Slavery In Latin America Essay -- Slavery Essays

Slavery In Latin AmericaSlavery in the Americas was quite diverse. Mining operations in the tropics experienceddifferent needs and suffered different challenges than did plantations in to a greater extent temperate beas ofNorther Brazil or costal citys serving as ports for the exportationing of commodities produced on thebacks of the enslaved peoples from the African continent. This probe will look at these differentsituations and explore the factors that determined the discussion of slaves, the consequences ofthat treatment, and the conditions that lead to underground by the slaves working in their variouscapacities. After the initial conquest of Mexico and South America it was time to develop theeconomy and export the resources that would benefit the monarchy back home in Spain andPortugal. Silver and Gold were two such commodities. Silver mines in Northern Mexico weresupervised by blacks who directed the Indians in the arduous task of extracting the preciousmetal. Gold in Cent ral Mexico was also mined by blacks. The Gold mining regions were hot,tropical, uninvolved areas of the jungle. The regions were sparsely populated and it was onerous tokeep the locals as a work force. The introduction of disease in the tropics made these areasdeath zones to the indigenous people as they had no resistance to the virulent plagues. in that location wasa need to get cheap or free labor that would be capable of resisting the disease and who would beeasier to dominate than the locals who could agitate off and establish themselves elsewhererelatively easily. The natural answer was to obtain slaves from the African continent. The slavetrade was already in operation on the African continent. Coastal cities there often enslavedinland peoples so it was not difficult to obtain the stock and export them to the Americas. Slaves in the mining regions were subject to harsh, isolated conditions. There were fewfemales and little or no community amongst the slaves. Some of the wo rkers did have access tomoney and as a result could negotiate there exemption for a price. In 1732 1/3 of the Africanpopulation of Choco was free as a result. Less fortunate slaves who found the conditionsunbearable fled to even more isolated areas of the back country to survive on their own or insmall colonies.The Sugar plantations of Northern Brazil were a major c... ...so manumission possibilities increased.Slaves isolated from family life and culture working in miserable conditions were often flightrisks as they had no real options and the terrain lent to good hiding. There were also no whitesaround to hire as cheap labor to search them out and return them. Mulatto and Criollo slaveswere higher on the socioeconomic ladder than the Bozal and were therefore less believably to resistas they were a step away from freedom which meant they would not consider fleeing as good anoption as remaining in the affable circle and family they had established. Slavery under any conditions is not the optimum existence for human beings. It is a factthat human nature seeks to dominate. Greed and money are often at the root of such efforts. TheIsraelites, the Irish, the Africans, and enumerable other groups have heritage that includes aperiod of slavery or of enslaving or both. African bighorn sheep communities even enslaved otherAfrican fleeing the plantations. It is not rooted in race as much as it is rooted in human nature.The preceding essay is just a synopsis of how it functioned for Africans in certain regionsduring a space in history.