Indentured Servitude and Slavery essays

Indentured Servitude and Slavery essays The Dutch, for a while, controlled the slave trade. At first thousands, then hundreds of thousands of slaves, mostly from Africa, were being transported from various parts of the world. There were even traces of slavery in some African kingdoms. Slavery became a way for wealthy landowners to own larger fields of crops and have labors to do the work for a cheap price. It became popular and started to spread all of Europe. Along with slavery was the use of indentured servants. Many poor English people wished to go to America, but could not afford the journey. Landowners paid for their way to America in exchange a term of indentured servitude. The wealthy no longer had to take care of their own land, they used people who considered below them to the work, slaves and indentured servants. Europeans developed a new agricultural and commercial order the South Atlantic system (Henretta 74). They made plantations to grow sugar, tobacco, rice, and other products. These investors provided all the necessary needs to adequately run each plantation. They used imported African Americans to do the labor on these plantations. African Americans were sold in the slave trade. These merchants imported and exported the products grown along with slaves to various countries. England passed the British Navigation Acts. One if its aspects required that American sugar be sold to English consumers (Henretta 77). This action lead to an increase in trade. They would still make money of a trade even if the colonies didnt trade directly to England. Europe decided who they wanted to trade with and found the most profitable way to do so. Along with the agricultural products, the slave trade was very profitable. They sold slaves to the West Indies for five times the amount they purchased them in Africa. This system that the merchants created brought a lot of wealth to themselves and the economy. ...