In the mid 1400's a type of mercantilism began to take shape: Slave
trading. Richard Hooker describes this kind of commerce as
"…the profitable buying, selling, and distributing of human beings from
Africa as slaves to Europeans…." Hooker further states
that this method of intercontinental economy became so popular that within
the span of ten years the slave trade industry flourished to the tune of
approximately a thousand African slaves being exported to Europe per year.
As European powers began to explore the New World they found that the slave
trade was a needed form of mercantilism in conquering and subduing the
Americas; because slave labor was inexpensive, effective and accepted.
The pursuit of the New World presented two obvious
problems: lack of money and lack of manpower. Slave labor answered
both these issues. Although paid labor was available for these exploration
voyages, they were not easily funded. The purchase of slaves was inexpensive,
especially in comparison to paid labor, and satisfied the argument of manpower.
By saving money on slaves Explorers and their sponsoring merchants could
spend money on necessities such as ships, food, clothing, and weapons.
The way slaves sometimes were obtained was also cost cutting. Hooker
explains,
"In 1441, the Portuguese reached the Senegal River in West Africa and
found that they could acquire black Africans without having to go through
the slave traders, thus eliminating the cost of at least one middle man
in the commerce in human lives: instead of dealing with Islamic traders,
the Portuguese would deal directly with black
Africans by either purchasing or kidnapping human beings.
The first Portuguese ship to arrive in West Africa south of the Sahara
was also the first European ship to bring back a cargo of humans directly
taken, rather than bought, from Africa."
Along with the cheap acquisition of slaves, the slave traders would
save money in transporting them by denying them fresh clothing, adequate
food rations, decent medical attention and proper living space. However
the needs of the slaves was not always the best place to cut expenses as
can be voiced by Olaudah Equiano who, as a slave, gives this eyewitness
account:
"The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to
the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room
to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspiration,
so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome
smells, and brought on a sickness amongst the slaves, of which many died…"
Once these voyages reached the New World, the slaves that were marketable
were then bartered and became the property of their new slave owners.
The process of bringing the slaves from Africa to the Americas was an inexpensive
process.
Not only was slave labor inexpensive, but it was
also effective. Slave labor was effective because of motivation and
the adaptability of the slaves. Slave labor can be divided into two
types: the indentured servant and the lifetime slave. Originally
the African slaves were treated as indentured servants and were given their
freedom after working for five to seven years. Indentured servitude
was an effective means of slave labor, because the slave would know that
he would eventually be earning his freedom. Furthermore his bound
labor may involve a type of apprenticeship with his owner which would teach
the slave a trade or skill. Indentured servitude for the African
slaves quickly evolved into lifetime slavery. Soon the color of the
slave's skin became synonymous with their station in life; if you were
black you were someone's property. Another effective quality of slave
labor arose from the slave's ability to adapt to his work. Even though
the vast number of European settlers considered African slaves inferior
human beings, they soon came to realize that the slaves abounded in agricultural
and land cultivating skills due to their homeland ecological system.
Furthermore the slaves seem to adapt (especially when cared for humanely)
to the explorer's lifestyle better than the Native Americans, whose population
numbers were cut dramatically at the hands of the explorers.
Since the vast work that the slaves did was farming or plantation work,
especially in the southern colonies, their labor was very effective in
crop production. Slave labor was needed in the conquering of the
New World because of its effectiveness in subduing the land.
Slave labor and slave trading in the conquest of
the Americas was, for the most part, accepted. Two religious organizations
stood against slavery: the Quakers and the Mennonites.
The transport of slaves on voyages of exploration became the norm.
Julius Lester shares,
"There were thirty blacks with Balboa when he discovered the Pacific
Ocean; blacks accompanied Pizarro to Peru, Coronado to New Mexico, Narvaez
and Cabeza de Vaca in their explorations of what is now Arizona and New
Mexico. Blacks also accompanied the French explorers to Canada and
the Mississippi River valley." The wealth and resources that
were potentially available for the taking in the New World was a strong
motivator to accept the slave labor. Furthermore, Europeans were
willing to kidnap and sell their own into bondage as indentured servants.
The slavery of the African was an upgrade to the indentured servitude and
considered as progress in the conquest of the Americas. Slave labor was
accepted and necessary to the rapid empire building in the New World.
No one can debate the horrible atrocities connected
to the slave trade and to slave labor that occurred during the European
explorations of the New World. And neither can anyone debate that
without slave labor the rapid conquering of the Americas would not have
taken place. History can be cruel in its hindsight, but kind in its
foresight.
by Philip N. Geissler