General History of Slave Trade

By WilliamCobb
  • 1441

    Portugal Starts Slave Trade with African nations

    Portugal Starts Slave Trade with African nations
    Portugal was the first European nation to start trading slaves with Africa on a massive scale. From 1441 to 1448 927 Slaves were brought from Portugal. These successful efforts only spread the slave trade to other European countries.
  • Period: 1450 to

    Slave Trade

  • 1502

    First Slaves Are Brought to The Americas

    First Slaves Are Brought to The Americas
    At first European nations used native Americans as slaves; however, native Americans were extremely susceptible to European diseases and as such a new labor form was needed. Then in 1502, a Spanish merchant sent the first slave to the Americas.
  • 1510

    Start Of Systematic transportation of African Slaves

    Start Of Systematic transportation of African Slaves
    The need for labor in the New World meant that Europeans had to look for labor in Africa. King Ferdinand then authorized a shipment of 50 African Slaves to be sent to Santo Domingo.
  • 1518

    Charles V grants 4000 slaves into New Spain

    Charles V grants 4000 slaves into New Spain
    This is the first massive shipment of slaves into the new world. More and more natives are dying from being worked. After this thousands of slaves are being sent to the New World every year.

  • King Philip Outlaws Use of Native American Slaves

    King Philip Outlaws Use of Native American Slaves
    Native American slaves were dying extremely fast, and they were expensive for the Spanish crown to produce. King Philip decided it was better to ban them entirely from being slaves.

  • First Slaves in Virginia

    First Slaves in Virginia
    In 1619 the first African slaves were brought to Jamestown in North America. This led to an explosion of slaves in North America. Slaves in North America mostly worked tobacco and sugar plantations.

  • Eli Whitney invents the Cotton Gin

    Eli Whitney invents the Cotton Gin
    The hardest part of cotton was extracting the seeds from the raw material. It made cotton unproductive to grow. After Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin slavery in North America greatly rose as cotton could only be grown in certain latitudes.

  • England Bans Slavery

    England Bans Slavery
    England in 1833 banned slavery. Other European nations quickly followed suit in order to stay with England who was far ahead at the time. Although this was not the end of slavery, it marked a massive downtick in the public view of slavery.