Slavery

• Encomienda


  System where Europeans were granted control over indigenous populations and their labour
• Repartimiento


  System where indigenous populations were forced to provide labour
• Indentureship


  System where poor whites were attracted to West Indian plantations to perform manual labour
• The genocide of indigenous peoples in the West Indies meant that Europeans were forced to seek alternative sources of labour
• Africans/blacks


  Believed to be made to be slaves by Europeans
• Slavery already existed in Africa, with persons made slaves for debts, punishment, crimes, marriages, etc.
• Europeans felt they were not introducing anything new into Africa so there was nothing wrong with what they were doing
• Sugar was now the major export commodity of the West Indies and demanded a large labour force
• Slavery was seen as a ''necessary evil'' because for sugar cultivation and manufacture to be profitable, a large, readily available, and cheap labour supply was essential
• The Amerindian population had declined so the remaining population could not provide an adequate labour force
• Africans were available in large numbers
• Planters saw a cost advantage in the use of African slaves, as an African purchased was a slave for life and the children of slaves became the properties of their masters
• Africans were skilled agriculturists and accustomed to manual labour in a tropical climate, similar to the Caribbean
• Africa is closer to the Caribbean than Europe and the Trans-Atlantic voyage was assisted by the trade winds blowing east to west
• As the plantation system developed, planters no longer wanted to give prime sugar land as incentives to attract indentured servants and so they began to rely more heavily on African slaves, since there was no need to give them land
• Areas from which slaves were taken

  • West Africa, including the forest states of Oyo, Benin, Dahome, and Asante, from the Senegal River in the north to the Congo River in the south
• How slaves were captured and their journey to the coast

  1. Slaves were captured in tribal wars or raids on villages, with boys and men between 16-40 sought especially, while old persons, women and children were left behind or killed

  2. Those captured were marched to the coast, assembled in coffles and often chained together

  3. Speed was essential as a captain was waiting at the coast for the slaves, and those who did not keep up were left behind or punished
• Methods used to capture slaves


  • Surprise attacks
  • Use of trickery
  • Exploitation of tribal differences