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Christopher Columbus Discovers the Americas, Misconstruction of the Bible,…
Christopher Columbus Discovers the Americas
Columbus was trying to find a faster route to Asia when he stumbled upon the Americas. The Spanish saw these new lands as a potential for them to catch up with their longtime rival Portugal in the colonial empire game.
Spanish Colonization
After the Spanish colonized the Americas, they needed to work to make sure that they got the biggest slice of the mercantilist pie to beat out their European competitors. Thus, they began extensive harvesting of natural resources and mining projects to find gold and silver. An example of the latter being the mining town of Potosí.
Profit Extraction
To generate the most profit, the Spanish did not want to pay their laborers, so they drew upon some existing Native American enslavement systems and modified them as needed (sometimes even creating wholly new systems) to meet their mercantilist demands and the new demands for luxury and common goods from the Americas.
Enslavement of Native Americans
The brutal working conditions, (in the mines mostly, as this is where the Spanish used most of their slaves, however, brutal sugar and other plantations were not uncommon) resulted in the deaths of many slaves. Additionally many slaves were underhoused, under clothed and malnourished as the slaveowners tried to spend as little as they could in keeping their slaves alive. Many European diseases also killed Native Americans at a rapid rate. These people would not have died had they not been enslaved because they could have avoided Europeans and their diseases and provided themselves with a better living.
High Death Tolls Among Native Americans
High death tolls and Native American populations moving or running away from the Spanish meant that the Spanish were faced with lower numbers of people to enslave and a growing demand for labor intensive goods (e.g. sugarcane, gold and silver) which created a vacuum for cheap labor.
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The enslavement of Native Americans caused displacements in Native American populations as they either ran away from slavery or became a part of the Spanish colonial society.
Native Americans Ran Away
Demand for American Goods and Materials
Triangular Trade (Europe, Africa, Americas)
European Diseases
Misconstruction of the Bible
Mercantilist Ideals
Social Darwinism
Racism and Strict Caste System
Brutal Working Conditions
Portugal Colonized West Africa
Extensive Knowledge of the Surrounding Landscape
Preexisting Slave Trade in Africa
African Slave Trade