 1629 and 1642, where they founded multiple colonies